DVD REVIEW: "Ocean's Thirteen"

I have often maintained the least important element of any movie is its plot. I think it was Roger Ebert who said something to the effect of "If you want plot, then read a novel."

That’s an important statement when you approach a movie like "Ocean’s Thirteen," which has so many things going wrong for it, yet still barely makes it out on the positive side. I recommend renting this DVD, albeit with reservations.

The main reservation is the whacky plot. Here’s the basic setup. One of the main characters from the past two "Ocean" films, Reuben Tishkoff (Elliott Gould), is gypped by a partner, the appropriately named Willie Banks (Al Pacino), in a casino deal. As a result, Reuben has a massive coronary. That’s when Danny Ocean (George Clooney) and his band of merry men set events in motion to avenge their buddy and wreck the Banks casino.

It’s those events they set in motion that are ludicrous. The most bizarre and the most unbelievable is importing one of the drills that helped burrow the English Channel chunnel, have it bore a tunnel under the Las Vegas strip (without anyone noticing it) and then having it cause an earthquake that would rattle only Banks’ hotel, but leave all the others in Vegas clueless as to what was happening. Huh?

There’s also no thrill to the payoff, which is essential in a caper movie. It just happens, and you’re never really sure exactly what is happening. There’s also no sense that Banks is getting is just desserts.

Then there’s some casting problems, mainly with two extremely fine actors, Don Cheadle and Ellen Barkin, both of whom are wasted here. Cheadle seems to be cast only because he was in the first two, but then scriptwriters Brian Koppelman and David Levien couldn’t find a way to successfully integrate him into their script.

But then the "Ocean" movies have never been about plot anyway. Except for the disaster that was "Ocean’s Twelve," they follow the basic caper movie formula pioneered in "Bob le Flambeur" and perfected in "Topkapi," even if the "Ocean" films ignore some of the basic caper rules (the main one being there’s always a scene in which the leader of the gang explains the entire caper to his gang for the sole reason that we, in the audience, know what is going on every step of the way. The avoidance of this rule means the audience watching "Ocean’s Thirteen" is going to be clueless about why all these things are going on and thus could easily lose interest).

What the "Ocean" movies are all about is style and "Ocean’s Thirteen" has style to spare. Of course, how could you not with a cast headed by Clooney, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon, who seems more comfortable in his own skin with every new film appearance. And you know that you’re going to have style, even a highly personal sense of style, with Steven Soderbergh directing. Soderbergh’s genius is that he makes seamless filmmaking look so easy and, well, so stylish. And no one uses lighting and high-definition any better.

Style is what gave "Trouble in Paradise" its sophistication and "His Girl Friday" its pacing. I was reminded of those two great films while watching "Ocean’s Thirteen." I’m not saying this film is on the level of those two classics, not by a wide margin, only it’s nice to see a film in this age of CGI gee-wizardry that believes style is important, especially when there is so little substance.

GRADE: B-