Filmmaking Lessons from ‘The Ocean’s Trilogy - ‘Ocean’s Twelve’ + ‘Ocean’s Thirteen’
The People v. Ocean’s Twelve
Ocean’s Eleven made $450 million on an $85 million budget. So, obviously, you know what that means. Ocean’s Twelve was a highly-anticipated sequel. Everyone was coming back. The movie takes place in Europe. It was bigger and more ambitious. When the movie came out, audiences and critics went, “The fuck?” It wasn’t well-received. It was called sloppy and smug. I shared a lot of these sentiments. Then I kept rewatching it. It was the obligatory sequel I had to sit through when I rewatched the trilogy. Then something clicked: It was the most accurate movie about what it’s like to make movies. I love this movie.
George A. Velez Seal of Approval
In Hollywood, when you make a sequel, you’re expected to do one thing: Make the same movie, but bigger. Don’t reinvent the wheel. Do what people liked about the first one. This is a double-edged sword with sequels. If you make the same movie, the audience complains about how predictable and unimaginative the sequel is. If you experiment too much, the audience complains about how it’s not the movie they want. It’s a delicate balancing act and it’s hard to please everyone.
He’s so good-looking, it makes me fucking angry.
Ocean’s Twelve takes a lot of chances. It has all the things that made the first one great: Movie stars, glamour, fun characters, and a love story. But Steven Soderbergh is not going to do what you expect him to. Ocean’s Eleven is probably his most accessible film but Soderbergh is the experimental indie darling at heart. He’s going to break apart everything you expect from a genre and present it in a way you did not expect. Ocean’s Twelve is an indie arthouse film disguised as a crowd-pleasing Hollywood blockbuster. An indie-style film with a $120 million budget and movie stars.
How people react when I tell them Ocean’s Twelve is brilliant.
The premise is Terry Benedict catches up with Ocean’s Eleven and demands his money back with interest or he’s gonna murder them. By the way, Benedict got the money back from the insurance company and he plans to murder them anyway. Terry Benedict is fucking crazy. Since the crew is too hot to work in the states, they head to Europe. This location dictates the filmmaking style of the whole film. Eleven was a Hollywood film. Twelve is a European film. European cinema is challenging for an American audience. It doesn’t follow the same rules. Twelve has non-traditional editing choices. Steven Soderbergh (also, the cinematographer of the series) has changed the visual language of the film, experimenting with color, zooms, and long takes. He pushes the film stock till the image is grainy, which is something most filmmakers try to avoid. He embraces the imperfections of certain filmmaking techniques, a sharp contrast to the precise and disciplined Eleven.
I’m trying to make enough money to live in a French villa.
Maybe this is a way to get funding for my flicks.
It’s a movie about how hard it is to make a sequel. And in doing that, it explores how hard it is to make a movie. There are great movies about making movies: 8 1/2, Irma Vep, and Day for Night, for example. But Ocean’s Twelve is the best movie about making movies. There is a scene where Danny and Rusty are walking and talking trying to crack their next heist. They talk about Roman Nagel, who’s “pushing this holographic technology. Can reproduce anything 3D.” They talk about how life outside capers sucks. Danny says. “Can’t turn my brain off. It’s me. I go into some place and all I can do is see the angles. It’s what I do. It’s what I’ve always done. I love it.” Danny and Rusty are the director-producer duo that loves what they do. They’re in a changing industry where it’s tough to stay fresh and come up with new ideas in a world where you could make anything appear digitally. They put this modern technology to use in their heist eventually. Danny and Rusty have to stay one step ahead when all eyes are on them. They have to keep the momentum and do something new. It’s the position Steven Soderbergh was in when he made this movie; a position any filmmaker can relate to.
My face when they tell me my movie’s budget is too high.
Who Am I Supposed to be?
I’m going to talk about the most controversial elements of Ocean’s Twelve. Danny, Rusty, and the entire crew get arrested. In an act of desperation, Linus, Basher, and Turk call the twelfth member of the crew: Tess Ocean. Throughout the film, Linus has been saying Tess looks like a celebrity but before he can say the celebrity’s name, someone cuts him off. The crew asks Tess to impersonate said celebrity: Julia Roberts. This is a plot point that lost certain audience members forever. Tess is supposed to pretend to be Julia Roberts visiting a museum to distract everyone while Linus swipes Fabergé Coronation egg. Basher gives Tess tips on how to convincingly mimic Julia Roberts’ accent. Which is another in-joke because Don Cheadle was criticized for his terrible brilliant accent. During this part of the caper, the crew bumps into Bruce Willis, playing himself. Tess now has to pretend to be Julia Roberts in front of a celebrity. It doesn’t work.
Are we making a movie or are we in the movie?
The movie broke the fourth wall. Some even say jumped the shark. Again, I used to feel this way as well. But this scene is more than about being cute and winking at the audience. This is Soderbergh’s way of saying “this has been about filmmaking the whole time.” Bruce Willis and Julia Robert in this scene is a reference to Robert Altman’s The Player, a comedy that satirizes Hollywood. In that film, Bruce Willis and Julia Roberts play themselves and star in a highly anticipated courtroom drama that’s rewritten to include a false happy ending. Soderbergh is satirizing Hollywood, talking about how hard it is to be an artist in the film industry.
Yep. Definitely gonna start robbing casinos to finance my flicks.
The person that sold Ocean’s Eleven to Benedict was a French master thief named François Toulour AKA The Night Fox. He sold them out because Toulour’s mentor didn’t correct someone when they said The Benedict Job was the best heist he’d ever seen. Toulour sold them out so he and Danny can race to steal the same item: the Coronation Egg. Toulour being French is not accident. Danny and Toulour’s rivalry symbolizes the debate over Auteur Theory. Auteur Theory is something that gained prominence when François Truffaut wrote the director is the “author” of the film. It gives the director credit for the success of the film. It should also be noted that Toulour and Truffaut share the same first name. Toulour is hellbent on receiving respect and adoration for his accomplishments. He’s no slouch. He’s definitely one of the best in the world. After all, he stole a yacht no one could find.
He can tear up the fucking dance floor too.
When everyone meets up after Benedict has found them, they all take umbrage at the fact that he said, “I’m not the only one in the world looking for Ocean’s Eleven.” Frank says he’s a private contractor. Livingston says the moniker is insulting and Basher says, “We all added our areas of expertise. Without us, it don’t leave you head, mate” Danny doesn’t care about this credit. He just like stealing because he enjoys it and he loves working with a crew. He’s a director who loved the collaboration. Toulour on the other hand, works alone. And that’s what leads to his downfall. Toulour believes in auteur theory and that’s not what filmmaking is about.
You’re right, George. Ocean’s Twelve is a brilliant movie.
Most film trilogies are terrible. The hype has died down. By the time you’ve started the third one, the industry has changed so drastically. The third one is usually considered shit. You’re not as fresh or cool as you used to be. And that’s what Ocean’s Thirteen is about. The world is changing. The industry will move on without us. Ocean’s Thirteen is a swan song. Not only for the trilogy but an era in Hollywood.
In 2007, Hollywood was a different place. Superhero movies weren’t as prominent in 2001. The Dark Knight and the MCU were only a year away. But even before that, comic book films were picking up a lot of steam. Every studio was trying to get their hands on whatever comic property they could find. Pretty soon, movie stars would be old hat. Superheroes would be the new movie stars.
Digital cinematography is also on the horizon. David Fincher and Michael Mann have just shot their previous films on digital cameras and they’ve been singing their praises. Steven Soderbergh will shoot his next films, Che Part 1 & 2, on the RED One camera. Ocean’s Thirteen will be the last movie Steven Soderbergh will shoot on celluloid. Thirteen is back in Las Vegas but it builds on the visual grammar of Twelve. The film is more colorful, has more elaborate and experimental montages, longer takes, and more complex blocking. The perfect way to film a final installment.
Cheers. I miss you so damn much.
Lucky number 13
Sinatra’s Hand
When the movie starts, times are changing for our crew. Reuben has been swindled out of a contract by Las Vegas mogul, Willy Bank (Al Pacino). They were opening a casino. Reuben suffers a heart attack and becomes bedridden, refusing to speak. Willy and Reuben are from a different generation. They take pride in being around so long that they’ve shaken Sinatra’s hand. There is a code amongst those who have shaken his hand. Bank doesn’t care about Sinatra’s hand or the code. He’s used Reuben’s money and resources to get what he wants and now he’s muscling him out of the casino. Bank evolved. He stayed current with trends and technology. Reuben has spent too much time worrying about his legacy and the old days. He isn’t sharp anymore and that’s led to him getting played.
Al Pacino low-key a fashion icon.
The crew has one mission: ruin Willy Bank. They plan to prevent his hotel from winning The Five Diamond Award, an award he’s won numerous times for his previous hotels, and to rig all the games in his casino so it loses money on opening night. The crew finds themselves stuck. They ask for the help of Roman Nagel who tells them they’re “analog players in a digital world,” echoing where the industry is headed in terms of cinematography. Problems are popping up left and right. Willy Bank’s casino has the most sophisticated security systems in the world. Malloy organizes a strike in the dice manufacturing factory in Mexico. In 2007, a Writer’s Strike was on the horizon. And finally, the crew is running out of money. Without Reuben, the crew has to finance the caper themselves.
“Maybe we can crowdfund?”
They decide to go to the only person that can give them money for the heist: Terry Benedict. That’s how desperate they are. They go to someone they hate just as much as Willy Bank. However, he’s their only option. Terry Benedict is now the movie studio. Reuben was the movie studio they loved working with. He gave them creative control and was a wonderful collaborator. Benedict just cares about beating his rival. But Benedict is not the collaborator Reuben was. He has concessions. He wants to be the first person paid, his investment doubled, and the crew to steal Bank’s other Five Diamond Awards, his most prize possessions. The studio has made its demands and now the money can be made. So, the crew has compromised itself but the heist can be made. The filmmakers have made their deal with the studio and the movie is back in production.
I wanna be Danny Ocean so bad.
Frank Sinatra’s ghost haunts this movie more than others. It’s the first movie where he is mentioned by name and the first movie to feature one of his songs. Danny, Rusty, and the crew are able to make Bank’s casino lose money, they prevent him from winning the Five Diamond Award, and they’ve stolen the rest of the Five Diamonds. His time in Las Vegas is finished. He’s been around so long, he shook Sinatra’s hand; something Danny points out in their last conversation together. Bank should have been a collaborator; a true partner. He should have known better.
The crew is triumphant against the metaphorical movie studios (Bank and Benedict). The last time we see them echoes the Bellagio Fountains scene in Eleven. They watch the fireworks while we hear Frank Sinatra sing, This Town. It’s ironically joyous. The melody is bombastic while we hear Sinatra sing, “This town is a use you town and abuse you town.” It could be a song about Vegas or…Hollywood.
Town’s Changed
Here we are. 15 years removed from Ocean’s Thirteen. Digital cinematography is now the norm. Superhero movies are the highest-grossing films at the box office. The old-school movie star is a dying breed. Tom Cruise might be the last one. With streaming services snatching up content left and right, there was a lot of hope for filmmakers. There was a big debate about the future of the film industry. With all the studios focusing on releasing their blockbusters in movie theaters, streaming services like Netlfix, Apple TV, and HBO Max became homes for filmmakers. They had creative control and an expensive budget. The Irishman and Roma barely make any money if they’re released in theaters but when they’re on Netflix, they’re number one.
George thinking of a new movie idea.
The streaming bubble has burst. Everyone wanted content until the bubble burst. Now, streaming services are reevaluating their content as they lose subscribers. The market is oversaturated. There are too many services and they’ve spent too much money on content that people are not paying attention to. Streaming looked like a promising hub for a lot of filmmakers, whether you’re established or up and coming. Now people are losing their jobs. Narrative departments are being slashed. Now, filmmakers are wondering where the hell we’re gonna go. And if you go to the movies, blockbusters rarely take chances like Ocean’s Twelve. No one knows what’s happening and everyone is worried. I wonder what Danny and Rusty are up to. Hopefully, they’ve adapted and can tell us struggling filmmakers where to go…or give us tips on how to rob casinos.
George pitching his next movie.
In the middle of Thirteen, Danny and Rusty walk along the Las Vegas strip and stop at the Bellagio Fountain. Rusty talks about all the blueprints he’s looked through; two pros trying to get through their most difficult job. They reminisce about how they met Reuben and he gave them their start. They talk about the casinos that once stood there and how different things are while Soderbergh plays Clair de Lune once more; this time with a melancholic irony; they’re analog played in a digital world. If they were talking about movies, the dialogue wouldn’t be any different.
“They built them a lot smaller back then”
“They seemed pretty big.”
“Town’s changed.”
An analysis of Steven Soderbergh’s ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ and its commentary on filmmaking