OCEAN'S 8 REVIEW

*MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS*

In 2001, Steven Soderbergh released his first heist-based thriller, Ocean's Eleven, which was a remake of the original 1960 film of the same name. Featuring an ensemble cast including George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia and Julia Roberts, Ocean's Eleven went on to become a success, impressing critics and receiving over $450 million at the box office. This lead to two sequels being released, Ocean's Twelve and Ocean's Thirteen. Now, eleven years after Ocean's Thirteen, an all-female follow-up has been released.

Upon her release from prison, Debbie (Sandra Bullock), the estranged sister of legendary conman Danny Ocean (George Clooney), puts together a team of unstoppable crooks to pull of the heist of the century. Their goal is New York City's annual Met Gala, and a necklace worth in excess of 150 million dollars. The team includes Debbie's friend, Lou (Cate Blanchett); Rose Weil (Helena Bonham Carter), a ditzy disgraced fashion designer who is deeply in debt to the IRS; Amita (Mindy Kaling), a jewelry maker who is eager to move away from her domineering mother; Nine Ball (Rihanna), a technical genius whose real name is Leslie; Tammy (Sarah Paulson), a suburban mom and profiteer and Constance (Awkwafina), a loudmouthed street hustler and pickpocket. Their plan involves Daphne Kluger (Anne Hathaway), an air-headed celebrity, who will be attending the Met Gala wearing a necklace that's worth $150 million. The team come up with a plan to steal the necklace and replace it with a replica, however, will they succeed?

The main reason why I wanted to see Ocean's 8 was because of its impressive ensemble cast. Bullock, Blanchett, Bonham-Carter and Hathaway of four of my favourite actors and I'm yet to see either of them give a bad performance. As Debbie, Bullock makes her a smart and cunning individual, however, we soon learn that part of her plan involves getting revenge on her former partner, Claude Becker (Richard Armitage), who framed her and had her thrown in jail for five years. This isn't Bullock's best performance, however, it's far from a bad one. She shares chemistry with Blanchett who portrays her friend, Lou. Bonham-Carter is best known for appearing in films directed by Tim Burton who she had a relationship with until they split a few years ago. She's portrayed a wide array of characters and is set to portray Queen Margaret in the Netflix series, The Crown. As Rose, she brings comic relief and, in the beginning, she think she's a failure but soon agrees to help Debbie. Rihanna is best known for her successful career in music, however, her first appearance in a film was the 2012 action film, Battleship, unfortunately, it wasn't best received. However, she makes a successful return to film and gives a solid performance as Nine Ball who can hack into the Met Gala's security system. Paulson is best known for her appearance in American Horror Story, however, as Tammy, she gives a very good performance. In the beginning, she isn't so sure of helping Debbie out but soon changes her mind when she hears about the money. Mindy Kaling appeared on the US version of The Office, and is best known for voicing Disgust in the 2015 Disney/Pixar animated feature, Inside Out. While she isn't given enough screen time, she still gives a decent performance. I'm not familiar with Awkwafina, however, I thought that she was great as Constance. While each actor gives a solid performance, they're underwritten and aren't given enough background. Hopefully, if there is a sequel, these characters will be more fleshed out. Of the performances, I liked Hathaway's the most. You could tell she was having a lot of fun playing a stuck up celebrity and there is a small twist to her character that results in her becoming the eighth member of the team. I don't think that's a spoiler as it's hinted in the trailer and posters that Daphne is becomes a member of Ocean's team. James Corden makes a small appearance as John Frazier, the insurance fraud investigator who looks into the theft. Previous characters from the Ocean's trilogy make small appearances including Reuben (Elliott Gould) and 'The Amazing' Yen (Shaobo Qin). If I'm being honest, it's a shame that Clooney decided not to reprise his role as Danny Ocean as I think he and Bullock would've worked well together, considering they both starred in the sci-fi feature, Gravity, in 2013. Matt Damon and Carl Reiner were also set to reprise their respective characters Linus Caldwell and Saul Bloom, but their scenes were cut. Many celebrities, including Anna Wintour, Kim Kardashian West, Kylie and Kendall Jenner and Heidi Klum, make appearances during the scene that takes place at the Met Gala.
The plot isn't as unpredictable as it does follow the same path as the previous Ocean's films, however, that doesn't mean it's any less entertaining. What I enjoyed most about Ocean's 8 was seeing several of my favourite actors working together. One of the aspects of the original Ocean's trilogy that stood out was the chemistry between the actors. The same can be said for Ocean's 8. They all seemed to genuinely get along, especially judging from their press interviews during the promoting of the film. This is why I would like to see them all return in a sequel as they seemed to be having fun.
Because he's best known for directing the first film in the Hunger Games franchise, Gary Ross may have seemed like an odd choice to direct an all-female remake of Ocean's 8, however, he succeeds in creating a heist-based film that is thoroughly entertaining. Steven Soderbergh, who directed the original Ocean's trilogy, opted out of directing but did produce the film.
Ocean's 8 isn't perfect and it's not the best film in the world but I wasn't expecting it to be. The original Ocean's trilogy were fun and entertaining heist films that featured a strong ensemble cast and that's exactly what Ocean's 8 is.
7/10