While not as good as Ocean’s Eleven, this third film in the franchise is a bit better than Ocean’s Twelve. In a summer populated with third entries in film franchises, this one is competitively pretty good. Featuring a great cast and a somewhat well put together plot, it holds together well enough.

Writing: I’ll admit that this franchise is beginning to suffer a bit from one of its key gimmicks, the idea of progressively increasing the cast of characters with each outing. The plot is able to be followed, but much of it comes off as either too convoluted, overly simplified or cheated for time. It does slow down from time to time to give things a chance to relax and breath, which is definitely helpful.

Production: Steeped heavily in retro 60’s filming styles, including fun manual zooms and fun split screens, there’s a great sense of nostalgia all over the film. All this is despite the amount of modern settings and technology. The characters even reminisce a bit about how things have changed, and the audience gets to see said changes in the sharp contrast of old versus new production technique. For instance, while much of the film is shot in stark hand held moves and locked off framing, there is the occasional aerial shot of the gorgeous new Vegas hotel all this takes place in, which is filled with smooth filming and flawless visual effects. It’s a kinda interesting blend.

Cast: There’s no arguing that the strength of this franchise is the wildly diverse and notable cast. All of them are great, but it’s George Clooney & Brad Pitt that are the greatest of the mix. After enough practice in previous films, the two of them have absolutely perfected their rhythm together in scenes. I absolutely love the way the two are always half a sentence in front of each other. That and the way they seem so comfortable around each other that they barely look at each other when they are talking to each other. Matt Damon gets to have some fun with his prosthetic nose, and his downplayed interactions with the rest of the cast is again spot-on. Al Pacino & Ellen Barkin are nice additions to the fun. Great to still see Carl Reiner on screen (he is 85 years old, after all), still doing a great job. David Paymer gets to join the fun as a character with some of my favorite material in the film. Elliot Gould gets to have fun with his usual goofball charm, playing the quasi-father of the gang yet again with ease. The list can go on and on and on - and it does.

Music: David Holmes does a great job again with his retro-electronica styled score. Filled with modern rhythm and approach, it features a great range of classic music textures, like the electric organ.

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 10th, 2007 at 8:46 pm and is filed under Movie Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.