A Flawless Heist Movie: The Heroes Stole Less Money Than the Film Earned
Twelve men in their prime decide to rob the biggest casino in Las Vegas and win over the owner’s girl. There’s no doubt about their success.
Everyone knew even before “Ocean’s Eleven” that Steven Soderbergh could fit into a proposed environment and work in genre films almost better than in auteur cinema – after all, there were “The Limey” and “Out of Sight.”
“Ocean’s…” became the ultimate confirmation that no one could handle Hollywood standards better than a seasoned art-house representative. A cunning, almost absurd heist plan, a dozen A-list stars, a title tested back in the sixties by Frank Sinatra, the glitz of Las Vegas – Soderbergh plays in a big style, deliberately making an expensive, lightweight, silly, and at the same time deafeningly charming movie.
It’s like a concert in a casino – the performer guarantees that the audience won’t budge, and after that, anything goes. Hardly anyone else in the entire 2000s demonstrated that even without a drop of soul, on sheer professionalism, you can get somewhere.