40+ years after Martin, Sinatra and the Rat Pack came together for the ultra-cool sixties Vegas heist film, this generation's cool cast topped it with 2001's OCEAN'S ELEVEN.
George Clooney is Danny Ocean, fresh out of a four year prison stint during which he's planned the ultimate heist of 3 Vegas casinos at once.
Danny gathers his team of ten around him and details his plan to sneak into an impossible vault to penetrate, through security systems that cant be broken, and a plan to walk out with $150 million.
Fun from start to finish, this cast is excellent from top to bottom.
Brad Pitt is Danny's go-to partner in crime Rusty, oozing effortless charm and hilarity.
Matt Damon is a slightly bumbling son of a legendary systems man. Bernie Mac is funny as hell as a dealer that controls more than the cards. Elliott Gould is the money behind the elaborate plan, Casey Affleck and Scott Caan are feuding brothers with a talent for distraction and Shaobo Qin is a Chinese acrobat bent in every direction.
The great Carl Reiner plays a key role and Andy Garcia is Terry Benedict, the owner of the three casinos and a villain you'll love to hate.
Julia Roberts is fun as Danny's ex, who happens to now work for and date Benedict.
The Vegas settings are perfectly shot, the three casinos being robbed (MGM Grand, Bellagio and Mirage) are all real and shot on location and the heist is intricate, smart and a blast to watch unfold.
Director Steven Soderbergh (Erin Brokovich, Out of Sight) lets the viewer in on all the jokes, while crafting a highly polished, cool thriller that will keep you guessing and laughing in equal measure.
Clooney is fantastic. The guy could time travel into the original Rat Pack and Dean, Frank and Sammy would slap him on the back and welcome him in as one of their own.
Justifiably a huge box office hit, this was followed by four sequels, starting with Oceans Twelve in 2004.
ELEVEN holds up perfectly, just as enjoyable as it was 17 years ago when it first hit theatres. It gets an A+.
I'm not sure I've seen a better closing scene than the one at the Bellagio fountains with Debussy's "Clair de Lune" swelling over a dialogue-free, final look at our team. It's a film classic that elevates the movie into another league.
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