Ocean’s Trilogy – Review

When asking fans of casino movies their pick for the top five casino movies of all time, one or more of the Ocean’s trilogy of movies is usually on the list. For those that don’t know the Ocean’s series of movies, the movies can be best described as caper comedies that focus more on humor and less on violence. Let’s take a quick look at the Ocean’s trilogy.

Ocean’s Eleven was the first of the three movies starring George Clooney, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts and others. The first movie centers around the plan of Danny Ocean, played by Clooney, to rob the Bellagio in dramatic fashion. The movie later develops into a bit of a love story as it is discovered that the real object of Danny’s scheme is Tess, played by Julia Roberts. Tess is currently dating Terry Benedict, played by Andy Garcia. Ultimately, he agrees to give up the money in exchange for Tess. Of course, in the end he gets both as he takes the money and Tess leaves Terry for Danny.

Based on the popularity of the first movie, Ocean’s Twelve was created. The story centered around Terry Benedict demanding the return of his money from the Bellagio heist with interest. The team tries to devise a heist overseas to get the money but ultimately fail to do so. Eventually, Danny repays the money and agrees never to try and rob Terry’s casinos again.

The final movie of the trilogy, Ocean’s Thirteen centers around the team’s attempt to ruin Willy Bank, played by Al Pacino, after he screws Reuben Tishkoff out of his ownership rights for a hotel and casino the two were opening. While the team experiences many setbacks, they do reach their objective and force Bank out of business while giving their friend Reuben the money to open a new casino. After this, the groups disbands to settle down.

The Ocean’s trilogy is different from many other types of casino caper movies as they do not focus on violence and gunplay as other movies. At times the movies may seem a bit haphazard, but they are fun movies to watch and are definite must see movies for anyone that enjoys casino movies.