Was new Ocean’s 8 worth another film?
THE term “spin off” has been used a lot in the past few years at your local cinema, with Star Wars, Harry Potter and soon Transformers giving fans new stories based on films we all love.
The latest to coin the term is Ocean’s 8, a spin-off of the Ocean’s Eleven series which ran from 2001 to 2007 with George Clooney, which itself was a remake of the 1960 movie starring Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin.
So technically this is the fifth Ocean’s movie but this time it is an allfemale cast who take the helm, and boy oh boy what a cast it is.
Five years, eight months, 12 days...and counting. That’s how long Debbie Ocean (Sandra Bullock) has been devising the biggest heist of her life.
She gets out of prison and immediately gets to work on pulling off the biggest job of her career, something her brother Danny Ocean (from the last three movies) would be proud of.
After getting very quickly back into the life of a thief, she knows what it’s going to take and that’s a team of the best in their field, starting with her partner-in-crime Lou Miller (Cate Blanchett).
Together, they recruit a crew of specialists: jeweller Amita (Mindy Kaling), street con Constance (Awkwafina), expert fence Tammy (Sarah Paulson), hacker Nine Ball (Rihanna) and fashion designer Rose (Helena Bonham Carter).
The target is a cool $150 million in diamonds that sit in a necklace that will be around the neck of world-famous actress Daphne Kluger (Anne Hathaway), who will be centre stage at the event of the year – the Met Gala in a huge museum in New York.
The plan is rock solid, but everything will need to be flawless if the team is going to get in and get away with the goodies.
There’s very little in the way of back story as you watch Ocean’s 8. Within the first five minutes the scams begin and plans are under way to make sure the heist goes to the letter.
You don’t need to know much about the characters because it is the heist that is the star of the movie.
You know what to expect here: the stealing of plans, hacking of cameras, ID cards stolen, microphones placed and security companies to infiltrate. Nothing new.
It’s good to see James Corden on
‘‘ OCEAN’S 8 TRIES TO DO THE SAME BUT BY THE END OF THE MOVIE THE TWISTS ARE DELIVERED LIKE AN AFTERTHOUGHT, AND ANYONE GOOD AT BASIC MATHS WILL HAVE ALREADY FIGURED IT OUT.
the big screen as an insurance investigator assigned to making the sure world’s most expensive necklace is taken care of appropriately by the owners.
Now for the bad news.
The reason everyone loved the 2001 version of Ocean’s Eleven was that the heist itself was so very clever, and delivered twists and turns that you didn’t see coming.
Ocean’s 8 tries to do the same but by the end of the movie the twists are delivered like an afterthought, and anyone good at basic maths will have already figured it out.
Bullock doesn’t change her expression once throughout the whole movie, maybe because she looks 23 and not her real age of 53, and you desperately want to give her a hair straightener from start to finish.
Blanchett isn’t given much to do to justify her worldly skills; she could have been challenged with a script that delved into the characters a bit more.
As for Ms Bonham Carter, she’s always good at what she does but the accent of her Irish dress designer drops in and out of the movie like one of those annoying Twitter feeds on a TV talent show. One minute she’s “diddlee dee Oirish” and the next she’s a “Noo Yoiker”.
All up, the whole movie feels like a lazy, missed opportunity.
The biggest let down is that the heist itself lacks any kind of tension, with no feeling of risk or danger, which is vital when it is the basis of the entire story.
On the upside, the best thing about Ocean’s 8 is Hathaway, who not only looks incredible, but steals every scene she’s in. Rihanna, as computer hacker Nine Ball, brings some sense of fun to what is a pretty soulless script.
Ocean’s 8 could have been something special, but instead the filmmakers have put together a great cast with an lazy script, safe in the knowledge that people are going to pay their $15 to see it no matter what.
Go and see Ocean’s 8 for a disposable night out, but if you’re expecting the thrills, twists and tension that Mr Clooney and Mr Pitt delivered in 2001, then you’re going to be disappointed.
Either way, don’t be surprised if we see Ocean’s 9 in a year or so, followed by Ocean’s 10.