‘Ocean’s 8’ Review

Ocean's 8Ocean’s 8 is a heist comedy film directed by Gary Ross and from a screenplay co-written by Ross and Olivia Milch. The film is a spin-off from Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s trilogy and features an ensemble cast, including Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, Mindy Kaling, Sarah Paulson, Rihanna, and Awkwafina. The film follows Debbie Ocean, the estranged sister of Danny Ocean, and her all-female team, as they plan a highly sophisticated heist of the Toussaint, a $150 million Cartier necklace, from the neck of a celebrity at the Met Gala in New York City. Gary Ross does a fine job directing the film and trying to make it fit within Soderbergh’s existing universe. He films in a way that mimics Soderbergh’s style by framing his shots to focus on a few characters at a time. There are many wide pans and long shots throughout the film. There is not a lot of action focusing more on the conversation between the characters. The acting in the film is decent with each member of the cast pulling their weight to make their character interesting and believable. Sandra Bullock turns in a good performance as Debbie Ocean. She is very convincing in the role and even though Danny is not in the film you can feel there’s a lot of history between the two that is not witnessed on film. Just like Danny, Debbie prefers to do things her own way, letting very few people know every part of her plan. She has accounted for every mistake that can be made and planned around it. Cate Blanchett does well as Lou, Debbie’s right-hand woman. Lou is very similar to Rusty in that she is the logistical heart of all the crew’s operations, handling the details of the day-to-day operations such as contacting people and getting equipment, while Debbie is more into the big picture. Anne Hathaway seems to have fun in her role of Daphne Kluger, a popular actress and the target of the heist. Kluger is very bubbly and snobby and almost a fictional mirror of Hathaway herself. Her character is also shown to be slightly jealous when seeing the news focusing on a younger up-and-coming actress attending the Met Gala. The overall theft was fun to watch and see come together. In a similar fashion to the previous films, the audience is shown other things that happened behind the scenes after the fact so that we can fully see how the plan came together. A lot of the character interaction is funny and many of the jokes land. The only issues are with the dialogue between the main characters and the length of certain scenes. Whenever Debbie and Lou have an extended conversation it feels to drag on too long. This is because the dialogue doesn’t invoke the same chemistry that Danny and Rusty had. Their back and forth made the simple scenes funny and interesting to watch. Without that the film feels boring during the times that were not focused on the heist. There should have also been more interaction between the other cast members as it feels like they are only there to complete their task and that’s it. Also a little more connection to the previous films wouldn’t have hurt. I give Ocean’s 8 a Solid 6.5/10. The film doesn’t quite live up to Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s trilogy, but it does make you interested in seeing where these characters will go next.

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  1. […] species) are an homage to Reservoir Dogs, and the caper planning narration is an homage to the Ocean’s film series. Two out of three of those films should not be seen by a child even if they are with a […]

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