Oceans Thirteen

Plot

Reuben Tishkoff is conned by Willy Bank, his former business partner, into being forced to sign over the ownership rights of the new hotel-casino they were building together, "The Bank". Reuben suffers a heart attack and becomes bedridden. Danny Ocean offers Bank a chance to set things right, given his long history in Las Vegas and the fact that he "shook hands with Sinatra," but Bank refuses. To avenge Reuben, Ocean gathers his partners-in-crime and plans to ruin Bank on the opening night of the hotel.

First, they plan to prevent "The Bank" from winning the prestigious Five Diamond Award, which all of Bank's previous hotels have won. Saul Bloom poses as the reviewer of the board, while the real reviewer is treated horribly during his stay by Ocean's associates and the staff on their payroll. Next, they plan to rig the casino's slot machines and games to force a payout of more than $500 million in winnings, forcing Bank to cede control of the casino to the board. This requires defeating "The Greco Player Tracker," a state-of-the-art artificial intelligence system that ensures that all winnings are legitimate by measuring the players' biometric responses for authenticity.

They trick Bank into carrying a cell phone with a magnetron to disrupt the Greco. Ocean's team acquires one of the giant drills used to bore the Channel Tunnel to simulate an earthquake under the hotel on opening night to ensure that gamblers leave with their winnings after the Greco shuts down, rather than remaining in the casino to inevitably lose their money again. Rusty Ryan poses as a seismologist to tell Bank an earthquake evacuation code is necessary, to which Bank reluctantly agrees. When the team tries to drill towards The Bank, however, the drill breaks, forcing them to approach Terry Benedict, their previous antagonist, to fund the purchase of a second drill. As Benedict has a grudge against Bank, he offers Ocean the funds only if they also steal four necklaces Bank bought representing the four Five Diamond Awards, worth some $250 million, now on display in a secured case atop the hotel.

On opening night, FBI agents have been informed that machines have been rigged by Livingston Dell and arrest him, resulting in the card-shuffling machines being replaced by Roman Nagel, as Livingston was unable to effectively rig them. Basher Tarr, posing as a motorcycle daredevil hired for a stunt, distracts Bank long enough to allow Virgil and Turk Malloy to change the group's FBI records, including their names and appearances, to prevent being identified alongside Livingston.

Linus Caldwell seduces Bank's assistant, Abigail Sponder, to gain access to the display and switch the diamonds with fakes. He is interrupted by the lead FBI agent, who explains the diamond theft to Bank's assistant. Linus is arrested, but as they exit in the elevator, the FBI agent is revealed to be his father, Robert "Bobby" Caldwell, who is in on Ocean's plan. As they exit to the roof of the hotel for extraction via helicopter, they are caught by François "The Night Fox" Toulour, whom Benedict hired to intercept the diamonds. Linus gives the diamonds to Toulour, who escapes by parachuting off the hotel. However, upon Toulour's exit, Linus, Bobby, and Basher extract the entire display case of the real diamonds from the hotel via the helicopter as Ocean had already been aware of Toulour's presence in the hotel.

The plan continues as expected. Virgil and Turk Malloy use the drill to simulate the earthquake and, with "The Greco" disrupted via the magnetron in Bank's phone, the guests evacuate the hotel with their massive winnings because of the hotel's new earthquake evacuation protocol. Bank realizes he's ruined, and as the guests leave, he sees the helicopter flying off with his diamonds. So does Toulour, who discovers that he holds only the fakes. Ocean lets Bank know that they did everything for Reuben. He also tells Bank that he cannot get revenge, since all of Bank's connections like Ocean better than Bank himself, and Bank's own corrupt activities make it impossible for him to go to the police.

Ocean's men use the money they made off with to buy property north of the Las Vegas Strip for Reuben. To punish Benedict for attempting to steal the diamonds, Ocean donates Benedict's $72 million portion of the take to charity, forcing Benedict to publicly admit his philanthropy via television appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show (which Ocean was shown watching earlier), a scene viewed by Danny, Rusty and Linus in the airport's lounge. As the group disperses, Rusty ensures that the real Five Diamond reviewer, who suffered numerous discomforts during his stay at the hotel, is compensated by allowing him to win the $11,000,000 jackpot on a rigged slot machine at the airport.

Ocean's Thirteen

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

Julia Roberts and Catherine Zeta-Jones did not appear in their respective roles as Tess Ocean and Isabel Lahiri due to the actresses not wanting to participate in the movie without a significant part in the plot, which the script couldn't accommodate. Their absence was explained by Danny, who repeatedly states, "It's not their fight."

Others

Production

In January 2006, it was reported that producers were in discussions about setting and shooting most of the film at the Wynn Las Vegas. Clooney had previously hoped to film it at his upcoming Las Ramblas Resort in Las Vegas, although the project would not have been ready in time for production. In March 2006, it was reported that the film would be shot in a fake casino that would be constructed on five Warner Bros. sound stages. Filming was expected to begin in Las Vegas and Los Angeles in July 2006. Al Pacino joined the cast in April 2006.

Location scouting took place in Las Vegas in mid-July 2006, with the Bellagio as a confirmed filming location. Scenes had previously been shot at the Bellagio for Ocean's Eleven. Filming in Las Vegas began on August 7, 2006, when scenes were shot at McCarran International Airport and at a heliport. The following day, filming moved to the Palazzo resort, which was under construction at the time. Filming in Las Vegas concluded on August 9, 2006, after scenes involving Clooney, Pitt, Damon, and García were shot in an office at the back of the Bellagio. At that time, Clooney and producer Jerry Weintraub were considering premiering the film in Las Vegas. Another Las Vegas shoot was scheduled for September 2006, and would include additional filming at the Bellagio.

Box office

The film did well on its first weekend, reaching the top spot at the North American box office. Despite being opened in 250 more theaters than Ocean's Twelve, it had a slightly weaker opening weekend than the former, pulling in $36 million, compared with Twelve's $39 million opening weekend. By the end of December 2007, Ocean's Thirteen had generated $311.4 million in box office revenue worldwide.

Critical reception

Critical reception to the movie was more positive than its predecessor, with some critics liking the movie's style and others criticizing it for being overly complex. Joel Siegel, in what turned out to be his last review for Good Morning America, stated that if it had been the first movie, there still would have been a sequel. On the movie website Rotten Tomatoes, the movie has received an overall 70% score. In his review for New York, David Edelstein wrote, "As the plotting gets knottier, his technique gets more fluid—the editing jazzier, the colors more luscious, the whip-pans more whizbang. It's all anchored by Clooney, looking impudent, roguish, almost laughably handsome." Manohla Dargis, in her review for The New York Times, wrote, "Playing inside the box and out, [Soderbergh] has learned to go against the grain while also going with the flow. In Ocean's Thirteen he proves that in spades by using color like Kandinsky and hanging a funny mustache on Mr. Clooney's luscious mug, having become a genius of the system he so often resists."

However, Roger Ebert wrote, in his review for the Chicago Sun-Times, "Ocean's Thirteen proceeds with insouciant dialogue, studied casualness, and a lotta stuff happening, none of which I cared much about because the movie doesn't pause to develop the characters, who are forced to make do with their movie-star personas." Peter Bradshaw, in his review for The Guardian, wrote, "Sometimes we go to split-screen, and sometimes - whooaaa! - two of the split-screen frames are funkily showing the same thing. It is all quite meaningless. As if in an experimental novel by BS Johnson, the scenes could be reshuffled and shown in any order and it would amount to the same thing. There is no human motivation and no romance."

Home video release

Ocean's Thirteen was released on DVD and Blu-ray in November 2007.

Spin-off

A female-centric spin-off of the Ocean's Trilogy films, directed by Gary Ross, titled Ocean's Eight. Sandra Bullock will star as Debbie Ocean, Danny Ocean's sister. Cate Blanchett, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, Rihanna Fenty, Sarah Paulson, Mindy Kaling, and Nora "Awkwafina" Lum are all scheduled to star as the team who will all take part in a heist in New York City. Matt Damon is also set to return to the franchise in his role as Linus Caldwell.