a5c7b9f00b Debbie Ocean gathers an all-female crew to attempt an impossible heist at New York City&#39;s yearly Met Gala. Danny Ocean&#39;s younger sister Debbie attempts to pull off the heist of the century at New York City&#39;s star-studded annual Met Gala. Her first stop is to assemble the perfect crew: Lou, Rose, Daphne Kluger, Nine Ball, Tammy, Amita, and Constance. Really liked the 1960 &#39;Ocean&#39;s 11&#39; film and the first film in the original &#39;Ocean&#39;s&#39; trilogy justmuch, could find little fault with either. Was not crazy about &#39;Ocean&#39;s 12&#39; while not hating it and cared even less for &#39;Ocean&#39;s 13&#39;, my opinion of course and one not many probably will share.<br/><br/>Will admit to be both intrigued and nervous hearing that there would be an &#39;Ocean&#39;s&#39; film featuring an all-female lead cast. Thought to myself, why not have more emphasis on women, when it gives more of a focus on female characters and with potential to make them more interesting than they were in the trilogy (hope that has not come out the wrong way)? What made me nervous was whether doing this would turn out to fare the samethe awful &#39;Ghostbusters&#39; reboot/remake, a failure of a film on its own terms that did nothing with what it tried to do, absolutely nothing to do with not accepting change or not wanting women in lead roles when there are so many strong and iconic female lead characters (speakinga woman myself). <br/><br/>Actually saw &#39;Ocean&#39;s Eight&#39; a few weeks ago but it took a while for me to get round to reviewing it with so many commitments and being behind on watching and reviewing films/television. It also took me a while trying to figure out what my thoughts were, having been conflicted and mixed leaving the cinema, and how to sum up my critiques. While still finding things to like, a large part of me was disappointed and found a lot wrong with it. &#39;Ocean&#39;s Eight&#39; is not an awful film but it is not a good one either and should have been a good one considering what it had going for it.<br/><br/>Let&#39;s start with the good things. &#39;Ocean&#39;s Eight&#39; does look great, it has a very sleek, glitzy and expensive look. Showing in the photography and especially the gorgeous costumes and gala setting. Some of the music is pleasant to listen to and there are small fleeting moments of wit and unforced charm. The heist climax is where the film most comes to life narratively, it is suspenseful, slickly executed and fun to watch. <br/><br/>The cast, or at least most of them, also fare well. The standout was Anne Hathaway who had charm and hilarious comic timing and the super-cool Cate Blanchett. Awkwarfina was also a delight and it was refreshing to see Helena Bonham Carter bringing a sweeter side to her usual ditzy oddball persona. Sandra Bullock has an admirable steely edge and James Corden does shine in his relatively limited screen time. <br/><br/>However, not all the cast fare well. Particularly the hopelessly out of her depth Rihanna and a bland Richard Armitage in a role that was a plot device. Mindy Kaling and Sarah Paulson don&#39;t make much impression in underwritten roles. It was the way the characters were written that was one of the big problems, liked the diversity but none of the characters are developed fully to make them properly likeable or interesting, generally coming overshallow. There are moments of charm in the chemistry but that was bland too generally. <br/><br/>Much of &#39;Ocean&#39;s Eight&#39; is dull in pace, taking too long to get started and with too little story to sustain the length, only in the climax and the lead up to it (so three quarters of the way through) does it start coming to life. The film attempted, or at least it came over this way to me, to disguise this problem by padding it out with scenes going on for too long and a lot of talk that sometimes feels verbose and going round in circles. There is not enough suspense or surprises to thrill and there is not enough sass, spark, wit or snap to be properly funny. The direction is never more than workmanlike and fails to have much distinction. The references and connections to the previous films felt thrown in and are nowhere near explored enough and the ending is far too abrupt and petering out too early-like.<br/><br/>In conclusion, looks expensive with a great climax and the cast generally do impress but very lacking in soul, energy, thrills, surprises and distinction. It all felt too safe and that the execution was side-lined in favour of the all female lead concept. 4/10 Bethany Cox Great plot; full of twist; kept my interest at all times. Just count the 8 during the movie to make yourself wonder. The cast really did well playing off each others rolls better than I have seen in a long while. It’s smooth, and far from inept. But it isn’t much fun. That’s all you want from a certain kind of heist picture, isn’t it? Fun?
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346 weeks ago