Review of Ocean's Eight (2018) by Paul F — 10 Jun 2018

Eight? Why eight? As a sequel to Ocean's Eleven, Ocean's Twelve, and Ocean's Thirteen, you'd think that the next logical title for the next film would be Ocean's Fourteen. Perhaps they realized that having fourteen main characters would be quite a mess, or perhaps this is a new method of subverting audience expectations. Anyways, Ocean's 8 is a (sort of) sequel to the popular Ocean's trilogy directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring George Clooney, Matt Damon, and Brad Pitt. It was a release that I was looking forward to, and it's one that hits some of the spots that I was hoping for but missed the mark in others.

Ocean's 8 is a heist film directed by Gary Ross, with Steven Soderbergh in the producer's position this time around. It features a marvelous all-female ensemble cast consisting of Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter, Mindy Kaling, Rihanna, Sarah Paulson, and Awkwafina. This introduces my most obvious point: I was incredibly satisfied with the performances given in the film. Sandra Bullock, my favorite actress, plays the lead character, Debbie Ocean, and delivers a performance that characterizes someone who is sly, devious, cunning, cool, and lovable all at the same time, much like George Clooney did in the original trilogy. Each of the other actresses brings something unique and charming to the table: Cate Blanchett brings intensity and logic, Anne Hathaway brings sassiness and "diva-ness", Helena Bonham Carter adds quirkiness to the mix, Mindy Kaling brings her trademark comedy, Rihanna brings a surprisingly cool and likeable presence, and Sarah Paulson brings some extra lovability and smarts to the team. Awkwafina's character was the only one that felt out underdeveloped and uninteresting compared to the rest. However, as a whole, the team assembled in Ocean's 8 is fantastic and very easy to get behind. Like the Ocean's trilogy, each character has their own unique set of skills and personality that makes for an effective on-screen team. The bottom line is, they all work well together.

The fact that Ocean's 8's team is assembled so well earns the film major points. The next thing to check on the list is the storyline, something that is essential to any heist film. Anyone who is familiar with the work of Steven Soderbergh probably knows the aforementioned Ocean's trilogy fairly well and may also have seen 2017's Logan Lucky (highly recommend that one, by the way). Those who have seen those films probably know that the plot follows a very tried and true formula: main character wants to pull a heist, main character assembles team, team prepares for heist, team executes heist, team runs into small problems during heist, team succeeds in heist, team lives happily ever after. Thrown into the formula are personal grudges that the main character has against someone that makes the heist a personal vendetta. Ocean's 8 very closely follows this formula, which is both a good thing and a bad thing. On the good side, the formula has been used so many times that filmmakers have realized how effective it is. And that holds true here: this formula makes the film entertaining and keeps the pacing fast and fun. On the bad side, the formula has been used so many times that it is now predictable and worn. And that also holds true here: I felt like I had watched this movie many times before, making it less exciting than it could have been.

I have more nitpicks with Ocean's 8, which again deal with the plot of the film. Like I already mentioned, it follows the standard heist formula that we're all accustomed to by now. Part of that formula involves setting up some sort of conflict that complicates the narrative. Personally, I've never been a huge fan of this technique, because, for me, it adds extra "fluff" to the film that isn't necessary. Ocean's 8 doesn't make any real attempts at doing this. Now, based on what I just said, you might think that this is a good thing. However, as a result, everything that happens in the film just seems so... easy! Every time the team runs into some sort of complication in preparing for the event, they call some random side character that fixes it. Whenever something goes wrong in the midst of the heist, things somehow resolve themselves with little issue. This made the film's execution feel much less satisfying, and I felt cheated at the end because of the lack of tense moments or nail-bitingingly-close calls. Those things are essential to a heist film, and Ocean's 8 just didn't have that. This becomes even more apparent at the film's conclusion, which brings up my final nitpick: Ocean's 8 ends in a mess. So many things happen in a short amount of time: characters are introduced, people reveal secrets or hidden motivations, subplots are introduced and then quickly resolved... it was very scatterbrained writing.

Perhaps I'm picking apart Ocean's 8 more than I should be. Besides, it's meant to be a fun, enjoyable heist film populated with famous actors, high(ish) stakes, lots of cool planning and technology, celebrity cameos, and a stylish heist. On those fronts, Ocean's 8 succeeds marvelously. And, despite my criticisms of the film, I thoroughly enjoyed the film. Still, the problems that the film had prevented it from being anything particularly memorable and made it less than the worthy successor that the Ocean's trilogy deserved. I strongly considered giving Ocean's 8 2 out of 5 stars, but I have to remember that I still had fun in the theater and was never bored. So, I'm confident in my decision to give Ocean's 8 a modest 3 out of 5 stars.