Review of Ocean's Eight (2018) by Benskylerhill — 08 Jun 2018

An uneven but mostly enjoyable summer flick, Ocean’s 8 is a well-written comedy but fails to serve as a consistently engaging, thrilling heist film.

It’s a charming and witty movie thanks to its characters that are all well-established as unique individuals with fun, quirky personalities and skills. The script capitalises on this and incorporates fast-paced humour that never gets old because the hilarity is always as different as it’s characters.

But this is where the film’s success about stops. Like most heist movies, Ocean’s 8 sets up various problems for the thieves as things start to go wrong with the plan or the actual heist. But rather than expanding on these plot points to build thrills and suspense, the story resolves every single issue that comes up in a matter of seconds. This completely deflates any sense of tension and also makes the characters less interesting because the protagonists can get out of anything with incredible ease while the antagonists come across as unfathomably stupid and gullible.

Ocean’s 8 is good enough to be a welcome addition to the franchise it builds upon. It’s funny and entertaining and is well-directed and acted. But it’s clumsily conceived, half-baked plot makes it a mostly forgettable, average crime film.

Story: 1.

Acting: 7.5.

Script: 8.

Visuals/Sound: 7.

Entertainment Value: 6.