I think it was Mr. Magoo who talked about having a section where we reviewed movies. He suggested that one of the things we could do is review the new Ocean's 11 with the old one. After renting the dvd the other day, i have done just that.



When I saw that a remake of the classic Rat Pack crime caper, Ocean’s 11 was being made, I was very excited. The original was one of my favorite movies. However, at the time of the release of the remake, I was busy and wasn’t able to see it in the theatre so I had to wait until it came out on DVD to see it. The remake of Ocean’s 11 is not really a remake. They took the title, the name of the lead character and the general premise of the original and made a new story. In the remake, Danny Ocean, (George Clooney) has recently been released from prison and concocts an elaborate scheme to win his ex-wife (Julia Roberts) back from the clutches of a pseudo-gangster/Casino owner (Andy Garcia), who runs The Bellagio, The MGM Grand and Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. How he intends to do this is by robbing those same three casinos of 163 million dollars during a Lennox Lewis title fight at the Bellagio, seems those three casinos keep all their money in a high security vault buried under the Bellagio. Seems like some extreme measures to go to in order to win your wife back, even someone as fine as Julia Roberts, but hey. He’s aided by ten other various hoods and gangsters, hence the title, Ocean’s 11.



The other ten accomplices serve the plot to varying degrees. Brad Pitt, for the most part, is his usual effective self, although I found that his best part in the movie is when he’s teaching poker to a bunch of actors in Hollywood, including Topher Grace in a hilarious turn. Topher, in fact, has the funniest line in the movie when he lays down what he thinks is a winning poker hand filled with Hearts and Diamonds and says, “Check it out…All Reds!!” Most of the rest of the cast is almost an after thought in the movie, as though they were picked just so they could call it Ocean’s 11. Matt Damon is little more than filler in his role, and the fine actor Don Cheadle is an embarrassment with one of the worst English accents I’ve ever heard in a movie.



I guess the new Ocean’s 11 is a decent movie if you haven’t seen the original, but the original is far superior. Even though the scheme is much more elaborate (they plan to rob five casino’s at once, at midnight on New Year's Eve), they are much more believable. Danny Ocean (Frank Sinatra) led these men into battle in World War II where they had pulled off improbable missions against the Germans so to them, robbing some casino’s seems easy by comparison. Also, there is a level of trust between them because they have fought together during the war. That was always one point in the remake that didn’t make sense to me. These guys were criminals, they owe no loyalty to each other. You mean to tell me when $163 million is at stake, that none of them thought of double crossing the others?



A few other points, the original had a far superior cast. There was the Rat Pack (Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr, and Peter Lawford) plus Angie Dickinson, Joey Bishop, Henry Silva, Norman Fell and a great performance by Cesar Romero, who nearly steals every scene he’s in. There is a feeling that these guys are just having a ton of fun making the movie, you don’t feel that way about the remake. Which leads to the comedic aspects of the original, it is truly a funny movie with one of the greatest endings in a crime movie. I think that was the thing that disappointed me most about the remake, they left out the classic ending from the original.



So, in conclusion, you’ll probably like the remake of Ocean’s 11 if you’ve never seen the original, but if you’ve seen the original the remake will probably only make you want to go rent the original. Which I strongly recommend that you do, there is nobody on the planet cooler than The Rat Pack.

ya got that right, there was only one rat pack and there will forever only be one rat pack. I will accept no imitations and thats why I refuse to see the remake.

thx for the nice review, dARKSTAr.



i've seen the original Ocean's 11, and i enjoyed it very much, even tho i'm not too fond of Sinatra as an actor. i haven't watched the remake, but after reading your article i think i may watch if it gets broadcast on TV or something. renting a DVD would be a waste of money i reckon.