Ocean's Thirteen - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Ocean's Thirteen



Movie:
4K Video:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:



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Movie
Right on cue, Warner Brothers decided after the mediocre reception to Ocean’s Twelve it wold make a final film in the series (until the all female spin-off) going back to the Casino roots of the whole thing. Bringing back everyone by Catherine Zeta-Jones and Julia Roberts, Soderbergh created much of the same vibe as the first film, while changing up the pace a bit by having them play it all as a sabotage instead of heist. Clever? I thought so, and so did the audience as it became the 2nd most successful film of the entire franchise.

Fresh off the boat from their European encounter with crime, the crew are back in the United States and living their best lives. However, the crew gets called back together when their financial backer Reuben (Elliott Gould) gets swindled in his enterprise to open a brand new Casino. Turns out his partner, Will Bank (Al Pacino) screwed him over big time, leaving Reuben with a pittance pay out, and a heart attack that leaves the poor guy in bed with nothing left to live for. Naturally Danny Ocean (George Clooney) and Rusty (Brad Pitt) aren’t happy about it, and devise a plan to bring some pain and suffering to Willy Bank and his over inflated ego.

Turns out that Willy has sort of sold his soul to some rich men himself, and his reputation is on the line if he doesn’t deliver a hugely successful opening quarter for them. So, to make sure he doesn’t exactly attain that goal, Danny and his band of nerdowells do everything they can to sabotage the Casino’s grand opening with every dirty trick in the book. That means putting on disguises, rigging the games in the customer’s favor, and genuinely becoming a thorn in the side of the sleazebag who put their friend in a coma.

Ocean’s Thirteen may not be perfect, but it did what Twelve couldn’t do. It put the fun back into the caper game. Everyone is having a blast in their oles, with Clooney hamming it up as the overly suave and debonair Danny Ocean, and Eddie Izzard takes on a bigger role as the tech genius Roman. Also, lets face it. Who is better at playing a mob boss sleaze bag better than Al Pacino? The man grew up in the gangster film era and he can fall back into the role without even breaking a sweat. Plus the heists and rigging of the games are a load of fun. The film has a distinctly more comedic vibe than its predecessors, but being that the crew are intent on causing mischief, it actually fits in better than I thought it would. Sure, there’s plenty of serious moments, but everyone involved is just having a ball causing mayhem, and the humor coincides with that mischief




Rating:

Rated PG-13 for brief sensuality




Video:

Honestly, despite having a bit of an over the top color grading, Ocean’s Thirteen probably looks the best of the trilogy. The film is given an EXTREMELY intense red/orange push to everything, complete with bronzed skin tones, really rich red interiors on the Casino, and an almost hellish glow to everything. Soderbergh loves to go big or go home with his grading, and Thirteen is probably the most vivid and unique of the trilogy. Dine details are excellent all around, although I did notice some weird issues with smooth skins and sort of waxy looking details in the opening 15 minutes (especially during the face off between Rueben and Willy Bank), but that fades pretty quickly to a really clean look. There’s a nice layer of film grain over the entire production that screams film stock, and while I did notice some crushed blacks here and there, this is an exquisite (and rather unique) looking 4K UHD disc.








Audio:

Again, like the video, I feel that this is the best audio mix of the trilogy. As is the usual, the jazz inspired score fills the entire sound stage and the hustle and bustle of the Casino floor really keep the listener pinned in the middle of the room. Bass is huge and rather large this go around, with the earthquake and the helicopter scenes really standing out as some nice pant shakers. Once again the film likes to stay in the front of the room for most of the time, but when things get busy, or action pops off, then it gets real aggressive, real quick.







Extras:

• Audio Commentary with director Steven Soderbergh and writers Brian Koppelman & David Levin
• 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

Final Score: ​

Ocean’s Thirteen is a nice wrap up to the original trilogy. It sort of went back to the basics of a Casino heist over the stumblings of the 2nd film, but it also was the most over the top and ludicrous of them too. Comedy squeezed its way into the script more often than before, and the entire heist pushed the realm of credulity even more than the previous two films. That being said, I had a blast with Ocean’s Thirteen and consider it my second favorite of the franchise. The 4K UHD looks and sounds fantastic, and while the extras aren’t exactly huge, they’re more than adequate. Fun Watch.

As a heads up, I have linked to the Steelbook edition (which is also used as the top poster) due to the fact that I have reviewed the Disc from the 4K Trilogy set and the only way to get the single is via the steelbook (discs are identical, packaging is the only difference).



Technical Specifications:

Starring: George Clooney, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia, Brad Pitt, Bernie Mac, Don Cheadle, Eddie Izzard, Ellen Barkin
Directed by: Steven Soderbergh
Written by: George Clayton Johnson, Brian Koppelman, David Levien
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 HEVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, French (Canadian), French, German, Italian, Spanish (Castilian), Czech, Japanese DD 5.1, Spanish (Latin) DD 2.0
Subtitles: English SDH, French, German SDH, Italian SDH, Japanese, Spanish, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Mandarin (Traditional), Norwegian, Swedish
Studio: Warner Brothers
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 122 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: April 30th, 2024

Recommendation: Fun Watch