Film Talk: Looking Back – Taking the house with Ocean's Eleven
The house always wins. Play long enough, you never change the stakes, the house takes you. Unless, when that perfect hand comes along, you bet big, and then you take the house... Let’s do this.
Up there with every Bond flick ever made in inspiring each bloke in the room to just simply want to be one of its leads, 2001’s Ocean’s Eleven is a slick heist flick that defined style and cool for early-noughties cinema.
Directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Ted Griffin, it is of course a remake of the 1960 Rat Pack film of the same name. Featuring an ensemble cast including George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, Andy García, Bernie Mac and Julia Roberts, this one certainly packed in the talent. But would this be enough to secure box office success?
Recently paroled con artist Danny Ocean (Clooney) is a cool customer who holds his nerve in situations that would easily rattle the lesser gentleman. No sooner does he violate his parole than he is travelling around the USA gathering accomplices for his next big scheme – the unprecedented robbery of three Las Vegas Casinos in a single night.
However, with the aid of right-hand man Rusty Ryan (Pitt), Ocean puts together a dream team that may just be able to pull off the impossible job. Along for the ride are con-man Frank (Mac), talented pickpocket Linus (Damon), explosives expert Basher (Cheadle), tech-master Livingston (Eddie Jemison), mechanic brothers Virgil and Turk (Casey Affleck and Scott Caan), Chinese acrobat 'The Amazing' Yen (Shaobo Qin), former casino-owner and ‘billfold’ Reuben (Elliott Gould), and veteran thief and elder statesman Saul (Carl Reiner). Together, they are ‘Ocean’s Eleven’, and comprise the most talented crooks in the game. But will they be biting off more than they can chew in going up against Terry Benedict (García) – owner of the targeted casinos and a man at last as shrewd and calculating as Ocean himself?
With further complications brought with the arrival on the scene of Danny’s ex-wife Tess (Roberts), will the multi-million dollar heist be a success, or will the house win after all?
One thing’s for sure – the stakes are high, and our boys are all in...
Upon its release, Ocean’s Eleven was a resounding success at the box office and with critics. The flick stood as the fifth highest-grossing film of 2001, with a worldwide gross of $450 million.
With fantastic performances from a rather talented bunch, it is no wonder that Ocean’s Eleven received critical praise. In particular, the chemistry between Clooney and Pitt and the performances of both Garcia and Roberts cemented this flick as a bar of solid gold, while light relief provided by Affleck, Caan and Gould gave it a welcome touch of comedic charm.
Having spawned two sequels directed by Soderbergh – 2004’s Ocean’s Twelve and 2007’s Ocean’s Thirteen – Ocean’s Eleven was also the genesis of 2018’s Ocean’s Eight, a spin-off with an all-female lead cast, focusing on a criminal scheme masterminded by Danny’s sister. Though neither this flick or the direct sequels quite captured the magic of the original, the franchise was pretty solid and all entries are always fun for a re-watch.
If you’re looking for an effortlessly entertaining yarn with a slick and captivating sense of cool to it, Ocean’s Eleven broke the mould 21 years ago, and few flicks have surpassed it in these qualities since.
