Ocean's Eight



‘A him gets noticed, a her gets ignored and for once we want to be ignored.’ – Debbie Ocean

A few months ago, I had binged watched Ocean’s 11, 12 &13 and the franchise quickly rose and dropped from one of my favourites; however I was still more than intrigued to see the new sequel to the film. I must admit I’m not necessarily on board with the new idea of remaking films with an all female cast to create equality but as Ghostbusters (2016) was quite an entertaining film and the cast includes a plethora of notable women, I stilled wanted to see it.  

The film was quite good, providing an unlikely group of con artists, continuously out smarting the audience and evoking at lot of laughter in the jam packed cinema. Regardless of gender Warner Bros. Pictures has been able to bring together a cast with a lot of star power to the screen and I liked seeing people like Mindy Kaling in somewhat of a different role. There were also many celebrity cameos that I feel really added to the experience. There were also appearances from characters of the Ocean’s trilogy , enough to satisfy those who knew the franchise but still be enjoyable for those who didn’t, but there were people from the original cast that I really wanted to see who didn’t make an appearance.

As with most sequels, things production wise weren’t kept the same one of which being  ‘Ocean’s 8’ was directed by Gary Ross instead of by Steven Soderborugh who directed the Ocean’s trilogy which stared George Clooney, but Soderborugh still produced the film, which I saw as a attempt to stay true to the franchise. The film was definitely formulaic from the parole hearing at the start to the assembly of the team but I didn’t find any of the plot twists as surprising or enjoyable as any in the trilogy and felt the ending could’ve been better developed. Also, I didn’t necessarily fall in love with love the band of thieves as much as I love each of the actresses outside of their roles.

The budget for the film was lower than Ocean’s 11 which isn’t necessarily a bad thing in my opinion as it forces filmmakers to be creative rather than rely on money. The first Deadpool film, for instance, only had a budget of $58 million and its return was so much greater, and if they want the film to continue as franchise this budget could be seen as merely a stepping stone to something bigger, plus it already made the budget back in the box office release in America.

Ultimately, Ocean’s 8 didn’t resurrect the franchise for me. It was good for what it was, but I felt that it could have pushed the boundaries more.



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