"Ocean's 8" is a Decent Reboot/Sequel With All-Star Cast
By: Keaton Marcus
Genre/Crime/Comedy
Age Rating/11+
Lemonradar/66% sweet/sour
So What’s The Story?
Hi, this is Keaton Marcus from Sweet and Sour Movie Reviews and today I will be reviewing the all-female driven reboot/sequel of the Ocean’s franchise, Ocean’s 8. When Debbie Ocean’s brother, Danny Ocean is dead she decides to pull off another amazing heist for him at the yearly Met Gala, in particular a six-pound diamond necklace called the Tuscan which is going to be on the neck of famous actress Daphne Kugler. When Debbie gets seven other women to join her they must try and get the necklace of Kugler’s neck before the Gala ends.
How Was The Cast?
Imaginative, funny, creative and overall killer, those are the words that would describe the all-female cast, lead by Sandra Bullock playing Danny’s con-sister Debbie Ocean, Cate Blanchett as the crime partner of Debbie, Lou, Helena Bonham Carter performing as the over-nervous fashion designer Rose Weil and Rihanna as the sly, breezy hacker Nine Ball. As I have said leading this ensemble cast was Sandra Bullock (The Proposal, The Heat, Miss Congeniality etc.) playing sister to the con-man Danny Ocean who supposedly died years ago. Although still disappointingly far away from being as good of a heist actor compared to George Clooney, Sandra Bullock gave some laughs and lots and lots of experience from amazing former comedies and while this is her first heist flick and was a risk, there was enough comedy substance to keep Bullock afloat who will hopefully be returning to the next Ocean’s flick after it’s solid opening in the Box Office. Secondly we saw actress Cate Blanchett (Thor: Ragnarok, Carol, The Lord of the Rings franchise etc.) playing Debbie Ocean’s partner-in-crime Lou. Even though this performance is a heck-of-a-lot weaker than Blanchett’s brilliant villain (Hela) in Thor: Ragnarok, surprisingly-but-surely the actress proves to provide minimal-but-strong comedic strengths, and a sly charisma which helps the actress along the way, considering this is just-as-much a reboot as a sequel, there is no character Blanchett is supposed to be representing which gives her the upper-hand on Bullock in the film. Thirdly on the amazing female cast was Helena Bonham Carter (Sweeney Todd, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Fight Club etc.) playing the unpopular fashion designer Rose Weil. Although, Carter tends to be in dark, creepy and overall unsettling films, the actress has finally found a new, decent and strongly popular genre to come into and while not as captivating as her other films, she provides Ocean’s 8 with a truly hysterical and smart performance almost living up to some of the partners from Ocean’s Eleven which is a new-high within the cast and despite a shaky screenplay for the entire cast, Helena gives it her all. Lastly there is rapper and actress Rihanna (Battleship, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, This is the End etc.) as the smart hacker known as Nine Ball. Although, Rihanna has showed a solid debut from rapper-to-actress turn in Battleship and all of her other flicks, but in Ocean’s 8, Nine Ball is most likely the most-well-written character for this rapper/actress who surely stands out from the massive crowd who have already turned from music-to-movies while continuing her comedic career with laugh galor and splendour.
Is It Worth Your While?
The first change of directors in the Ocean’s franchise was very risky, especially considering because it is Gary Ross (The Hunger Games, Seabiscuit, The Tale of Despereaux, Free State of Jones etc.) and while the director has done some favorable movies, none of them have had any sort of relevance to Heist or Comedy genres, surprisingly Ross creates amazing, sly, and hysterical performances from it’s all-female cast and while Mr. Ross is not as refined as director Steven Soderbergh (who produced this) he proves faithful to the original franchise with a fun, but simple story and plot an ensemble cast and overall finally another successful Gary Ross-directed flick after his terrible outing for Free State of Jones with Matthew McConaughey. Expensive wise, Ocean’s 8 stands at a moderate 70M, which happens to be the least of the franchise, Ocean’s Eleven (85M), Ocean’s Twelve (110M) and Ocean’s Thirteen (85M), and while Ocean’s 8 does have an extremely expensive cast, the budget still remains less than its predecessors. As I have said earlier in this review, the story and plot was extremely predictable and happy endings were seen too clearly, it ended up being flashy and fun for all genders; Also elevated by the wonderful cast, Ocean’s 8 delivered what you expect out of an all-female heist flick plus even more giving extra-fuel for the franchise to go on longer than expected and gives audiences hope that maybe we will see these characters return for Ocean’s 9 or so.
Aging ‘The Met Gala’
Ocean’s 8 normally does not stray away from it’s comedic crime sort-of genre with very minimal actions of violence, common uses of language and a few little quicks on sexuality like in the original Ocean’s franchise. Violence wise, there is almost nothing to talk about except for the fact that Debbie is a con and does occasionally threaten her ex-husband with a pocket-knife in one little scene and although it is mostly off-camera, one character vomits violently in the toilet which may-or-may-not be a real concern to parents. Language wise, there are common uses of damn, s..t, p..sies, a..holes, crap, bugger and one character receives a text that said fkng as a phrase. Sexuality wise, there are many infrequent scenes of flirting and kissing and in one scene a woman in a bra and underwear seduces a man and handcuffs him to a bed.
Ocean’s 8 V Ocean’s Eleven
Ocean’s 8 79% sweet
Violence: ⭐☆☆☆☆
Sex: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
Language: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
Age Rating: 11+
Ocean’s Eleven 92% sweet
Violence: ⭐⭐☆☆☆
Sex: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
Language: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
Age Rating: 12+
Ocean's 8 79% sweet
Storyline: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
Cast: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Role Models: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
Ocean's Eleven 92% sweet
Storyline: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Cast: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Role Models: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
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