Published on June 21st, 2008 | by simeon

Oceans Thirteen

Danny Ocean (George Clooney) is not a man to back away from a challenge. So when greedy real estate developer Willie Bank (Al Pacino), cheats Danny’s friend Reuben(Elliot Gould), in a major business deal which leaves Rueben incapacitated, there is only one thing he can do, seek revenge.

Danny gathers his gang from his last two capers and in short order sets about a fiendishly clever ban to destroy Willie Bank, and make some money in the process. Doing so is not going to be an easy task, as Bank is as smart as he is ruthless and he has covered seemingly every security loophole and has a state of the art system in place to monitor his games to ensure nothing has been tampered with and that all of the casino winners are legit.

While Danny and his crew have pulled off some amazing capers, they know that this is the hardest challenge they have faced, and they pull out all of the stops in order to cover all the bases and get back at Banks on multiple fronts. On hand to assist Danny are Rusty (Brad Pitt) and Linus (Matt Damon), who spearhead a multi-level infiltration and assault that requires them to take on some hilarious personas in order to get close to Bank and his key associate Abigail (Ellen Barkin).

As the plan takes form complications naturally arise which requires Danny and the gang to think on their feet and improvise as they race against time to pull off the score for the ages.

One such instance was a member of the group who got to into his role as a Mexican laborer at the factory where the dice for Bank’s casino are made. Desperate to ensure that people do not learn what he is up to, he becomes so concerned with the working plight of his fellow workers, he nearly derails the plan when his impassioned speech for unity causes labor unrest that shuts down the plant.

It is moments like this which are sprinkled throughout the film which gives the veteran cast moments to shine and makes this film so enjoyable