Remakes are almost always met with the same reaction upon announcement: “why?”. To many, remakes are a sign of laziness on the part of studios, opting to lean-in on what audiences know or have a relationship with rather than taking a chance on something new. Every now and then, however, magic happens and the newer version is able to sit right next to the original as its own thing. This describes director Steven Soderbergh (Out of Sight) and writer Ted Griffin’s (Matchstick Men) Ocean’s Eleven (2001), a remake/adaptation of the 1960 version featuring the Rat Pack. The 2001 version not only captured the essence and energy of the prior film, it stole audience’s hearts with its cleverness and charm. So much so that two more films, Ocean’s Twelve (2004) and Ocean’s Thirteen (2007), would follow, taking the George Clooney-led ensemble on adventures in Las Vegas, through Europe, and back to Vegas. Now, for the first time, Warner Bros. Pictures is set to release all three films in 4K UHD, available as either individual steelbooks or as a collection, complete with all the previously available bonus features.
Fresh out of jail, thief Danny Ocean (Clooney, (Out of Sight)) has a plan to commit a heist unlike any done before: robbing three casinos all at once. Ocean and his assembled ten-person team of specialists head to Las Vegas, aware that their target, Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia, (Confidence)), is not a man to be trifled with, so they must get in and out clean … a task made more difficult when it’s revealed that Benedict’s lover is Danny’s ex-wife Tess (Julia Roberts, (Erin Brockovich)). Three years later, despite getting away as intended, Ocean and his cohorts are found by Benedict and are told that they must pay back all they stole plus interest or face death within a few weeks. Unable to pull it together from what remains of the score, the group dubbed “Ocean’s 11” head to Europe in hopes of doing enough jobs to make the deadline, only to discover it’s all a setup by famous thief The Night Fox (Vincent Cassel, (Brotherhood of the Wolf)) to discover who is the better thief. Well after that adventure is resolved, the gang comes together for one more heist when their friend and original heist financier, Reuben Tishkoff (Elliot Gould, (The Player)), falls into a coma after being grossly mistreated out of a casino deal by established businessman Willy Bank (Al Pacino, (The Devil’s Advocate)). Normally, the group tries to keep things professional, but this time it’s personal and Ocean’s 11 are going to break Bank to get payback.
In the featurette “Are You In or Out? The Making of Ocean’s Eleven,” Soderbergh explains that after doing a series of dramas, he was interested in doing something lighter. Keeping in mind that his three films prior to Eleven are The Limey (1999), Erin Brockovich (2000), and Traffic (2000), one can certainly sympathize with the desire. But opting to adapt/remake a film starring the Rat Pack is a mighty task with its own specific pressures requiring the filmmaker to nail the cast, the tone, the look, and the approach to the story. It’s safe to say that Soderbergh sticks the landing with his rendition of Eleven, adapting the film for modern sensibilities (including cell phone and other modern tech), while keeping the fashion in the ‘60s/’70s, and the tone to make that particular type of crime thriller. Of course, Soderbergh would make changes (reducing the musical numbers to nil and Saul Bloom survives), and doing so would set the stage for two more films to come. The second, released and taking place roughly three years after the first, utilizes both European visual flourishes and locations in a tale that’s as much a continuation of the first as it is almost a retelling, replacing Danny and Tess for Rusty (Brad Pitt, (Snatch)) and new character Isabel Lahiri (portrayed with wonderful exuberance by Catherine Zeta-Jones, (Traffic)). In this case, Isabel is a law enforcement officer with whom Rusty falls in love and he runs off right before she finds clues that tie him to a crime, thereby creating the necessary romantic tension that underscores the cerebral back-and-forth as she tries to nab Rusty and the rest of the Eleven. As far as Thirteen is concerned, it feels like an amalgamation of the first two films — Reuben’s been done dirty by a fellow casino owner, the team incorporates help from Linus’s (Matt Damon, (Oppenheimer)) family, both The Night Fox and Benedict are out-matched, and a great deal of money is won for the Eleven. But considering how much fun this cast is to watch, who really cares how much the narrative echoes? It’s been nearly 17 years since Thirteen hit theaters and the nose still plays.
In his role as cinematographer, Soderbergh took great pains to find natural indoor locations in which to shoot Eleven. It’s evident again with Twelve, each shot looking beautiful in composition, matching either the opulent energy of the former or the on-the-run energy of the latter. There’s a strange shift with Thirteen wherein the usage of natural lighting results in scenes wherein the characters are either unlit at all or their skin tones look burnt. Whether it’s Danny standing in Reuben’s kitchen as he and Rusty inform returning character Roman (Eddie Izzard, (Mystery Men)) of their predicament (a smart use of exposition that still possesses character beats and propulsive energy for the narrative), his face looking rose red as Soderbergh captures the scene through a window, or Al Pacino’s Willy Bank standing outside, there’s a strange red that goes beyond the orange-yellow-red hues of Bank’s The Bank casino. Perhaps it’s the mix of natural light of Twelve with the colorfulness of Eleven, but the mix in Thirteen in a few scenes just results in a strange unpleasantness despite the story being greatly satisfying, even as it is mostly a composition of the first two films. In short, the first two films in this 4K UHD remaster are beautiful, the images clearly getting more detailed, the greater range of color only improving what was shot on film in 2001 and 2004. Thirteen, however, doesn’t look as good as one might hope from a 4K UHD, but that seems to be an issue with the film itself (having checked against a prior released Blu-ray edition) and not the remastering process. Perhaps it’s watching all three films back-to-back that makes this particular issue standout (in addition to the enhanced image quality and color spectrum) whereas it may not have been noticed before.
If snagging this collection is on your agenda, be advised of your options. All three versions mentioned do include the previously available bonus materials, so if you’re upgrading or purchasing for the first time, you’ll get all the behind the scenes content that will educate you on the making of all three capers. These films are being released on digital, as a collection, and as individual limited edition steelbooks. The digital requires no explanation, so let’s get into the steelbooks for the collectors out there. Each film gets its own case, stylized like a deck of cards, evoking that “You Shook Sinatra’s Hand” energy of the series. Eleven is red and white, Twelve is black-and-white, and Thirteen is white and red. In addition to the colors, each cover contains iconography tied directly to the narrative, whether its cards and roulette wheels, European art and a Fabergé Coronation Egg, or Banks’s precious diamonds. WB Home Entertainment sent the Trilogy collection for review, which is a standard black 4K UHD case with the capacity to hold three discs. The front of the liner is styled like an Ace of Spades facecard with two versions of Clooney in profile at the center-top and center-bottom, a red poker chip coming out of the top toward the left and a black poker chip doing the same on the bottom. To the sides of Clooney are versions of both Damon and Pitt, with the rest of the significant cast members much smaller and popping up above and below the title of the collection, which is framed in the center of the design. The back features a photo of Damon, Clooney, and Pitt from the end of Thirteen, the collection information, special features listing, and usual home release info. Each disc has new art from prior editions, each respective disc possessing a design similar to the steelbook description, giving each of the discs a unique presentation. Unless collecting steelbooks is really your thing, the single three-film collection is not only economical in terms of space (much slimmer than the combined three individual steelbooks), but cost-effective.
Soderbergh really pulled off a miracle with Eleven, creating a film that can sit beside the original and maybe even get folks who are unaware of its source to go back and check it out. That two more stories, fun and exciting in their own way, followed makes sense from a business perspective, and yet it’s still shocking at how uniformly appreciated these films as a series are. If there is something to comment negatively, it’s that the proposed new trilogy, Gary Ross’s Ocean’s Eight lead by Sandra Bullock (Gravity) never got off the ground. It, too, is a cool and sleek caper executed by a cast game to get silly, even as the characters take it seriously. Would’ve been great to see where those characters would have gone. Until then, at least we have the stories of the original gang of Eleven in a brand-new 4K UHD remaster to remind ourselves that if you’re got the right team and a good plan, you’ve got a great chance to beat the house.
Ocean’s Trilogy Special Features:
Ocean’s Eleven
- Commentary by Steven Soderbergh and Ted Griffin
- Commentary by Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, and Andy Garcia
- Are You In or Out? The Making of Ocean’s Eleven
- Pros & Cons: Inside Ocean’s Outfit
- The Style of Steal
- The Look of the Con
- Original Ocean’s, Original Cool
Ocean’s Twelve
- Commentary by Steven Soderbergh and George Nolfi
- Ready, Jet Set, Go: The Making of Ocean’s Twelve
- HBO First Look: Twelve Is the New Eleven: The Making of Ocean’s Twelve
- Deleted Scenes
Ocean’s Thirteen
- Commentary by Steven Soderbergh, Brian Koppelman, and David Levien
- Third’s a Charm: The Making of Ocean’s Thirteen
- Ahab with a Piggyback: The Means & Machines of Ocean’s
- Jerry Weintraub Walk and Talk
- Masters of the Heist
- Deleted Scenes
Available on individual 4K UHD limited edition steelbook, three-film collection, and digital April 30th, 2024.
For more information, head to the official Warner Bros. Pictures Ocean’s Trilogy webpage.
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