Midway through “Ocean’s 8,” the spin-off of the “Ocean’s” trilogy, Debbie Ocean (Sandra Bullock) tells Lou (Cate Blanchett) that there’s no room for men in this heist. “I don’t want a him,” says Debbie. “A him gets noticed. A her gets ignored.”
This all-female led cast isn’t one to be ignored. Sandra Bullock stars as Debbie Ocean, Danny’s sister, and the movie starts with her in a parole meeting – the same opening as 2001’s “Ocean’s Eleven.” She gets released and with the help of Lou, they round up a team for a heist.
This includes Tammy (Sarah Paulson), the hacker Nine Ball (Rihanna), fashion designer Rose (Helena Bonham Carter), jeweler Amita (Mindy Kaling), and pick-pocketer Constance (Awkwafina). Debbie wants do this job because stealing is her talent – established by clever little after she’s out of jail. She tells a guard: “I have forty-five dollars, I can go anywhere.”
The heist is at New York City’s annual Met Gala, and the target’s a diamond necklace called the Toussaint, valued at $150 million, which will be worn by Daphne Kruger (Anne Hathaway).
Hathaway’s fun in the role, playing an exaggerated version of herself, shown best during a fashion-related panic attack. I’m glad the franchise kept that meta sense of humour, even if it’s not as obvious as the scene in “Ocean’s Twelve” when Julia Roberts plays Tess Ocean pretending to be Julia Roberts.
Everyone’s performances in “Ocean’s 8” are stronger than their characters. They’re cookie-cutter characters, and Debbie has the most development. Helena Bonham Carter is quirky and entertaining as the fashion designer.
Rihanna’s also great as Nine Ball. Her hacks are clever, and I love that her computer mouse is a nine ball. Cate Blanchett and Sarah Paulson are also perfectly charming. Both Awkwafina and Mindy Kaling are amusing, too. James Corden is among the only male talent and comes in for the third act and makes things livelier, and he’s good for a few laughs.
It’s difficult for this film to avoid comparisons to the original trilogy. Steven Soderbergh brought so much style to his trilogy and to the heist genre. In comparison, this is flat and that’s mostly true in its set-up.
Without many great characters here, the cast mainly kept me interested. It’s entertaining enough on its own but it doesn’t have much style under Gary Ross’s direction. Style only shows up on the night of the Met Gala with all of its glitz, glamour and celebrities.
I like how writers Ross and Olivia Milch make the characters steal something off the neck of someone instead of them having to figure out how to get inside a vault to steal the necklace. There’s creativity in the plot and the implementation of the Met Gala plan is decent fun, even if the suspense doesn’t come close to any of the originals.
– by Daniel Prinn
