Ocean's Thirteen

I realize it's now August and Ocean's Thirteen made its debut back in June but this film holds a very special place in my heart. Ocean's Eleven is among my favorite movies and when i found out this was DEFINITELY going to be the last in the series i was excited, sad and a bit worried.
Excited obviously because the whole gang was going to re-unite for one more heist, their final hoo-rah! Although this time around we're missing Julia Roberts and Cathrine Zeta-Jones, in my opinion i honestly felt neither of their characters could have added to the movie. I felt sad because this franchise that i have grown to love over the last handful of years would be ending. And that brought on the worries, because i wanted Danny and the boys to go out with a BANG and not a FLOP.
Steven Soderbergh's Ocean's Thirteen begins with the whole crew uniting to visit Reuben Tishkoff (Elliott Gould) after suffering a heart attack. A flash back shows it was caused by Willy Bank (Al Pacino) using his cutthroat methods to cut Reuben from their newest casino. Danny Ocean (George Clooney) and his boys immediately begin to plot out their revenge on Bank. They ultimately decide to break "The Bank", Banks' new casino, on it's opening night. The crew decides to rig the casino, only issue, is how to do it? Atop that how to make sure everyone is out before they can lose the money they just won? The boys enlist the help of a few friends and set out on what seems to be too obvious of a plan. This sets up one of my favorite elements of the Ocean's movies that I've loved since Eleven, scenes of the crew during their prep, while Danny and Rusty talk out the plans.
The boys' big plan is to use a giant underground drill used to cause a natural disaster to temporarily knock out the casino's super sophisticated security system. But when the drill seizes up the caper exceeds the available budget. Danny, Rusty (Brad Pitt), and Linus (Matt Damon), have to turn to their arch nemesis for help, Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia). I've always felt that Andy Garcia was the only person to be able to play Benedict. Benedict reluctantly agrees to help, on one condition, if they agree to steal Bank's prized Five Diamond Awards that he received for his other award winning casinos. Danny, Rusty and Linus argue it would be impossible to steal the diamonds and to break "The Bank," but eventually the boys agree. Piece by piece their plan begins to come together, from torturing a Five Diamond reviewer, and endless jokes about Matt Damon's prosthetic nose, the entire movie is a riot. Overall the movie brings us the magic and glitz that hooked us in Ocean's Eleven and what most people felt that Ocean's Twelve was missing.
The actor, in my opinion, and that of just about everyone in the theater, that really brought the laughs was Casey Affleck, aka Virgil Malloy working in a dice factory in Mexico. Every time he was on screen the laughs kept on coming. First with him complaining about the conditions in the plant and later him giving an inspirational speech as if he was channeling Emilio Zapata, that caused a revolt. But he wasn't the only Malloy included in the fun. His brother Turk (Scott Caan) was sent down by Danny to calm Virgil and to stop the result but he ends up just joining in. Another personal favorite group of scenes were those of the ever-bumbling Livingston Dell(Eddie Jemison) trying to rig a card shuffler, which always ended in him playing 208card pick up.
Fans of The Nightfox will be happy to know that Vincent Cassel makes a few appearances, which I felt was not enough. As a fan of the series i found the movie to live up to the expectations i had set, the boys didn't flop and left me with laughs that i'll carry for years to come. An amazing cast, a wonderful screen play and hilarious scenes of a Mexican factory strike provide a wonderful close to the trio. This is a must-rent for any casual fans of the series, and a must-buy for all the Ocean's fans like myself.
Overall Score- 4 out of 5