Stealing Beauties... DVD (James Bond - On Her Majesty's Secret Service (Ultimate Edition, 2 DVDs))

Member Name: miriamb

Product:	James Bond - On Her Majesty's Secret Service (Ultimate Edition, 2 DVDs)
Date:	19/10/02 (335 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Highly entertaining

Disadvantages: Final outcome is predictable

Ocean's Eleven was the not-such-a-surprise big screen and big budget hit of earlier this year. Directed by Stephen Soderbergh of Traffic and Erin Brockovich fame, and with an enviably star-studded cast list, it was always destined for great things. Although I actually missed its cinematic release, it was universally recommended. And so, when I went browsing through play.com for some inspiration and came across the DVD release, I went for it.

Danny Ocean is released from prison. Within 24 hours he is setting up for the big kill, three of Las Vegas' biggest casinos share a vault containing up to 150 million dollars. The owner of said casinos is now shacked up with his ex-wife. He sets his eyes on both. What more do you need to know?

So there, in a nutshell, you have the plot. Of course it's slightly more complicated, as the vault is guarded by a succession of security measures. In order to get to the money and take off with it, Danny needs to recruit a variety of villains, all with specific tasks and expertise, ranging from the funding of the operation, to the surveillance, to the get-away car. And, amazingly enough, in total there are eleven, hence the title.

The actors dazzle; we have George Clooney as Danny, Brad Pitt as his right-hand man Rusty, Julia Roberts plays the ex-wife Tess, Andy Garcia as Terry Benedict is the casino-owner and ex-wife-lover, Matt Damon plays Linus - debut big-time crim, do I need to go on..? I imagine you've probably got the idea. Eye candy is certainly on the cards for the ladies, but boys, you'll have to make do with sole female Julia Roberts. It's a very "beautiful" film, and the focus on aesthetics is mirrored in the cinematography. It's ever such an attractive film to watch.

But more than just being an impressive visual experience, it's actually really well written and genuinely funny in parts. The banter between the get-away brothers
in particular is a joy, and the sharp dialogue between Danny and Tess is well delivered. I didn't expect this film to be quite so amusing, but it was. Equally, I didn't expect it to move me, which it also did. You can call me a film-snob, I don't mind and you're probably right, but I maintain that for every ten Hollywood blockbusters that's released, there is one (if you're lucky) that's actually rather good. Ocean's Eleven is one of the few.

Having not seen the original 1960 film, I can't provide a compare-and-contrast discussion. But as a modern-day heist story it's great: contemporary cultural references such as Lennox Lewis and David Holmes' fantastic, effortlessly funky lounge-core soundtrack firmly place the story in the present.

Directed by Soderbergh, produced by Jerry Weintraub, and with a screenplay by Ted Griffin, this is a truly entertaining and well executed film. My only regret is that I didn't see it on the big screen.


In addition to the usual trailers, scene access and language/subtitle options, the DVD release contains two - yes that's TWO - audio commentaries that you can run alongside the film. One is with Soderbergh and Griffin (director and screenwriter if you haven't been paying attention), and one with Brad Pitt, Andy Garcia and Matt Damon. Both are amusing, entertaining and enlightening. In the cast commentary, when they tell you how much fun it was to make the film, you really do believe them, and a real affection for the film, cast and crew is continually apparent.

There's also a 15 minute Making Of documentary and a really interesting 10 minute doc called The Look of The Con, which goes through the costume design process and really illuminates the relationship between the actor, character, and costume. The former contains interviews with cast and crew, and the latter is fascinating in terms of the actors relationships
w
ith their characters. Some of these docs only really give you half the story, but I was impressed by how much new information was compressed into the relatively short mini-features.

As well as all this, there's a DVD-ROM thingy that I can't use as I only have a CD-ROM drive - not good enough, kids. Apparently there's some sort of game (I think), and various web links. But don't panic because you can access the website just as easily by doing it the old fashioned way and typing www.oceans11.net into your web browser.


Overall, the film is great and the extras are definitely above average. Certified 12, this is a genuinely entertaining watch, and I would recommend it without hesitation. Hollywood, you done good ;)


Audio: 5.1 Dolby Digital/2.0 Dolby Surround
Aspect Ration: 1.85:1 Widescreen/Colour
Run Time: 181 minutes
Languages: English, French, Spanish
Hearing Impaired: English
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, Arabic, Greek
Dual-layer format
Certified 12

www.oceans11.net
£11.99 inc P&P from www.play.com


Oh and I promise to get this moved as soon as the DVD item becomes available - in the meantime, thanks for reading and rating :)

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