Ocean’s Eleven Movie Review

The movie Ocean’s Eleven is a thrilling adventure of one vengeful man, Daniel Ocean, and his team of ten other skilled crooks to try and pull off an inconceivable heist: looting over $150 million in cash from the Bellagio hotel and casino in Las Vegas. The movie opens with the release of Danny Ocean from prison after being detained for about four years following a heist he was arrested for. This movie is a gripping revenge-tale/ love story with funny jokes, a great plot, and even better actors, but was lacking some substance and real thrill in places where it would be expected.

The idea for the film was classic yet ingenious, especially with the amazing twist at the end in how Ocean’s eleven actually pulled off the stunt. Ocean’s Eleven had the feel of an action packed, typical heist movie, but Soderbergh did a good job of keeping the viewer engaged without much action. The majority of the movie is fairly passive, just planning for the heist, with only a small tidbit of actual thrill during the robbery. The director did a great job blending the style of an action movie without much action, but could have definitely included some more because the movie felt like it was lacking that excitement, especially during the heist itself.For example, the detonation of the pinch was fairly underwhelming and there was no real opposition to the team when they were extracting the cash from the vault because everything went perfectly, which made the end not as entertaining despite the plot twist. In spite of this lack of thrill in the movie, the plot was very well thought out and the director was still able to capture my attention and interest during the planning phases of the crime which were not very exciting in an action sense. The intertwining of a love story midway through the movie, when we find out that Benedict is sleeping with Tess, Ocean’s ex-wife, is a key part of the plot and a great addition to just the heist. The moment we find this information out, the whole reasoning behind the absurdity of trying to take down the most secure vault makes sense, because, as Rusty says, it’s not about the money.

Both my favorite and least favorite qualities of the movie revolve around the way Soderbergh, the director, develops and portrays the characters in the film. The movie is called Ocean’s Eleven because the team of criminals consists of Ocean, the leader, and 10 other delinquents. We, the viewers, are introduced to each member with a small clip of how and why they were selected to be part of the team. I absolutely loved all the small introductions and backstories surrounding these men and wished Soderbergh would have spent more time developing many of these smaller, but still central characters to the plot. Other than a few funny one liners or little snippets of drama, most of the team was never in the forefront other than Ocean, played by George Clooney, Rusty Ryan, played by Brad Pitt, and Linus Caldwell, played by Matt Damon; consequently, we really only get into the backstory of Ocean and Caldwell. This overlooking of the rest of the team made it hard to connect with the team as a whole and get a good sense of the team dynamic, which I feel are essential as the name of the movie revolves around the team.

The real genius in the film is the casting and portrayal of the main characters like Rusty, Ocean, Tess, Benedict, Caldwell, Frank Catton, and Reuben because the movie is more about the characters than the plot itself. Clooney’s headlining performance as Ocean, the leader, is prominent but still allows for other actors to showcase their talents and suavity, none of whom were lacking in either. Rusty is slick and cool and was portrayed that way well, with slick suits, always munching on some snack watching, observing people and situations. Tess Benedict is an ephemeral character, a typical hollywood portrayal of a sexy, hard-to-get woman with flowing dresses. She gets enough of our attention to be important but so fleeting that we want to see more, leaving the viewer in a similar state of Ocean. Caldwell, a typical rookie, caught our attention very well when we initially found out his father was somehow involved with Ocean and Rusty in the past.

Overall, the movie was very well done, and I would recommend to watch it. The lack of thrill was outweighed by the amazingly portrayed characters and exciting plot.