Ocean’s Eleven (2001)
Desperate times call for desperate measures. Personally, I loathe sexism in cinema and view each incidence of it as perpetuating that social ill in the most insidious of ways. Ocean’s Eleven contains that sexism at its very core, but in an overall package that is, unarguably, an uplifting tentpole movie. It is a ‘David and Goliath’ story, as a rag-tag group of underdogs take on the big, bad corporate enemy. It is a film in which there is crime and a specific target, but little to no violence. These guys execute a plan to strike at a bad guy, using their wits and talents to succeed, instead of machine guns.
As the tale twists, and we realize that the gang have achieved their main goal, we share their elation. While their grins may initially seem smug, leaving the bad guy standing in a vault surrounded by flyers, their emotion standing at the dancing fountain the following evening is not. Our anti-heroes wander off, one by one, having potentially changed their lives for the better, and proven that respect, talent and intellect will always trump brute force.
Published: Aug 27, 2014 02:16 pm