Ocean's Thirteen (Blu-ray)

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Video:

Considering this film is less than a year old, it comes as no surprise that "Ocean´s Thirteen" looks very good on the high definition Blu-ray format. The film is given a very intentional look representative of something filmed in the Seventies, but that only adds to the visual splendor and does not detract from the vivid colors of the Las Vegas strip or the high detail available by this VC-1 encoded film. This 2.4:1 widescreen film is nicely detailed and truly brings the neon lights and extravagant casinos to life. Soderbergh´s stylistic approach works well and there is never a moment when "Ocean´s Thirteen" disappoints in the visual department. Colors are very bright and perfectly saturated. There is perhaps no more colorful place on Earth than Las Vegas and the town is as colorful as ever here. Detail is also very good and clothing threads, stone textures and facial features are all perfectly captured by the high definition transfer. Source materials were pristine and I could not recall any memorable flaws in either the print used or the digital transfer. I wouldn´t say that "Ocean´s Thirteen" is among the absolute best Blu-ray titles, but it is certainly above average.

Sound:

It was somewhat disheartening to discover that "Ocean´s Thirteen" supplied only a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack and no TrueHD or Uncompressed PCM soundtrack. However, after watching the film, I was quite pleased with how it sounded and felt that the multi-channel surround mix perfectly captured the style intended by Soderbergh and the sounds of Las Vegas. Ambient effects were abound in the rear surrounds as slot machines and other casino sounds could be cleanly heard. I´ve been to the Atlantic City casinos and know of how enveloping an experience they are to the ears and this Dolby Digital mix and the film nicely captures that experience. The musical score by David Holmes pays homage to the Seventies, but is of itself a modern sounding score that is warm and detailed. The .1 LFE channel rumbles quite heavily during the energentic earthquake sequences and the amount of tremble with the bass during these scenes rivaled any other film´s usage of the low frequency effects channel. Dialogue was as smooth as the actors. French and Spanish 5.1 channel soundtracks were also included.

Extras:

The high definition releases of "Ocean's Eleven" features an exclusive commentary track and feature documentary. The Commentary by Director Steven Soderbergh and Screenwriters Brian Koppelman and David Levien is a very technical commentary, but it gives a ton of insight into the making of the film, various changes in the story and characters and other juicy nuggets of information that make this an overly informative track that is entertaining in its details. The Masters of the Heist (44:02) is another high definition exclusive that looks at four actual high tech capers that actually happened and detail how they were performed. The capers were not actually high tech and each of the criminals eventually failed, but it was quite intriguing. This was a very nice documentary and certainly made the Blu-ray or HD-DVD releases far more attractive than their standard definition stablemate. I certainly recommend taking the forty five minutes to enjoy these actual stories that make the heists of the "Ocean" series a little more believable. The involvement of Penn and Teller made this all the more entertaining.

The feature Vegas: An Opulent Illusion (22:47) combines the storyline of "Ocean's 13" with the grand world of Las Vegas and how Sin City caters to the high rollers and strives to always become bigger and better. The Las Vegas strip is the main focus of the feature, but there is a cross promotion with "Ocean's 13." I found this to be an interesting feature and will one day need to travel to Las Vegas. Jerry Weintraub Walk and Talk (2:25) features the Hollywood producer of the Ocean's franchise giving a VIP tour of the set used to create the film's grandious Bank's Casino. This was nicely done, but way too short. Finally, some Additional Scenes (4:36) is a short collection of excised bits and are shown in glorious high definition. The deleted footage does add some to the film, but it does not necessarily need to be in the finished product. Some of them dealt with the dancing around the omissions of Julia Roberts and Catherine Zeta Jones. The supplements were nicely done, but I certainly feel that the high definition releases are the only way to go thanks to the added materials found on them.

Closing Comments:

Steven Soderbergh returns to direct one of the most powerful ensemble casts ever filmed. George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and one of my personal favorites Don Cheadle join a number of other returning cast members that are joined by one of the all-time greats, Al Pacino. This third film in the "Ocean´s" saga is just as stylish as the previous films, but a better film than the second entry and perhaps a proper sendoff to the franchise. The story is nicely written and the characters never seem to get old. I´m quite impressed with how well the cast works together. This is a good film and it turns out to be a good Blu-ray release that benefits over the standard definition release with some bonus features found only on the Blu-ray and HD-DVD versions. The picture quality and sound quality are both very good, but not quite reference material. I was very pleased with this release and have no problems recommending it to others.

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