Why the Ocean’s trilogy is underrated
August 5, 2021
Intro to the Ocean's trilogy
There are three Oceans movies. Ocean’s Eleven, Twelve, and Thirteen, there is the original Ocean's 11 movie back in the 60s that featured Frank Sinatra and the most recent one Ocean’s 8 that featured a star-studded female cast. This post won’t be talking about those movies as this one is focusing on the trilogy. All of these movies are about heists pulled off by a team that was put together by Danny Ocean and Rusty in the first movie, Oceans 11. As you can guess by the title the team consists of 11 people and follows their adventures throughout three movies.
Characters
When dealing with a main cast of that size, creating unique and interesting characters can be difficult, but somehow this story pulls it off brilliantly. My first time watching this movie I was immediately entranced by the individuality of each character. Danny Ocean from the very first scene in the movie where he’s released from prison emits this suave feel. He’s cool, collected, witty, and confident in his plans. Rusty is the second in command of the ragtag of criminals, but it can even be argued that he is seen as the actual leader of the group. Rusty also encapsulates everything Danny Ocean has to offer, they are the dynamic duo, they keep each other in check throughout the series. In the first movie, Rusty was keeping Ocean in check and vice versa in the second. Everyone always goes to Rusty if they have an issue. While Rusty and Ocean are similar to each other, Rusty has his own quirks as well, especially his eating as for some reason throughout the films. He's always seen eating something. I can’t go into each of the characters individually as there are many of them and it would take a lot of writing from me and reading from you. It is probably best to experience them firsthand.
Story
The story throughout each movie is very entertaining and fun to experience. Obviously, since it is based on thieves, each movie is centred around a heist and follows the known beats a usual heist movie follows. Each movie takes the audience through the masterful plans that they come up with and usually shows in intricate details of what their plan consists of. Each movie’s heist was done for a reason that is more than just wanting to make a boatload of money and it’s sincere enough for me to want to root for them. Also, the villains are usually worse than our cast of antiheroes so that makes it easier for me to support them. The first and third movies are about robbing casinos, and the second movie is about stealing this jewelled egg that they are actually forced to rob. The motivations for each movie can be summarised as love, survival/love, and revenge.
Why it is underrated
I am not trying to say the Ocean's trilogy is one of the greatest trilogies of all time alongside The Godfather, The Nolan Batman, Kung Fu Panda, and some other great trilogies. I am just saying that I do think that they are very entertaining and fun to watch and that they have elements of what makes great movies. In total, the Ocean’s movies are a staple to the heist genre and leave their mark in a way that is fun, cool, and refreshing to see. The cast of characters are all interesting and a joy to see individually and connect with each other. Especially since the characters become more self-aware of their predicaments and actions it becomes more interesting. Again like I said earlier it has elements of great cinema: the cinematography is fantastic and has many memorable scenes along with great foreshadowing shots during the planning phase that you can see during the heist. Along with that, the soundtrack has some great songs that fit each setting and feeling perfect. Finally, I would probably rank the movies Eleven, Twelve, and Thirteen as 1,3, and 2 as my favourite to least favourite. The second can be kind of confusing. Overall if you like cool, funny, and unique characters that steal stuff, then watch the Ocean’s trilogy.