Picking Nits
How the heist works, walked through; the rebuilt vault sits within sight of the Bellagio fountains; the bouncer pounds on Clooney for 30 to 40 minutes; the casinos would never allow filming inside, so vaults cannot work this way; casino cash disperses quickly; no casino would call a SWAT team or trust one British consultant; only about three security guards; Lyman Zerga's access to Benedict is debated; the heist still stands up under the stress test
In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 00:48:34Read transcript
- One host never completely understood how the heist worked and paid closer attention the night before than in thirty other viewings; the walkthrough begins: they rebuild what they presume is the Bellagio vault in a warehouse from captured footage and the blueprints.
- First nitpick: the rebuilt vault appears to be no more than 300 feet from the actual Bellagio, with the fountains visible behind it, which Vegas surveillance would catch; the counter is that this is pre-boom real estate, the Strip is less than two miles with open land everywhere, and in any case it is a movie and movie logic is accepted.
- The rebuilt vault is a misdirection, since the audience thinks they are practicing; they stage their own heist on film, carrying bags marked with an X, the technician cuts that loop into the security system during the blackout on fight night, Terry Benedict presumes it is live, a SWAT team is called, the call is intercepted and the eleven arrive as the SWAT team and rob the vault while Benedict believes the robbers are still inside.
- The blackout exists to change the footage the security team sees, hence the Ella Fitzgerald, and to kill the lasers while Clooney and Damon go down the real elevator shaft with the guy in the cart; Basher needs the electromagnetic pulse machine underground; a favorite rediscovery is Pitt talking to Terry Benedict while wearing a SWAT uniform.
- The entire heist depends on Matt Damon pickpocketing Terry Benedict in the interrogation room and on the specific bouncer selling a beating on George Clooney for what seems like 30 to 40 minutes without anyone asking how he is not dead; if any of it goes differently the whole thing is off.
- The ultimate nitpick: the movie only exists because casinos agreed to let it film inside, so this cannot be how casino vaults work; nobody knows what is inside one, and the money is dispersed quickly to many locations; no casino would entrust its security to one cool British guy, none would call a SWAT team rather than its own people, and there are essentially three security guys, the same one manning cameras, watching the vault and calling the doctor who turns out to be Brad Pitt.
- In Vegas now you have to show a room key to reach the elevator bank at night; sneaking through doors like Scott Kahn and Casey Affleck, or hacking a casino's computer system, would probably end your life.
- The Lyman Zerga part is confusing, and someone with no credentials or known identity getting that much time with a casino owner is doubted; the counter is that Vegas is vapid enough that pretending to have money gets you where you want, but Terry Benedict is established as handling every matter himself and knowing every whale, so would he delegate an unknown object entering his vault from a possible arms dealer, and Google existed in 2001; still, the heist stands up under the stress test, its confusing nature helps it, and it never gets too deep in the weeds.