Oceans 8 Review

Oceans 8

Everyone knows it goes 11, 12, 13, 8.

Oceans 8 could have come out 10 years ago. Rewind to 2007 when Warner Bothers released their latest star-studded entry into their Oceans franchise, Oceans 13. There is nothing wrong with the film itself, an improvement on Oceans 12 which has my least favourite movie scene of all time (WHY DOES JULIA ROBERTS TALK TO JULIA ROBERTS ON THE PHONE WHILE PRETENDING TO BE JULIA ROBERTS????). Oceans 13 didn’t need to be a follow up to Danny Oceans story, the heist in the film could have just as easily been attempted by the characters in Oceans 8. However, this was a time where Hollywood lacked diversity in both gender and ethnicity. Studios played their dated safety card of putting their, in their eyes, bankable white male leads. It’s now 2018 and Oceans 8 arrives in cinema boasting a cast which not only features women in all the lead roles, but the cast includes actors that come from a multitude of ethnicities.  To be a movie fan at a time like this is magnificent, the casts in Oceans 8 and Black Panther would never have been given the opportunity to anchor their own big budget movies 10 years a

go. Hollywood is changing, and we should celebrate the fact that women and the often-ignored ethnicities get to finally see their backgrounds lead the big screen.

Oceans 8 tells the story of Debbie Ocean, the sister of Danny Ocean, who is released from prison and straight back into a life of crime, deciding to assemble a team together to pull off a heist at the Met Gala. The film follows the same story beats as the first film, thankfully not in a way that recycles sequences Oceans 11.  The script is full of fast paced conversations that flew really and kept the audience entertained in the films slower parts such as the planning of the heist. The score too is so quirky that my foot was tapping away throughout. The film is held back by jarring product placement, there is a scene which only lasts 20 seconds which makes sure the audience knows both what tinder is and exactly how it works. My main negative with the film is that the heist itself isn’t that interesting, the heist never felt like it had any stakes and how some of the characters have their roles in the heist without it even being explained is head scratching. The heist doesn’t derail the film, but considering the entire film builds up to it, it does feel anti climatic.

With a film like this, the plot is strangely not that important. The film has such a large ensemble of characters that the casting in the film is make or break to holding everything together.  The cast have insane chemistry together that I was convinced they are all friends in real life. The main characters are an absolute joy to watch planning the heist and bounce off each other. Unfortunately, only about half of the characters are developed enough to be entertaining. So obviously the only suitable way of discussing the characters is ranking them from 8-1. So, without further ado I proudly present……

Oceans great or Oceans grating?

8:  9 ball (Rihanna): Popstar Rihanna has previously had some abysmal performances in her attempt to breakout in Hollywood (Battleship). In Oceans 8 she plays a Rastafarian hacker who loves drugs, hacking and…. Ummm well that’s pretty much it. The character is bland in both performance and writing, the film doesn’t seem to know what hacking is. Clue: hacking isn’t video editing. The media student and film lover in me both hated this character.

7:  Constance (Awkwafina): The American rapper plays the films obvious comic relief. The problem is that the quirky traits the films tries to put on the character come across as annoying, the majority of her jokes miss the target by a country mile. Inexperience with the young actress may be to blame on this one.

6: Amita (Mindy Kaling): Not given enough screen time to make an impact, this is a shame given that the best joke in the movie is when she asks if they can just go meet celebrities at the gala instead of pulling a heist. Kaling gives a much better performance than her boggling performance earlier this year in A Wrinkle in Time. If she gets more time to shine in the sequel she could be the MVP.

5: Rose Weil (Helana Boham Carter): The fashion designer is one of the best written characters, her mid life crisis is hilarious but theirs one big problem. Helana Boham Carter joins Michael J Fox, Gerrard Butler, Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt in the club of elite actors who butcher an Irish accent.

4: THE TRAILER SPOILS THIS DON’T WATCH IT: Funniest performance of the movie but don’t look at the cast and then do the maths to add up to 8, that’s all I’m saying.

3: Tammy (Sarah Paulson): Paulson is wonderful as a mother who’s bored of her family and uses the heist to bring some action into her life. The grounded and subdued performance makes her character’s motives believable and elevates Tammy above some of the more cartoonish characters.

2:  Lou (Cate Blanchett): Lou is the epitome of cool in this movie. Blanchett brings an aura of awesome into the film that makes her character better than it probably should have been just like she did in Thor Ragnarok. Lou’s best trait is that even when things are going wrong for the gang she never shows any shines of weakness that would hamper the character.

1: Debbie Ocean (Sandra Bullock): Bullock has been one of my favourite actresses for a long time now, her performance in Oceans 8 reminded me why. As the lead character she needed to anchor the movie, Bullock passes this test with flying colours. Just like Danny Ocean you never doubt that Debbie is the leader, I was delighted that the film that the film never made her inept at her job, a mistake that the recent Ghostbusters movie made. Debbie Ocean’s journey isn’t over yet and I look forward to seeing what the future holds for her in the eventual Oceans 9.

Overall Oceans 8 is not a perfect movie as the fast pace comes to sudden halts at various places in the film and for an action comedy there are very few laughs to be found. This would have derailed many other films, but the cast and director manage to keep the audience’s attention even in these moments. Gary Ross has proved once again that he knows how to direct strong female characters, the first and best of The Hunger Games franchise is another example of this. Oceans 8 is the best oceans film since Oceans 11, which may not be saying that much but you will leave the cinema happy that the franchise is back in your life. The representation of women in this film is what makes Oceans 8 a success, no damsels in distress are to be found here and I couldn’t be happier.

Liam’s Oceans 8 Summary

Best Moment: For the name drops of Taylor Swift and Beyoncé I found it funny I didn’t recognise any of the celebrity cameos.

Worst Moment: An intro into tinder 101.

Best Character: well…. I already said Debbie.

Worst Character: James Corden as a detective is more painful than Carpool Karaoke.

Overall Rating: 3/5