Word: soderbergh
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With such exquisite attention to detail, Soderbergh makes the actors’ jobs almost too easy. The mood is firmly set before his actors grace the screen, and they seem to effortlessly slide into their roles, feeding off the director’s rhythms. Clooney riffs on his rugged, cocky Out of Sight character, but reigns in his persona to match the film’s ambience, and lends a sentimentality to Ocean’s reasons for pulling the job. Danny wants to bring down Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia), the owner of all three casinos, because he?...
...screen what was their mantra in real life: boozing, gambling and chasing women. Juvenile, meandering and amateurish to a fault, the original film contained so few redemptive elements that only the most dedicated of audiences found the film appealing. So it’s a mystery why director Steven Soderbergh, the film industry’s latest (but certainly very deserving) “it” boy, would choose to take on an absolute dog’s breakfast of a movie. Nonetheless, he has churned out a star-powered, yet subtly layered Ocean’s Eleven that...
Gone are the threadbare plot and misogynist overtones, and in their place lies a taut caper tale with Soderbergh at the top of his game. George Clooney reprises the role of Danny Ocean, a con-man just out of a New Jersey jail, who assembles a crew of 10 other men (hence Ocean’s Eleven) to steal $160 million from an impenetrably fortified vault holding cash reserves from the Bellagio, the Mirage and the MGM Grand casinos. Ocean runs the show, bringing in card-sharp Dusty (Brad Pitt), impersonator Saul (Carl Reiner) and pickpocket Linus (Matt Damon), among...
...Soderbergh wryly acknowledges the film’s origins and then manages, as he so frequently does, to transcend its limitations. While prepping his team for the heist, Danny explains precisely why he would attempt such an impossible mission. His reasons are succinct, his delivery is deadpan and his air is undeniably macho. Pitt bursts the bubble when he asks, “You’ve been rehearsing that, haven’t you?” Clooney responds: “A little, did I rush? I felt like I rushed.” With any other director...
...captivate well before the film’s closing 30 minutes. Even though Ocean’s Eleven beats with a heart straight from a heist flick, through its veins courses much more substantial, more nuanced filmmaking. As with Traffic—though here much more subtlety—Soderbergh contrasts textures, colors and lighting in almost every scene. Damon’s introduction is filmed grainy and under-exposed, appearing as much a pickpocketing documentary as a time for character development. When Clooney happens upon his ex-wife, Tess Ocean (Julia Roberts), the restaurant scene is softly lit from...