Ocean's Trilogy Movie Review

The Ocean’s Trilogy Now on 4K UHD!

After 100th year celebrations in 2023, Roadshow and Warner Bros are continuing to deliver with another slate of 4K Ultra HD remasters arriving in March and April 2024. We’ve already seen classics such as: The Green Mile, Shawshank Redemption, Casablanca, Rebel Without a Cause, Cool-hand Luke, Unforgiven, Rio Bravo, V For Vendetta, Beetlejuice, Training Day, The Goonies, ‘Contagion’, ‘The Departed’ and many, many more have hit shelves over the past two years. Now we can look forward to another slate of releases, with this month’s remaster of ‘The Ocean’s Trilogy (Ocean’s Eleven, Ocean’s Twelve, Ocean’s Thirteen).

Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s Trilogy is highly regarded by many, as one of the best film trilogies of all time. The series follows Danny Ocean, played superbly by Mr George Clooney, and his crew as they pull off an extraordinary heist, not just once, but three times! I’m not alone in loving this series, the franchise (including Oceans 8 – the all-female 2018 reboot) has grossed over $ 1.4 billion at the worldwide box office (Oceans Eleven - $450 million, Oceans Twelve - $362 Million, Ocean’s Thirteen - $311 Million, Oceans 8 - $297 Million). The franchise is a juggernaut and loved by millions, with early talks already underway for yet another reboot with George Clooney, Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt potentially returning. Fans have been asking for years for these classics of the genre to get the 4K Ultra High-Definition treatment and thankfully this year, we finally have this glorious new set. To celebrate its release, I will be giving brief snapshot reviews of all three films. So, without further ado, let’s get stuck in!  

Ocean’s Eleven (2001) –

Released in 2001 and directed by the great Steven Soderbergh, Ocean’s Eleven stars George Clooney as professional thief, Danny Ocean, who has just finished doing time and ready to jump into his next job, stealing from Terry Benedict (played by Andy Garcia), partner of his ex-wife Tess Ocean (played by Julia Roberts) and owner of The Bellagio, The Mirage and the MGM Grand. What’s Danny’s plan you may ask? To rob all three in one night! Danny assembles the best team imaginable and goes after Terry and his casinos. The real strengths of Ocean’s Eleven lie in its incredibly talented cast of characters, we have Rusty Ryan played by the ever-charming Brad Pitt, Linus played by everyone’s favourite every man Matt Damon, Frank Catton played by the late-great Bernie Mac, the Malloy brothers played by Casey Affleck and Scott Caan, Chinese acrobat Yen, played by Shaobo Qin, the brains Reubben Tiskoff played by Elliott Gould, Saul Bloom played by the late great carl Reiner and Basher Tarr played by the wickedly talented and charismatic Don Cheadle. This stacked cast really does help sell the whole film. We get great character moments with the cast and awesome sequences with them interacting with one another. There really isn’t a weak link here amongst them, they’re all that good!

The way that Soderbergh portrays the heist also makes for a very fun and exciting escalation of events. A majority of the film is simply the set-up and planning for the heist, which is an inspired choice, as it pulls the rug from under us 9the audience) when the heist finally happens in the films third act. This leads to the quippy dialogue, the subversion of those types of heist film tropes whilst also dipping into the tropes as well. It’s a fine line, but Soderbergh knows exactly how to toe that line with poise and expertise.  The musical score by expert composer David Holmes really elevates the Las Vegas setting and heist plot. There is a certain amount of whimsy that is sprinkled throughout Holmes’ score that adds to the overall feel of the film. Everything culminates here for a truly amazing experience; I had an absolute blast revisiting Oceans Eleven in stunning 4K!

Ocean’s Twelve (2004) –

After the monumental global success of Ocean’s Eleven, it was only a matter of time before Village Roadshow and Warner Bros. greenlit a sequel and in 2004, we got exactly that! Following the events of Ocean’s Eleven, Ocean’s Twelve sees Danny and his crew try and tackle a heist in Europe, as the teams lavish spending and an angry, vengeful Terry Benedict closing in on them, Danny must use his new recruit to tackle their biggest heist yet. Ocean’s Twelve is a lot of fun. Whilst it may not have as much charm as the first film, Ocean’s twelve still delivers on a lot of its promises, mainly the reunion of one of the best ensemble casts ever assembled. The cast are electrifying again here, with Clooney, Pitt, Damon, Garcia, and Roberts all delivering. Their characters are likeable, and they clearly have an amazing rapport with one another.

The European setting is also a welcomed change. As we nearly got all we could out of Vegas in the first film, and then again in the third, seeing the crew in Europe was a nice change of pace and setting. The locations are stunning, the heist is fun, with the rug being pulled out from under us again, with a fun third act surprise and the direction from Soderbergh again delivers. It by no means trumps the first film, but it does deliver a lot of what made the first film work as well as it did, and as a fan of these characters, the cast and Soderbergh as a filmmaker, for me it’s a triumphant win and a glorious 4K re-watch.

Ocean’s Thirteen (2007) –

Ocean’s Thirteen rounds out the Danny Ocean trilogy, with yet another heist. When Casino owner and financial juggernaut Willy bank (played by Al Pacino)double-crosses one of the original eleven Reuben 9played again by Elliott Gould), the team must act revenge and pull off another heist, to get Reuben out of his coma! After a mixed reception from critics with Ocean’s Twelve, Soderbergh and team go back to basics here, with yet another Vegas heist. Whilst the repetition here may not work for some, I for one, loved going back to Vegas with this crew. The European setting for Twelve was definitely refreshing, but it does feel different from the other two because of this.

I also think capping off the third film in Vegas really makes the trilogy work. Going back to where it all started kind of thing. It may not work for all, and I have spoken to critics of this film, however, for me, it works. It has all the humour, a great antagonist in Willy Bank (Al Pacino never misses) and never loses that sense of fun and character. A worthy re-visit and a great 4K restoration, so if you want to upgrade, now is the time!

The Ocean’s trilogy is one of the best film trilogies of all time. Yes, of ALL TIME! The film benefits from its superb cast led by the great and forever charming George Clooney, and the star power of Brad Pitt and Matt Damon. The way director Steven Soderbergh uses the ensemble to his advantage, really does elevate the film above just a typical heist film. It’s never just a heist film, but rather a casino-based comedy, with a great cast of characters. It’s also a film series with a lot of achievement in its ranks; it has one of the best remakes of all time (I guess I forgot to mention that in my intro, ocean’s Eleven is actually a remake), and one of the best sequels of all time, rivalling the first film, with ocean’s Thirteen! This is a must-own for film fans and those wishing to upgrade their copies, do it with these glorious 4K Ultra High-Definition remasters from the amazing team over at roadshow who continue to kill it! Pick-up your copy on 4K UHD from Sanity today before stocks run out!

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Buy The Ocean's Trilogy on 4K UHD here

Christopher Pattison wrote this blog post for Sanity. See more from Chris here