Ocean's Thirteen (2007) * * *

Directed by:  Steven Soderbergh

Starring:  George Clooney, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt, Al Pacino, Ellen Barkin, Andy Garcia, Carl Reiner, Scott Caan, Shaobo Qin, Casey Affleck, Bernie Mac, Don Cheadle, Eddie Jemison, Eddie Izzard, Elliott Gould, David Paymer

Danny Ocean's crew is back in Vegas for the third installment in the Ocean's Eleven series.    In Ocean's Thirteen, they set their sights on nasty casino mogul Willy Bank (Pacino), who screwed one of their own out of a partnership in a new casino.  Ruben Tischkoff (Gould) is soon in the hospital in a catatonic state from shock and the guys (no girls this time) vow revenge.  Their plan focuses on sabotaging Bank's new casino in every way imaginable, from rigging the machines to loading the dice to making the undercover hotel inspector's life a living hell.    Ocean's Thirteen continues the series' tradition of high tech fun.    

This is the first of the Ocean's series that does not focus totally on a robbery (although The Night Fox from Ocean's Twelve makes a surprise appearance), but boy do they mess with Bank.    The casino conveniently conducts a "soft opening" which allows the crew free reign to execute their schemes.     One character amusingly questions the idea of a soft opening.  ( "The Flamingo was closed one day and then the next day it was open.")   We assume the crew has nearly unlimited funds and resources because they are able to buy whatever help, equipment, or person they need to get the job done.   They even bring aboard their former enemy Terry Benedict (Garcia) into the fold to help finance an underground drill used to build the Chunnel.    Their intentions for the drill involve replicating an earthquake under Bank's casino, while Benedict's beef with Bank is over the casino casting a shadow on the Bellagio pool.   

Thankfully, we do not actually see the planning meetings (there must be many) that go into pulling off a scheme with so many moving parts.    We see things go right and things nearly go wrong, but no one loses their cool.     The actors personify slick professionalism and a sense of honor among thieves, which is all that is really needed.     Pacino is particularly malicious and calculating as Bank, so we enjoy seeing him get his comeuppance.    When an employee fails to make a fountain work, Bank says comforting things like, "This is not your fault.  We should have fired you a week ago,"

Steven Soderbergh won an Oscar for Traffic and Clooney, Damon, Pitt, Garcia, Affleck, Gould, and Cheadle have either been nominated for or won Oscars themselves.    Ocean's Thirteen, like its predecessors, is like a day off for these talented actors.   The series isn't built for deep character exposition or heavy lifting.  The viewer is required to have a heavy suspension of disbelief as the plot unfolds.  The invasion of Normandy surely required less strategy. Is there an actor in the last decade or two that could pull off the smooth unflappability of a Danny Ocean like George Clooney?    What we see is actors enjoying themselves in spectacular locales in a movie that is stylish fun.