Review- Ocean’s 8
Scrolling through movie options looking for something to watch, we came across Ocean’s 8. We loved Ocean’s 11 and will occasionally pop it in for a fun classic. The others were never quite as good as 11 but still amusing. A witty heist was the kind of mood we were in and we had never seen this one so we sat down to watch it.
Unfortunately, it was everything you feared it would be once you know the premise. It’s a remake of a classic movie. The supposed big new take is that it has all women in the lead roles. To be clear, the problem comes from it being a remake, not that its led by women.
Spoilers abound.
It was essentially the same movie. It opens with Ocean (Deborah, not Danny) getting paroled from prison and then immediately moving to set in motion a big heist. There’s a brief montage of her using her con artist skills right after release in order to steal some stuff and get a free hotel room. And I think that’s where the problem started.
In Ocean’s 11, George Clooney showed his “con-man” skills throughout the movie subtly. He conned each of the people who joined his team in joining. You saw him lying casually but believably. Sandra Bullock is given a montage in order to convince us she has skills. But she uses them for things like petty theft. And then, really has no other purpose besides coordinator.
Next, we meet the team, starting with the “best friend” whose running a semi-legitimate business. Unfortunately, there’s no chemistry between these two characters like there was in 11. That was true for almost the whole cast. It’s full of good actresses but they don’t really get to do anything memorable.
Which I think, is the real problem. There are no stakes and there are no threats. They decide to steal some jewels and then look, they succeed. Oh, and they got even more jewels than you thought they were going to get because why not?
At no point do they have to change plans. There’s one hitch with the super sophisticated lock on the necklace. But that’s resolved with a phone call.
There’s no nemesis to root against. The insurance adjuster is okay I guess but it never feels like he’s going to catch them. The ex-boyfriend is the side job that doesn’t cause any problems and wasn’t really a bad guy. Sure, he betrayed Sandra Bullock and sent her to jail. But she was a criminal. Honor among thieves I guess?
I won’t go into the potential plot holes of the heist itself or the magic technology they have. Ocean’s 11 had all that too. Those are hallmarks of heist movies because these type movies aren’t supposed to be reality based.
Overall, the movie just lacked soul. Which is the problem with any remake, but especially when it’s a remake whose purpose is gender reversal. That’s not a reason to remake a movie. Ocean’s 11 wasn’t good because it was all men. It was good because it was a good movie that featured all men because patriarchy. Ocean’s 8 isn’t bad because it features all women. It’s a bad movie that’s trying to fight the patriarchy. Which is a worthy goal and maybe helps in the long term but doesn’t make me want to sit down and watch it again.
