[yasr_overall_rating]
Debbie Ocean gathers an all-female crew to attempt an impossible heist at New York City’s yearly Met Gala.
I honestly have no idea why “Ocean’s 8” was made. Obviously, with the success of “Ocean’s 11” back in 2001, and its two less-than-stellar sequels, Warner Bros. felt that if they rebooted the series, and brought in a whole new gang, they could start another franchise. I’m sure the movie will make its money back and I’m sure they’ll go on to produce “Ocean’s 9” and “Ocean’s 10” but in the end, this whole reboot was totally unnecessary.
After spending five years in prison, Debbie Ocean (Sandra Bullock) is released on parole and promises to live a good life moving forward. Instead, less than an hour after getting out of the joint, she is already stealing and profiting rather quickly. She hooks up with her best friend Lou (Cate Blanchett) and in no time, she tells her about a job she wants to pull. She claims that the five years in prison gave her the much-needed time required to plan the heist accurately and with no margin of error. They bring on six other participants, some old friends, some new, and inform them that the plan is to steal a necklace that’s worth more than $150 million at the upcoming New York City star-studded annual Met Gala.
Naturally, each member of the crew is specialized in various professions, from computer hacking, which will come in handy when needed to access the Gala’s security cameras, to a jewelry maker, who will have one opportunity to view the precious stones in advance of the gala and will have to recreate them, one by one so they can swap out the real ones with the fake ones, all without nobody witnessing the act. Like the movies that came before it, and the heists that were calculated strategically, halfway through the scheme, they hit a snag and realize that in order for the plan to work, this “issue” needs to be eliminated so we have extraneous amounts of tension, right up until the big finale. The only problem is, it doesn’t work. “Ocean’s 8” is a carbon copy of “Ocean’s 11,” and for that matter, 12 and 13. The blueprint for each movie is exactly the same: plan a heist, gather a dependable crew, realize that everything is not going smoothly, fix said issue, add enormous amounts of tension, and then steal the story’s objective.
The cast overall give solid performances but like the “Ghostbusters” reboot from 2016, everything feels contrived. While the big heist in “Ocean’s 11” worked, thanks to director Steven Soderbergh’s deft direction and slick camerawork, back then, we didn’t know what was coming, so each new twist and turn caught us off guard but with “Ocean’s 12 & 13” following the exact same blueprint, and now “Ocean’s 8” following suit, by the time the film reaches its unsatisfying climax, you realize you saw it coming a mile away. Debbie is Danny (George Clooney)’s sister, and while the movie never tells us what happened to him, shortly after being released from prison, she visits his burial chamber in a mausoleum. Right up to the end, I was expecting him to make a cameo, and I think, personally, that would have elevated the movie somewhat but alas, it was not meant to be. Now if only the rest of the franchise could die along with him, the world would be a much better place.
Available on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD & Digital HD September 11th
