Ocean's Eleven

Style triumphs over substance

06 December 2008

This remake of the ratpack 1960 film was considered as that rare thing – an updated version of an old film that was actually better than the original. While this may well be the case, perhaps that is because the original wasn’t exactly a cinematic masterpiece. This isn’t to say that Ocean’s Eleven isn’t a good film, but it's the kind of film where you leave the cinema, convinced you have just watched a great movie, only for someone else to ask ‘what was it about?’ and you have no idea. A triumph of style over substance perhaps, to invoke that oft-used cliché, but it certainly applies here. From the glossy Las Vegas cinematography, to the soulful soundtrack put together by David Holmes, the film exudes cool. You can’t escape the feeling however, that perhaps alongside the complex scam going on in the movie, the viewer has somehow also been conned into seeing something that wasn’t there.

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