Are YOU in or out? (James Bond - On Her Majesty's Secret Service (Ultimate Edition, 2 DVDs))

Member Name: Katz1

Product:	James Bond - On Her Majesty's Secret Service (Ultimate Edition, 2 DVDs)
Date:	25/01/02 (102 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Witty dialog, great acting

Disadvantages: Pass

What do you get if you throw together a few Hollywood darlings, a Chinese acrobat, some other lesser known actors, a few disguises and some technical gadgets? Apart from a fair amount of eye-candy and presumably a very large budget, you also get an impressive, exciting film.
But how can this be, you might ask: if you have to pay the likes of George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia AND Julia Roberts, how could you possibly also afford a good director and a good scriptwriter? By persuading the actors to take a pay cut, that’s how. According to the film’s official site (http://oceans11.warnerbros.com/cmp/main.html), George Clooney was the first of the main cast to be recruited by the director Steven Soderbergh (Traffic, Erin Brokovich), and he was willing to accept less money than usual and then actively went about approaching the other big names, persuading them to waive their usual fee too – all for the good of the film – I never knew actors could be so selfless. It doesn’t say how much they did earn though, but I bet they didn’t go that short...

I’m still always dubious when I see that there are so many big movie stars together on one film as it usually spells disaster, too many famous faces, no story line (think “Bodyguard”, “Batman Forever” and “Only You”, for example). In this film, however, they seem to have managed to have both. This is a fast-paced, action-packed, visually impressive film with plenty of witty one liners and a few plot twists and surprises to keep you guessing. The acting is of a very high standard too, proving that the actors are worth their salt.

Brad Pitt and George Clooney work surprisingly well together on-screen. You’d almost think they were best-buddies off camera too, their air of camaraderie is so convincing. They also look very good together, but no surprises there. We get to see both of them with a range of “l
ooks” – in one scene, George has longish hair and is unshaven and in the next he is smooth, suave and sophisticated. Brad gets to wear a dodgy wig and comedy glasses at some point, but not for too long, thank goodness!

Julia Robert’s chemistry with Clooney is not as convincing but it is passable – she is supposed to be his ex though, so perhaps there isn’t meant to be that much chemistry?

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I went to see this film. I knew it was about a group of people robbing three casinos and I also knew who was starring, but that was pretty much it. I thought that it would probably just be a simple action caper and hence more a bloke’s film than a chick flick. Thankfully, there is a bit more to it than that though, so here goes...

The main character is Danny Ocean (Clooney). He is a man with a plan. We first meet him as he is talking his way into being let out on parole from prison and already formulating a plan to knock over three casinos in one night, Big Fight night to be more specific. Casinos have to hold more money on these nights and on the night in question there will be $150 million up for grabs. All of these casinos belong to the same person, the incredibly wealthy and slightly Mafioso-looking Terry Benedict (played by Andy Garcia). At this early point in the film, we do not really know Ocean’s motives, assuming that it is just money-lust or an excitement kick, or a mixture of the two. When we later discover that Benedict is actually dating Ocean’s ex-wife, yes you’ve guessed it, Julia Roberts, you wonder whether this is a mere coincidence.

As it will be such a difficult job, Ocean knows he will need more people than just himself to pull it off, which is when he sets about the task of enlisting the rest of the crew. Dusty Ryan (Pitt) is a professional card player/criminal who, for the moment, has decided to go straight and teach movie stars h
ow to play cards (cue a brief cameo of Joshua Jackson, playing himself I think). However, Ryan is pretty bored with this, as all the actors are pretty slow or too out of their heads on drugs or booze to actually learn anything, and it doesn’t take Ocean long to persuade him to come on board. After more careful thought, and assistance from Ryan, Ocean assembles eleven men (hence the name “Ocean’s Eleven”), including a talented young pick-pocket (Damon), a bomb expert (played by Don Cheadle), an electronics expert, an insider, a couple of bickering car maniac Mormon brothers (played by Casey Affleck and Scott Caan), a Chinese acrobat, and a sexagenarian professional con-man. He manages to persuade them all by informing them that they will all have an equal share of the substantial goods. Due to the elaborate plan, Ocean also has to recruit a “money man” to fund their preparation process. This he does by sweet-talking an old “queen” ex-casino owner (played by Elliot Gould, who you’ll probably recognise as Ross and Monica’s dad in “Friends”), a sworn enemy of Benedict and someone who is delighted to be involved in hitting him where it hurts.

There are plenty of moments where your heart will be in your mouth – will they set off the hi-tech sensors?, will they get locked in?, will they even get into the vault at all?, will Ocean get back together with his ex-wife? will the old man’s health hold out long enough for the plan to work? There are also some bizarre cameos from Josh Jackson as mentioned, plus the famous heavyweight boxers, Lennox Lewis and Dr. Wladimir Klitschko, who are playing themselves.

There is no real dark-side or cynicism to this film. All the characters are rather upbeat and good-natured, even though most of them are supposed to be hardened criminals. There are no brutal murder scenes, nor shocks of a sexual kind. It is more an action comedy with occa
sional attempts at seriousness.

You may also know that this film is a remake of the 1960 original “Rat Pack” movie, starring Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra et al. I have never seen this version but have heard that this one didn’t have much of a story and was just an excuse to get the most famous actors of the time together on a film with too many people and not enough for them to do. This isn’t the case in the current version – unless you count Julia Roberts; her role is not as large as any of the others. She seems to be the token female, although she still offers a good performance and her character IS central to the plot despite her not gracing the screen for long.

All in all, I would say that most people with a sense of humour who enjoy a straightforward plot but enough surprises to keep you guessing will enjoy this film. Blokes (sorry, generalising here) will like it because there is plenty of action, a good plot, stunning special effects, and of course Julia Roberts. Women (more generalising) will like it because the plot is clever and exciting, and there are plenty of sexy men doing dangerous things. It isn’t the best film I’ve ever seen (hence the four stars) but you will not be wasting your money if you do go to see it.

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