Adorkable: Linus is not, for Jesus Christ's sake, the CIA trained rebel Jason Bourne. He is a clumsy newbie who wants to be on the same level as his family or as Danny and Rusty, but he nearly fucks up some situations. The character he poses as in the first film, the Vegas Game Commission man, is as adorkable as himself.
First Installment Wins: It's almost unanimously agreed upon that Ocean's Eleven is superior to Ocean's Twelve and Ocean's Thirteen (though Thirteen was better received than Twelve).
Some of the fake-outs in the climax of Eleven have even more of an effect if you've seen the original Sinatra movie first. Specifically, the oldest member of the crew seeming to up and die without much warning (as Richard Conte's character did in the original)...and ultimately, the money supposedly being burned to a crisp (like the Twist Ending of the original). Alas, if you've seen this movie first, this might result in your expecting similar fake-outs in the original...which don't happen.
Ocean's Twelve opens with Rusty leaving Isabel when he realizes that his cover is going to be blown. It's accompanied by Ornella Vanoni's version of "L'Appuntamento." At first glance, it's a way to establish the movie's European setting and easygoing tone. But if you're familiar with the song - or speak Italian - you know it's about a bitter woman placing her romantic hopes in a new man, despite her doubts due to previous bad experiences with relationships. Three guesses as to what Isabel's character arc is.
Also in Ocean's Twelve, Reuben's first scene shows him getting a tarot reading. The card shown on the table is the Five of Wands, which signifies interpersonal struggle and competition. It's a clever bit of foreshadowing of the movie's plot.
When Reuben has a heart attack after being betrayed by Bank, the rest of the Eleven drop whatever they were doing to be by his side. Especially notable is Rusty, who was in the middle of a robbery at the time.
Basher, in particular, writes Reuben many encouraging letters, with the hope that they will help him get better. According to Reuben, they worked, and he thanks Basher towards the end.
It's also extremely heartwarming to see Reuben walk into Bank's casino near the end of the film, fully rejuvenated, dressed in his normal ostentatious style (after previously attempting to dress "modern"), and ready to rejoin the team.
At the end of the movie Rusty sets the real Five Diamond reviewer up with some rigged coins for the airport slot machine to ensure the guy gets a massive payout to make up for the absolute hell the crew put him through as part of their scheme against Bank.
Virgil is tasked to work at a dice factory in Mexico as part of the heist. He becomes appalled with the bad conditions and low pay, so he encourages the workers to protest for improvements. They end up doing just that, and not only do they end up getting better pay courtesy of Terry Benedict increasing their wages, but it also works in the gang's favor as the brother of the one of the workers ends up helping them out with their plan.
Hilarious in Hindsight: One of the big misdirections of Eleven is planting the seeds that Saul, played by 78-year-old Carl Reiner, is in poor health throughout, with little tremors and sweats, leading to his Hollywood Heart Attack, which is revealed as part of the con; as Saul asserts to Danny, he's perfectly fine and even rappels down to the vault during the heist with the others. This was true of Carl Reiner too; he lived another 20 years after production before passing away at the age of 98 in 2020.
Ho Yay: Reuben and Basher in the third movie. Danny and Rusty all the time - in the third movie, they go for walks and tear up together over an emotional episode of Oprah.
Danny and Rusty are bad enough to the extent that Brad Pitt confirmed that Rusty's relationship with Isabel was mostly added because Rusty was Ambiguously Gay enough in Eleven that they wanted to clear up any misconceptions about it.
Inferred Holocaust: So the pinch (EMP Bomb) going off killed a boatload of people right? We see it affects most of Vegas. Think all the traffic lights going out (especially in a town with a lot of drunk tourists like Vegas), people on life support in hospitals. That's without counting injuries. The movie shows people in just one Casino going nuts and basically rampaging from 30 seconds of darkness. Multiply that across the entirety of Vegas...
Remade and Improved: The first film is a remake of a 1960 film and is more acclaimed than that version; lots of people aren't even aware there was an earlier version. The 1960 Ocean's 11 is seen as suffering from poor pacing and overuse of jokes, with surprisingly little tension for a heist film; the heist is laughably easy to pull off, the protagonists are hard to root for given they're solely motivated by greed and they don't even get to keep the money due to poor decision-making. Some of this was enforced by The Hays Code, which didn't want theft portrayed in a positive light. By 2001 The Hays Code was long gone, so the protagonists are depicted as more sympathetic and likable. The planning stage of the heist and the heist itself are far more complex and interesting, the overall tone is more serious while still including humor, and the pacing is more streamlined. Ocean's Eleven is seen as a classic heist movie, while for many viewers Ocean's 11's main (or only) draw is seeing the Rat Pack goofing around.
Special Effect Failure: Ocean's Twelve suffers from this in any scene involving the laser net at the art gallery. Some of the statues in the scene where Toulour reveals how he used capoeira to get past it are this as well. The excuse that the lasers are invisible to the characters and were added in for the audience's benefit only gets you so far. It could have been justified if Toulour had actually bypassed the lasers in some entirely different manner, and only claimed he'd danced his way through them so as not to give away his methods to rival thieves. This would make the dubious F/X a hint that his "break-in scene" is a fantasy-sequence.
Surprisingly Improved Sequel: While not as well received as the first film, Ocean's Thirteen got a pretty good reception and was considered an improvement over Ocean's Twelve, which was generally regarded as mediocre.
Unintentional Period Piece: In Eleven, after Danny is released he goes to the Trump Plaza in Atlantic City, the property has been closed since 2014. The Parking Garage that reads "Trump Plaza" still stands but has the letters removed and is used as a regular parking garage. During one of the Vegas flyover shots, the Stardust can be seen, it was demolished in 2006.
Danny in the first film. The money of the con is beside the point to him, all he wants to to prove to Tess that he loves her and Terry doesn't. He also implies that he got caught the first time almost intentionally because Tess left him and he didn't care anymore.
Also, don't say that you didn't feel sorry for the real Five Diamond hotel reviewer, the self-called "V.U.P.", when the team puts him through the worst hotel stay of his life. As compensation, the team sets him up to "win" an eleven million dollar jackpot.
(which is actually an obscure French TV show's theme