Ocean's 8

There were a few laughs and maybe one twist, but otherwise there just wasn't anything special about this script. The main thing that was special was having that many fabulous actresses in one film.

Fun moments in this movie, but overall things happen without much of a reason for us to care.

It's a fine movie. Just fine.

The theatre was near full and there were more than a few large groups of girls and women who were clearly out on the town for the night. I read the poor IMDB reviews while waiting for the movie to start and perhaps that lowered my expectations, however, the movie was great. These sorts of things shouldn't be compared to their priors, like a new partner, you take them for what they are in the present. Were there better heist movies yesterday, sure there are. This was another decent heist movie, it hit all the notes a heist movie should, including a slight of hand surprise twist at the end. You leave feeling good, what more could you ask for. Nice to see a couple original oceans characters brought back for cameos and a lovely surprise with you trying to place the older wealthy women gala guests popping up near the end, Marlene, Ethel (Coma), Diana. The theatre emptied out with everyone happily chattering away. No academy awards here but that's nothing any sane person is expecting.

Ocean's 8, directed by Gary Ross, is a the fourth film in the modern Ocean's heist film franchise, and the first with an all-female cast of criminals. Inspired by her late brother Danny, Debbie Ocean (Sandra Bullock) assembles a team of multi-talented women to pull off a jewellery heist at the New York Met Gala.

Debbie is the first character we're introduced to, masterfully manipulating the parole board to secure her release after five years in prison. I'm hooked on Debbie right away; she's a determined, mischievous genius who will take what she wants, laws be damned, and I can't wait for the ruckus she's going to cause on the outside.

Upon her release, Debbie reconnects with her long-time partner-in-crime, Lou (Cate Blanchett). The on-screen chemistry between Debbie and Lou is fantastic. They know each other inside out, with the kind of close friendship where they are starkly honest and tease each other with no love lost. They adore each other, and they've been through some shit together to create this unbreakable bond. Adding to the satisfaction of watching a beautiful on-screen friendship, it's refreshing to watch a film where the main two women are partners rather than rivals.

Once reunited, Debbie and Lou get to work recruiting their perfect heist team; fashion designer Rose (Helena Bonham-Carter), hacker Nine Ball (Rihanna), stay-at-home mum Tammy (Sarah Paulson), con artist Constance (Awkwafina) and jewellery maker Amita (Mindy Kaling). Their target - a $150 million diamond Cartier necklace on loan to celebrity Daphne Kluger (Anne Hathaway). Although there's little room for character development with an ensemble cast, they're entertaining to watch as a team and play their individual parts well. I'm particularly drawn to Bonham-Carter's portrayal of the eccentric, anxiety-ridden Irish fashion designer slipping into irrelevancy and Hathaway's spot-on, spoilt prima donna. My only reservation is with Rihanna's pot-smoking, Rastafarian character Nine Ball, which feels like it's bordering on racist caricature.

The writers address the heist team being all-female only once, with a satisfying little wink to the audience during the team selection scene. Lou suggests recruiting a man and Debbie delivers what is probably my favourite line in the whole film; "A 'him' gets noticed, a 'her' get's ignored, and for once we want to be ignored." I'm relieved the writers only address the team's gender briefly. I was afraid it could be made a recurring, patronising gimmick (omg, guess what guys... they're LADIES!) - as if they are pulling off a heist despite their gender. But thankfully that's not the case; the characters are bomb-ass, professional cons and their gender doesn't matter.

On top of the already star-studded main cast, Ocean's 8 is packed with cameos. A long list of celebs including Heidi Klum and Kim Kardashian play themselves attending the Met Gala, while others have character cameos. I'm not sold on doing both in the same film. Self-cameos suggest the plot happens in our world, while character cameos seem to contradict that, so Ocean's 8 plays out in an in-between land where Serena Williams exists but James Corden doesn't. But perhaps I'm irked because James Corden doesn't really play a character, he is just himself by a different name, working as an insurance investigator rather than a comedian.

With the heist being set at the Met Gala, it's reasonable to expect a parade of outrageous costumes that the A-list party is famous for in the real world. I was disappointed that the costume styling ended up more in line with Hollywood glam than WTF glam. Maybe the costume budget was drained from hiring such a huge, high-profile cast.

Like any good heist film, the story has a riveting series of twists and turns as the crims try to outwit every obstacle and security measure. It never goes seamlessly to plan, but unfortunately the curve balls in Ocean's 8 were far too easily solved for my liking. Part of the fun of heist films is watching the crooks think on their feet to resolve impossible situations, and the strife was lacking in this one. Call me a sadist, but I want the characters to struggle - it makes the resolution all the more satisfying.

Despite some flaws, Ocean's 8 is a consistently fun watch and a worthy addition to the Ocean's franchise. Go see it for an ideal night out with your heist team, or if you need some inspiration to steal from the cinema's overpriced candy bar.

In this soft reboot--outside of a character connection, the idea of a heist/recruitment, and some scenes that they clearly wanted to serve as a mash note to O11--it really did not feel too much like O11. In fact, its plot felt more like Tower Heist with a tone closer to O12 and a deliverance that played out a bit like Logan Lucky. It opens up with a score similar to that of what David Holmes used in the past, but outside of the different score bits this film has an actual soundtrack as well to give it its own style (personally, I would have preferred an "only score" flick).

It's a very female-driven film. Not just by cast, but also with themes. A lot of this movie involves fashion and high society (as the heist itself takes place at the Met Gala, that's probably expected), and that lost me a bit. Even the target, although more tangible than that of what O13's objective was, felt a bit too small-scale. No, they didn't need to knock over another Vegas casino, but there was something great about that in O11 and O13 that was lost in O12, and it did the same again here. They didn't spend any time making the city backdrop become a staple or character in this film either. Everything was always shot very close and with a lot of interiors.

As I outright claim in my review title, the weakest aspect of this film was the writing. I just don't think they were really all that clever, at least in that I had seen it all before. What do all heist films tend to have in common? The suckers around the protagonists eat up everything they are fed. Everything has to work in such a convenient way for it to all be pulled off. In 2018, I'd like to see a heist film that sets up a lot of contingencies when things don't go right, and this one felt very linear. Also, one thing the previous Ocean's films did really well was kept the audience in the dark about a lot of what the protags were doing--that they weren't just tricking innocent bystanders, but they were tricking us along the way as well. I'll admit they got me once, but on two other occasions it seems like they tried and I just didn't fall for anything there. The rest of it was all very plainly laid out and we were just going along for watching them attempt to execute it.

These writers also simply didn't know how connect the (male) audience with its characters the same way as its predecessors. The players served their parts just fine, but only a couple of them had actual personalities. Plus, George Clooney and Brad Pitt developed such a "cool" dialogue with each other all of the time and always knew what the other was thinking. Maybe I'm actually looking for them to be closer to that film more than the writers wanted to, but this felt a little generic as a result. Plus, they upset me with one of their tie-in decisions to the previous trilogy, but I'm sure that was a decision that looms far above their control.

Now, it probably seems like I'm majorly harping on this film, yet really when all was said and done I'd actually say that I enjoyed watching it. It wasn't a great film by any means, but I certainly did enjoy it. What I think saved it was one Sandra Bullock and one Anne Hathaway, with heavy emphasis on Hathaway. Though let me first say, Sandra played so low-key that I wouldn't be hard-pressed to claim this might be my favorite performance of hers. It's not her best performance, but she didn't feel as much like a "try-hard actor" in this film as she normally does, so it made me like it a lot more. However, the REAL show-stealer in this was Anne Hathaway, and I didn't even remember she was in this film before she showed up. I LOVED Anne Hathaway in this. I mean she was the really redeeming quality of every scene that she appeared in. If I rewatch the film any time soon (which I likely won't), it will be for her alone. Her delectable presence got me to go with the idea of the female-ish tone that was being played out. Rihanna got into her character nicely as well. I did not like Cate Blanchett or Helena Bonham Carter, sadly enough. Mindy was kind of "there" as was Sarah Paulson (who they tried to give some character to, but forgot along the way), and I liked Awkwafina but honestly didn't know who she was before this. Lots of celebrity cameos and a few callbacks to the previous films as well.

Time will tell where this ranks with the other Ocean films, but right now I'd place it at the bottom. At least O12 had an artsy appeal of filming in Amsterdam and it felt like there were a lot of high stakes risks given Isabel, Benedict, and The Nightfox. Sodebergh did enough in that one and the dialogue was witty to still keep it at #3 on the list. Though gents, please feel free to take your significant other though if you'd like; they'll probably dig the fashionable aspects and you'll enjoy enough of the caper aspects to leave like I did, saying that you liked it and move on. If there is one other nice takeaway for this film, it's that everyone looked like they had fun filming it, which is an important staple of the Ocean's series.