12th July, 2007

DAVID ADAMS

Ocean's Thirteen (PG)

In A Word: Repetitive

ALL TOO COOL: Linus Caldwell (Matt Damon), Danny Ocean (George Clooney) and Rusty Ryan (Brad Pitt). "It’s a convoluted but unimaginative plot and, given the lack of anything new, Ocean's Thirteen would seem to be the last in the Ocean's spin-offs."

Did we not live in age where gambling has attracted such cache, it’s doubtful whether Ocean's Thirteen would have found an audience.

While Hollywood has always been somewhat fascinated with gambling and its interplay with the underworld - Casino, Bugsy and much of the Bond franchise - it’s only in an age where TV shows such as Celebrity Joker Poker attract audiences and the World Poker Championships attract countless newspaper column lines that the Ocean's Eleven idea could extend as far as three films.

That said, while there is nothing particularly new nor any surprises in Ocean's Thirteen, if you enjoyed Ocean's Eleven you’ll probably find the latest instalment mildly enjoyable.

The cast of the previous movie - Danny Ocean (played by George Clooney), his pal Rusty Ryan (played by Brad Pitt) and friends (too many to list, though Matt Damon, playing Linus Caldwell playing Lenny Pepperidge gets a reasonably large slice of the movie) have once again returned to Vegas and this time it’s personal.

A bigwig casino owner, Willie Bank (played by a not-too-over-the-top Al Pacino), has upset them (ring a bell?), this time by ripping off their friend and old school casino owner Reuben Tishkoff and then leaving him to die from a heart attack. But Reuben survives, and, as he struggles to recover, Ocean and his friends decide to take revenge into their own hands.

But it can’t just be any revenge. They want to hit this boss where it hurts and so they set about a typically elaborate scheme - this time involving false noses, simulated earthquakes and even a team up with their former arch-enemy Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia) - to bring down his casino.

It’s a convoluted but unimaginative plot and, given the lack of anything new, Ocean's Thirteen would seem to be the last in the Ocean's spin-offs. While we warmed to the characters in the first and were still friends in the second, by this, the third instalment, they are becoming a little too predictable. This ain’t nothing you haven’t seen before.

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