I really love this type of film; ensemble casts and witty humor make for great movies. It’s hard to live up to what the first one was because to me the Ocean’s Eleven really was a surprise; It had potential and really outperformed it. Ocean’s Twelve was very good as well but was over shadowed by the first film. The third no loner had to live up to the hype of the first, but only to better then the second and it definitely was. I found myself watching this movie twice in the first three days I had it. The original cast of characters are all back with the exception of the female characters. In this film the job they pulled a revenge job when Willie Bank (played by Al Pacino making his series debut) crossed Elliot Gould’s character and took over control of the casino they were building. So George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and the gang couldn’t just sit back and allow this to happen.

Ocean’s Thirteen has the same feel as the other films – cool ideas and even cooler dialogue. Each character brings his own uniqueness to the film. Steven Soderbergh really put together the perfect cast for a movie such as this. Casey Affleck and Scott Kaan stole the show as the two bickering brothers who are constantly being moved from one assignment to the next. Don Cheadle has a small role as usual but gives it such an energy. Even seeing Matt Damon play duel roles in this film as his normal character and as the big nosed Lenny Pepperege during the heist is a treat. Mix them all in with a catchy music and the look and feel of a cheesy 70?s movie and you got yourself quite a good time.

Video

The video used is a VC-1 encoding and I wasn?t to impressed at all. I?m not sure if there was anything that could have been done. The movie is very grainy and overly saturated with colors – not sharp and detailed at all. Now I enjoyed the colors, and they were very bright and very vibrant although at times to much. Al Pacino looks orange throughout most of the movie, but the daytime scenes are great; they are the best looking parts of the film. When it is dark you lose a lot of detail and it becomes hard to really make things out. Definitely not the best looking disc in my collection and probably somewhere near the bottom. The original film was flawed and the Blu-ray version of the film just emphasizes that.

Audio

The audio was good… better then the video. I enjoyed the soundtrack of the film and the catchy beats that helped the film flow. The majority of the film requires you to listen to and focus on the dialogue and those levels remained solid and audible throughout. You get a good Dolby Digital 5.1 track and it does it?s job well. During the end scene when they fake the earthquake you get very good rumbling sounds that are strong but not overpowering. I was very satisfied with the sound… not excellent but more then good enough.

Special Features

On this disc you get an exclusive commentary from Steven Soderbergh and two of the screenwriters that isn?t released on the standard DVD release. You also get a 45-minute Hi-Def look at committing a real life heist. It is neat as it is different from a typical behind the scenes featurette. The other Hi-Def extra is about 5 minutes worth of deleted scenes that were basically filled with more back and forth wordplay between the characters. As for the non HD features there isn?t much else. There are two more features that last about 25 minutes but don?t show you much about making the film but you give you a feel for casino life and the casino set they shot on. I would like to have seen more behind the scenes shots of all the characters and how they interacted during the making of the film.

Final Thoughts

This movie is cool, and that is enough for me. I really enjoyed it on a level very similar to the first one. The picture is far from demo material but the grain and over blown colors didn?t bother me much as I know that?s how the movie was shot. A solid audio performance and a few decent extras make this a worthy add to the collection if you like the movie. If you are looking for the total package then you might be a bit disappointed.