Women of Action: Ocean’s Eight
It’s finally time for the ladies to get in on the heist action! Robbing casinos blind and stealing precious artwork from museums was just too good to pass up for Danny Ocean’s little sister Debbie. The opening of the movie sees her getting out of prison; not by nefarious means, but on parole. Much like her brother in the 2001 Ocean’s Eleven, Debbie lies her way into getting released only to fall back into her criminal ways. And the cycle continues…
If you’re a fan of the Ocean’s series to this point then I probably don’t need to go into what the movie is about in detail. A group of would-be thieves attempt to make a big score with an outlandishly implausible scheme. It’s worked a few times already for the boys, but now Sandra Bullock and her newfound crew of lovely lady criminals are going to get theirs. Every movie in this series is the same. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but the one quality that all of these movies requires to be more than just mediocre is a charismatic cast.
We’re introduced to the members of the crew almost immediately upon Debbie’s release. She’s been thinking about the heist since she went into the slammer and now her and her good pal Cate Blanchett are about to get the thing done. Hilarious actresses like Mindy Kaling and Awkwafina join the crew and lend it something bordering on likability. I have to admit, while I have some bias going into the movie towards Kaling, she is one of the brightest parts of the movie. The other one that stuck out to me was Rihanna! I know, right? Not only did she do a fine job in her limited role, but she was also the most valuable thief on the team.
Each of the movies in the series leaned on the characters to carry out their own roles for the betterment of the overall mission but Rihanna definitely deserved the MVP award. Cate Blanchett was a bit of dead weight, to be honest. I can’t remember what her role was but she sure had attitude riding around her motorcycle.
All in all, Ocean’s Eight was a decent entry into the series. It wasn’t any worse than Ocean’s Twelve but I would still put it behind Ocean’s Eleven and Ocean’s Thirteen. Sandra Bullock is always pretty good and you could tell that all of the women had a good time making this one.
