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When it comes to heist films, few do it better than Ocean’s Eleven. With a star-studded cast led by George Clooney and Brad Pitt, razor-sharp direction from Steven Soderbergh, and a pitch-perfect tone, Ocean’s Eleven didn’t just succeed—it redefined the modern heist genre. But what makes this 2001 remake of the original Frank Sinatra Rat Pack film so enduring? Why does it still hold up over two decades later—even after a wave of sequels and a soft reboot?
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The house takes you, unless when that perfect hand comes along, you bet big, and then you take the house
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Been practicing this speech earlier. A little bit, did I rush it? Felt like I rushed it. No, it was good, I liked it
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Ocean's Eleven is a classic, full stop, from Soderbergh's flashy direction, to arguably the greatest cast ever assembled, to a script that crackles with energy
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It's a total knockout. Really, the only flaw the film has is Don Cheadle's preposterous Cockney accent
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Hang on to your s. But the thing that makes Ocean's Eleven even better is that it's the blueprint for how we should handle the idea of remaking a film
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I know more about casino security than any man alive. I invented it, and it cannot be beaten
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The original Ocean's Eleven was released in August of 1960. The film, if you haven't seen it, bears little resemblance to the eventual Soderbergh masterpiece
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The picture tells a slow and meandering story of Danny Ocean, played by Frank Sinatra
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organizing a heist utilizing his old platoon of World War II soldiers
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These former members of the 82nd Airborne aim to simultaneously rob five casinos at once
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leaving with just over a million dollars per man. However, this exhilarating high concept is anything but in the finished film
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The first 30 minutes are a plodding mess of Ocean and his partner in crime, Jimmy Foster
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played by Peter Lawford, going around and attempting to recruit all their former colleagues
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there's only one problem. It sucks. I think the only reason why I got into this cape
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is so I could see you again. A getting the band together sequence is the best part of any large ensemble story
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but not this one. In fact, all of the character introductions are confrontationally forgettable
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Well, other than Sammy Davis Jr.'s introduction, that is. Why? Because it's literally him singing
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He's charismatic. He lights up the screen and gives you everything you want to know
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about the character's happy-go-lucky attitude immediately. If only this same care and craft
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had been given to any of the other characters' setups, sequences, maybe we would have had a story that was worth watching
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50% of something is better than 100% of nothing. The film overall is dull, uninspired, and poorly paced
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The story has no momentum. The character dynamics outside of Ocean and his ex-wife are unmemorable
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And the actual heists are more the realm of pure fantasy than the somewhat grounded escapism
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that the film initially sets itself up as To add insult to injury the film attempt at a poetically ironic ending with the stolen money being hidden in the coffin of one of the thieves who passed away
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from a heart attack during the commotion, doesn't land, and just leaves you feeling like
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why did I sit through all this? The deceased is being cremated. In short, the film was made so that Sinatra, Martin
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and the rest of the Rat Pack could hang out while performing in their Las Vegas residencies
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And the film feels like it. It's an afterthought on just about every level. But here's where we get into the really interesting aspect of this story
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Normally, a project like this would be forgotten to time, doomed to obscurity
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not niche enough to receive a boutique physical media re-release from Arrow or Vinegar Syndrome
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and not mainstream enough to be re-evaluated by Criterion. And what you got was a producer with a vision seeing a diamond in the rough, Jerry Weintraub
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Jerry Weintraub is... Jerry Weintraub is... Jerry Weintraub is... He's a puncher
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Yes, most people credit Soderbergh with making the film work, but Weintraub was the super producer that picked up this pearl out of a pebbled beach
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and saw it for what it was, a massive franchise in the making
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Weintraub had the brilliant idea of using the framework of a heist film with a large cast of stars to recreate the old studio system vehicle
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for actors to get together and just be cool. In a world before interconnected superhero universes
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the idea of Ocean's Eleven was a risky and pricey proposition. Get all the biggest movie stars of their generation together for one movie
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Boy, did you guys get a group rate or something? To make this project work, Weintraub knew he'd have to make it creatively enticing
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and convince Steven Soderbergh, director of Sex, Lies, and Videotape, and Out of Sight, to come in and helm this gargantuan undertaking
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Adding to that the idea that you'd have an arthouse auteur like Soderbergh at the helm? This thing was either going to go down in flames or be an all-time great
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The basic setup of the film follows the idea of the original in spirit only
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You've got Danny Ocean planning a heist of three casinos simultaneously, the complicated relationship with his ex-wife Tess
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played by Julia Roberts, and a large crew of burglars. The military platoon angle
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awful attempts at 60s camp humor, and the songs are all gone
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Here to stay is a minimalist approach to character and a maximalist approach to structure Do you think we need one more You think we need one more All right we get one more The film has intrigue excitement and plot twists galore
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It's a crime film with a beating heart and beautiful cinematography, well beyond what would normally be expected of a film in this style
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The characters feel lived in and well-drawn, just the fact that the central friendship in the film is Rusty and Danny
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knowing each other so well that they're already aware of what the other person is feeling
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makes you excited to see what they're going to do next. It's fun to be around these two guys
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who are so aware of each other's quirks and they feel like real people, not characters
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Every character, no matter the screen time, feels equally well-constructed. Well, other than the previously mentioned
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horrible accent by Don Cheadle, look, no film is perfect. It'd be nice working with proper villains again
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Soderbergh's Ocean Eleven should be looked at as a textbook example of not just how to make a film
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but how to execute a remake. Like it or not, this idea of remaking movies
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is something that's here to stay. The idea of taking a name that people are dimly aware of
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and then injecting it with more passion, excitement, and production value is much more alluring
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than the current way of producing remakes. We don't need any more big budget video game adaptations
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or Scream sequels or live action Disney remakes. No one on earth needs a shot for shot redo of anything
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What we need, if we're gonna have to suffer through this remake Armageddon, is to take films that are diamonds in the rough
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and polish them. Find films that have potential to be great, but need more elbow grease
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We need a film industry that's going to take Troll 2 or Samurai Cop or Manos and the Hands of Fate
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and reimagine them for a new day. Low-budget schlock, forgotten studio fare, or cult classics that the broader public isn't aware of
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and develop them into something more worthy of whatever the original spark of creativity was
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that caused them to get made in the first place. This town, your luck can change just that quickly
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Frank Sinatra did not care at all about making Ocean's Eleven, and pairing him with the patron saint of sloth, Dean Martin
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didn't exactly help counterbalance that lack of work ethic. The original Ocean's Eleven is a shoddy film with piss-poor performances
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which only existed because the Illuminati of Hollywood at the time were literally already hanging out anyway
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And look the idea of actually approaching remakes this way is easier said than done Many have tried most have failed but when you get it right it really works Ocean 11 has now spawned a four movie franchise
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pulling in collectively over $500 million. The magic that captured with these characters
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and this world is instantly apparent. I hope you were the groom
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Ted Nugent called, he wants his shirt back. But to prove how difficult it can be
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to perform this magic trick, just look at Ocean's 8. When it came time to make a reboot of the franchise
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What did they do? Not a spiritual successor, but essentially just made a remake
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Debbie and Lou? They're carbon copies of Danny and Rusty. Even the franchise that is the shining example of take the spirit of the thing and adapt that
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couldn't do it successfully a second time. They opted for the safe route of giving people exactly what they thought they wanted
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Ultimately, the industry doesn't want to learn this lesson. It's much easier to just produce something that's exactly what everyone knows they're going to want
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Snow White? But now with photography instead of animation? sounds like a plan
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Ocean's works because everyone involved in the project wasn't using it as a stepping stone
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to the next invisible brass ring. They really wanted to make it. Everyone involved in the project
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obviously really liked the material and the other people they were working with
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They're all for me. I like making those movies. Those movies are good for me
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Sure, Soderbergh is a bit of an outlier in that his journeyman performances still have a central idea or theme to them
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All his work is in dialogue with itself. But even so, look at examples like Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead
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or John Carpenter's The Thing, or Brian De Palma's Scarface. When this approach to building a narrative is employed
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you get much more interesting and exciting outcomes. When you don't, you get the Robocop remake
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the 1998 Psycho, and live-action Ghost in the Shell. If we're going to spend $200 million on a film project
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let's try and get it to say something other than what the original already said
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Let's try and make an original statement. But therein lies the rub. that's not the business Hollywood is in these days
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It's just about milking everything for as much money as they can
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And therefore, this approach is rarely taken. But maybe, just maybe, if we all get together and cheer loud enough
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maybe the powers that be will never let Don Cheadle do another English accent ever again
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You taught us. You had one job to do