If you’re also passionate about movies with plot twists and big hits themed, then you’ve certainly seen Ocean’s Eleven. It’s one of the most popular movies recorded at the Bellagio casino in Las Vegas, located at the MGM resort. If you want to visit this iconic casino, then their online casino section, BetMGM, is worth a try as it reflects the physical casino, where the movie was recorded. If you’re still not sure whether to head over to BetMGM, read their positive review by OLBG.com.
Danny Ocean is a man of action. Just 24 hours after leaving the New Jersey penitentiary, he’s already putting his latest plan into practice: to rob three Las Vegas casinos in just one night, in the midst of staging a world heavyweight title fight. To do so, Ocean brings together a team of 10 experts to help you with your plan, always following three basic rules: don’t hurt anyone, don’t steal someone who doesn’t really deserve it, and follow the plan as if you had nothing to lose.
The film is a remake of one of the main films produced by the Rat Pack in the ’60s. The Pack was an extremely cool authors/entertainers club, founded by Humprey Bogard, but taken to its ultimate consequences by Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, and John Bishop. In fact, the original from 1960 is quite different from this one. Soderbergh’s film only retains the title, the protagonist’s name and the background of the story.
Therefore, we can say that the film was remade, not re-shot. In the story, Danny Ocean (George Clooney) comes out of prison with a plan that is both suicidal and ingenious: to rob three of the main casinos in Las Vegas. To help carry out the theft, Clooney meets partner Dusty Ryan (Brad Pitt), who makes a living teaching young actors to behave like real cheaters at a poker table.
Together, the duo summons the remaining nine and outlines the plan for the robbery. Behind all this setup, Ocean is also willing to retrieve his wife, Tess (Julia Roberts), who happens to be the girlfriend of Terry Benedict, the owner of the three casinos targeted by the robbery. The gang chooses when all attention is turned to another event, and the vault is complete to make the plan work. That said, the blow will be during the fight of champion boxer Lennox Lewis. And as is mandatory on a fight night, the casino’s safe must have enough cash to guarantee every penny wagered in its hall. By Ocean’s accounts, at least $150 million.
Veteran Carl Reiner is the perfect embodiment of an old pickaxe, starring in some of the best scenes in the film. Matt Damon is also doing very well as Linus Caldwell, a talented and brash rookie who wants to prove to his hack dad’s old pals that he can measure up to the old man. Don Cheadle, Casey Affleck, Shaobo Qin, Bernie Mac and Scott Caan complete the team. A team worthy of the ’00s, when smartness, elegance and dissimulation win every single thing. It recovers the subtlety of crime, from a time where the brain reigned, not the bloodbath and carnage that surround the main bandits movies of recent years, from the Quentin Tarantino school (at the time of “Pulp Fiction”, the world was dominated by shrill and nervous guitars, which called for a certain amount of rawness).
But the trump card of “Eleven Men and a Secret” is in the Clooney/Pitt table. The interaction of the two is symmetrical. Translating into the Breton sport: a fit worthy of a Pelé/Garrincha or Edílson/Luizão. The dialogues between the two seem pure improvisation, the feeling is as if the character knows what the other is thinking. Congratulations for a smart, objective and streamlined script. Soderbergh also excels at directing, mixing quick cuts with long shots, making the film much more linear than American cinema is used to..
After watching the original Oceans Eleven, Clooney had a great idea but couldn’t translate it on screen. Willing to change that, he bought the rights to the film for his production company, Section Eight, which he maintains in partnership with Soderbergh. After convincing the director, Clooney used all his lips to cast a dream cast. Rumours say, during the ninety days of shooting in Las Vegas, right after each day of shooting, everyone got together to drink and play basketball – including Julia Roberts.
