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Ocean’s Eleven Remake Is a Masterclass on Story

We often don’t like, or even actively hate, movies that are adapted from our favorite novels

The idea behind a story inspires them so much that they can’t stop thinking about it;

Creativity is not coming up with something entirely original

When you share an idea if people start adding stuff in excitement, you know that it truly

For example, I love Greta Gerwig but I could only stand the first ten minutes of her

But it doesn’t mean people shouldn’t do it, everyone has a right to retell a

Earlier versions don’t disappear or get “ruined” as we sometimes say, so no harm is done

In fact, storytellers tell the same stories over and over again under the same or different titles

Keeping the same title is, at least, an honest way to tell the audience where you got

The movies were both based on a story by Jack Golden Russel, and George Clayton Johnson who

The name of the main character has been kept the same in both versions

And he has a brilliant, “high tech” idea to hit multiple casinos at the same time

And even though the earlier version is considered a classic and has its own fans, I prefer

It took a while for me to figure out that the eleven people are actually a group

In the movie, a few of the characters have emotional motivations, but in the center, the main

The characters don’t even pay enough respect to their dead friend’s body

The newer version, written by Ted Griffin, has a much tighter and more deliberate structure

It lays out the main character, his goal, and his motivation in the very first scene, without

Danny Ocean is interviewed by parole officers about his release

He mentions that his wife had left him, and he doesn’t answer the question about what

Later, when he gets back his possessions as he leaves the prison, we see his wedding ring

The whole thing is still mysterious, but we have a clear understanding of Danny Ocean before the

After his release, the first place we see Danny is a Las Vegas casino

Each member of the Eleven is presented with a memorable back story, never confusing or boring the

The heist music plays a big part in this process like an actor itself, accompanying and bracketing

After they make a deal, the Eleven begin implementing their plan

Again, the plan is kept as a secret from us but we see glimpses of it

For example, they have built an exact copy of the vault they want to rob, and the

Rusty realizes that Terry Benedict’s girlfriend is Tess, Danny’s ex-wife

He confronts Danny and asks what we would do if he had to choose between the two

Danny assures him that this won’t be a problem if the plan works well, but Rusty

But Tess is with Terry now, who doesn’t make her laugh but also “doesn’t make

When all faces turn to see the explosion, Danny doesn’t move and stares directly at Tess

” Every scene begins with a feeling of “We have a problem!”

The explosion causes a power cut and the hotel’s engineers discover and fix the infrastructural problem

The external “bad guys” are not the only problem here, also psychological tension rises

When Rusty finds out this happened because Danny kept pursuing his ex-wife, he decides that he is

Another critical character (Saul) is supposed to pretend to be an old European arms dealer and will

But now he looks sick in his bedroom and he pretends to be okay to Rusty, therefore

And as if these aren’t enough, someone recognizes him in the casino and begins shouting his

Linus completes his act masterfully by stealing Terry’s access card and managing to stay behind

Right after that, Terry’s goons take him and put him in a room with no cameras

At the same time Saul does have an heart attack! Danny expects that Terry will come to

The big man is Danny’s friend and he pretends to beat Danny up as he escapes

Linus also climbs into the air-vent passageway and he is met by Danny so they continue as

During this time Danny and Linus manage to pass the elevator shaft protected by laser beams and

Rusty then calls Terry on the phone in Tess’s pocket and tells him to go look

But then Rusty tells him to look again: this time the video is different and there are

Terry pretends to agree and half of the money is carried by his guards and put on

However when he goes there, he finds the place has blown up and there is no money

Terry suspects that this has something to do with Danny, who he knows he is being kept

He goes there and Danny is back from the vault, being beaten by his big friend

It’s the security footage of the corridor where Danny asks Terry “If I tell you where

But hearing Terry’s choice, Tess sees that he doesn’t care about her and he leaves

And of course, Danny doesn’t tell Terry where the money is, he just says “he knows

He gives turns him in to the police for violating his parole

Their 911 call was received by Ocean’s tech guy not the actual call center