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Ocean’s Eleven (2001)



Ocean’s Eleven (2001)



7/10



Starring
George Clooney
Brad Pitt
Bernie Marc


Directed by Steven Soderbergh

Ocean’s Eleven is a remake of the 1960 Rat Pack movie of the same name that starred Frank Sinatra. This movie is just graceful—that’s the word. It features one of the greatest ensemble casts you can find, all coming together for one purpose and one purpose only: to take down a casino. The merging of these talents was well done by Steven Soderbergh, who directed and served as the cinematographer for the movie.

Daniel Ocean and his crew made robbing a casino look easy. Apparently, all you need is some background cash and a crew of people with unique skills. If you have these people in your back pocket, then you, “the robber,” are game enough to take down anybody.

Steven Soderbergh and Clooney came together with the aim of putting this film together, and after the wonderful display of acting from the entire cast—let’s not forget Julia Roberts and Andy Garcia were also in this movie—it was well-received and led to a trilogy.

The movie is about Danny Ocean (George Clooney), who just got out of jail, and the first thing on his mind is pulling off the perfect heist. After his release, Danny starts recruiting his team members for the job. In order of recruitment, they are:

  1. George Clooney as Danny Ocean (of course)
  2. Bernie Mac as Frank Catton
  3. Brad Pitt as Rusty Ryan
  4. Elliott Gould as Reuben Tishkoff
  5. Casey Affleck as Virgil Malloy
  6. Scott Caan as Turk Malloy
  7. Eddie Jemison as Livingston Dell
  8. Don Cheadle as Basher Tarr
  9. Shaobo Qin as "The Amazing" Yen
  10. Carl Reiner as Saul Bloom
  11. Matt Damon as Linus Caldwell

The job seemed impossible, but Danny believed they could do it. Together, they formed a master plan to take on the Bellagio, The Mirage, and the MGM Grand casinos—all owned by Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia).

Ocean’s Eleven is undeniably stylish and entertaining, but as I said earlier, they made it look easy, and the heist unfolds a little too smoothly, with minimal obstacles or real tension, which can be a bit of a turn-off. And there is no character development, since this is a huge crew, all we got is a brief introduction to who they are, and then they are pulled into the heist. The movie is fun, but I never felt any tension, like the stakes were not high.

There’s also a catch to this heist: Danny’s ex-wife (Julia Roberts) is now dating Benedict.

This movie was extremely popular, growing from just a fun watch to having a huge fan base that led to the release of two more Ocean’s movies, featuring the same cast along with new popular additions. The movie cost $85 million to make, largely due to the star-studded cast, but it made its money back and more at the box office. It stands as the best of the three films in the franchise.

My favourite take from the movie, which my sister noticed when we were watching it back then was, she goes, "why is Brad Pitt always eating something most of the time?"

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