Ocean's 8 (Film Review)

Grade: B

One of the best things to come out of Parks & Recreation was the concept of “Galentine’s Day”. Set on February 13^th, it’s a day for women to get together, no matter age or relationship status, and celebrate female friendships. It’s a holiday that’s lived on past Parks & Rec, which concluded in 2015, and trends on social media on February 13^th. Galentine’s is a welcome replacement of the usual methods that popular culture has portrayed the day before Valentine’s day: desperate women pinning their identities and self-worth on whether or not they’ll be alone on the 14^th. Instead, it encourages women to claim the day for themselves, and celebrate the female friendships that are all too often portrayed in culture as adversarial.

It’s female friendships that are at the core of the female-led heist film Ocean’s 8, a film that is shown in many scenes to be a continuance of the Ocean’s storyline, rather than a reboot either hard or soft. Led by Debbie Ocean (Sandra Bullock), a crew assembles to rob the annual Met Gala (link) in New York City of a targeted 6-pound diamond necklace valued at $150 million, a take that would come under Ocean’s 11’s take of $163 million, but split amongst less people. The roles of roper, hacker, fixer, lifter, and various grifters are filled by the all-star cast, with the requisite beats and scenes to further expand some of the characters, but with the same general broad strokes employed in the Clooney remake of Ocean’s 11.

The chemistry between the cast is visible, more so between some characters than others, likely because of needing to keep the action moving, and not having the screentime for “hangout” scenes popularized by Marvel films in recent years to let the characters talk to each other and develop, but still when the crew is together, they either talk to each other, or work as a cohesive unit. There are very few scenes of butting heads, with every member of the crew being used in roles where they’ll be the best fit. It’s part of why some critics have upturned their noses at the affair, possibly because they’ve never observed women working together as a group when their goals are in alignment.

For a heist movie to succeed, it has to succeed in different facets. First, violence is a no-no, nothing more than a punch, and nothing that’s putting anyone in the hospital if the act is performed by the heroes. In this facet Ocean’s 8 succeeds, as no one is ever in physical danger, save one scene where a character threatens an antagonist, but no physical harm is done. This is important, because a heist movie’s purpose is to be fun, to rob the ultra-rich without doing any harm to the other 99%. The successful chapters of the first three Ocean’s movies targeted casinos, a concept that most wouldn’t mind watching a fantastical heist of, especially one that never involves the drawing of a gun. Ocean’s 8 targets a museum, but is actually targeting Cartier, a jewelry behemoth with a history and reputation frequented by the very rich.

The second facet needed for a heist movie’s success is to feel like going to a magic show, to be wondered and amazed, but also to know how all the tricks were accomplished. This is done both with the original Ocean’s movies as well as the actual “Ocean’s 11 but with magicians” in Now You See Me. The key is to save the big surprise for the final reveal, which Ocean’s 8 does according to the heist formula.

The Bechdel Test will inevitably be invoked and in the general sense it passes with flying colors, but critics might take the film to task for the crew's target being an ex-boyfriend and one crew member's victory fantasy taking a guy she met online to Paris, but an attentive viewing can discredit any claims of faux-feminism. That the women talk to and work with each other with so few hiccups lowers the stakes, definitely, but doesn't lower the quality. In Ocean's 8, women are more than a prize for a leading man, or a momentary distraction of a guard, but instead solving problems either with creative thinking, or planning ahead.

While it’s not a perfect movie, the Ocean’s films weren’t either. (Ocean’s 12 felt like a pretty big stumble with it’s reveal that the heist was actually pulled in the first 20 minutes of the film, and the rest was misleading the audience as well as the villain.) Some characters were underused, some underdeveloped beyond character establishment in broad strokes, but there were funny moments where characters talk to each other like people (and show each other how to Tinder), not just thieves. Characters from the preceding trilogy make appearances to advise, but they don’t dominate the scenes they inhabit, and Bullock plays a much more calculating Ocean than Clooney’s. The plot takes the front seat over character development to keep the movie running 15 minutes shorter than the preceding entries, and with Soderbergh as only a producer instead of directing, the scene with Anne Hathaway’s Daphne living her dream to direct feels like a dig that “Directed by Gary Ross” is the first name in the credits.

Still, a heist movie is meant to be a magic show, a fun romp where you marvel at the tricks and see how they were done, to have your cake and eat it too. Hopefully, a sequel (with a female director), will give this cast the room it needs to develop into the A-grade ensemble we see flickers of, but for now, we’ll get the large popcorn and settle for the B.

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Posted from my blog with SteemPress : https://vaughndemont.com/2018/06/11/oceans-8-film-review/

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