Ocean's Eight Movie Review

Ocean's Eight (2018)

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Written by: Gary Ross & Olivia Milch (screenplay by), Gary Ross (story by, George Clayton Johnson & Jack Golden Russell (based upon characters created by) 
Directed by: Gary Ross
Starring: Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter, Mindy Kaling, Rihanna, Dakota Fanning, Awkwafina, Sarah Paulson
Rated: PG-13
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Plot
Debbie Ocean gathers an all-female crew to attempt an impossible heist at New York City's yearly Met Gala.

Verdict
This is a fun premise with an all woman crew, but more than anything it made me want to watch Ocean's Eleven. While the performances are fine, even great, this borrows a few too many scenes from Ocean's Eleven without providing all of the style and fun. The heist is a great sequence, but it's flanked by too much filler. Trimming twenty minutes out of this would help as even with a few twists it just lacks punch. That's only highlighted when this movie tries to pay homage to Ocean's Eleven.
It depends.

Review
I couldn't remember if Sandra Bullock's character Debbie had been in the other movies. I really only remember Ocean's Eleven, as the others weren't nearly as good. In this she is Danny Ocean's, I assume up to this point unseen, sister.

This starts almost identical to Ocean's Eleven with Debbie convincing a parole board to let her go. I was disappointed early on with Debbie ripping people off to in such a short amount of time and to such a great degree that it just seemed silly. I get it's character development, but it could be better. This just doesn't have the cool factor of Eleven, though I do like the relationship between Debbie and Cate Blanchett's character Lou even if it could have been developed more.

 

Both their performances are great, though I'd give the edge to Blanchett. Anne Hathaway overshadows both of them. She has a small role, but does a lot with it. Unfortunately with such a large cast, there's not a lot of time for each actor, but everyone did a really nice job.

Debbie puts together a team with a setup that's a bit underwhelming. Constantly I wished this had the style and most importantly the writing of Eleven. The recruitment scene just feels like a chore.
Part of the setup involves a 3d printer that can print cubic zirconium which will aide in their heist. Is that really a thing? They also have a scale model of their target, which made me wonder who built it.

This definitely has some twists and surprises along the way. The entire heist sequence is a lot of fun. The only downside to the heist was when it began to overlap with Eleven. There were too many callbacks to that movie. This one needed to stand on its own.

After the heist this continues for too long. I didn't like the insurance claims guy, but it did give us a really neat twist. This definitely pulls a switch a couple times, but I can't help but think the screenwriter used Ocean's Eleven as a template. The movie needs some distance between them. The heist was great, but there are definitely some parts that should be cut. Why watch this when you could watch Ocean's Eleven?