Ocean's 8 Review
With the age of remakes, reboots, cinematic universes, and overall franchising in the movie industry, I guess it was inevitable that Steven Soderbergh's highly praised Ocean's remake/trilogy would be the next on Hollywood's chopping block. This time it's an all female crew pulling off a heist at the MET. Shiny diamonds, necklaces, women being fabulous; this was the sequel literally nobody asked for, and yet it was a fun frolic through familiar territory.
Instead of the dashing George Clooney to greet us while leaving prison it falls to his sister, played by Sandra Bullock, Debbie Ocean to greet the new generation of audiences while walking out of prison and hacking a plan that may or may not turn out to be a personal vendetta...kind of like Ocean's Eleven. Even with the similarities in plot I found myself not minding how similar it is to what's come before, and the only reason I can think of is because there really isn't much to an Ocean's movie. It's about talented actors, and in this case actresses, who look suave and fabulous pulling off stylish heists that we know they'll be able to pull off without much interference. That's what we got, and I can't complain for what it's worth. It wasn't a knock-off exploiting an all female cast, and it even addressed why it has a female cast in a smart, yet sad, commentary of modern social expectations.
With that in mind I set my goals when walking into this movie as such: Let's have fun, and that's exactly what happened. Watching all these talented women on screen, from Cate Blanchett to Awkwafina, was like eating your favorite dessert that you have only once a year for two straight hours. Every one of them popped on screen and soaked up each other's performances. Cate Blanchett is having a blast and I loved watching her, every minute, just being cool and awesome. Anne Hathaway plays a campy version of herself, and she is a delight. The scene where she's trying on the big diamond necklace for the first time is hilarious as she's checking herself out while almost moaning to the pleasure of such an expensive necklace touching her skin. I seriously can't express enough how amazing it was to watch these women electrify the big screen and strut their abilities.
Another delight of this film is the production. There's a huge amount of detail in the costumes, and lots of fantastic costume changes if I may add, that truly enhances the screen and make scenes pop out in spectacular ways like a particular montage of each woman walking down a flight of steps in gorgeously designed dresses. I don't know if they would win it, but I'd bet money that Ocean's 8 would at least be nominated for an Oscar in the costume department.
Unfortunately with all this fabulous-ness on screen the movie as a whole doesn't pop. It feels like another installment to the Ocean's franchise, but it doesn't have enough style to make it stand outside of average. The writing is breezy and simple, and the obstacles that the women have to overcome are solved in the same scene they were brought up in, at least the previous movies waited a scene or two after, which really diffused any suspense you could get out of the actual heist. There are a few twists in this movie; one of which will be super obvious if you're paying attention or have looked at the poster, the other is still obvious but you won't be too invested in the plot to really pick up on it.
Overall, Ocean's 8 didn't have enough style or substance to make it stand apart from it's past, but for what it does it make up for with the enthusiasm each actress brings to the table, and the incredible production design they brought to life in each scene. This installment shares some of the flaws that the Soderbergh trilogy held like lack of character arcs, true roadblocks and obstacles for the characters to overcome, etc. I guess these flaws are just inherent in an Ocean's movie. The score is awesome and perfectly matches the coolness of the movie. It wasn't bad, but it didn't try to be anything but a good time. For what it's worth I enjoyed it and wouldn't mind another round with these characters.
B-
