Review: 'Ocean's 8' Is Top Rate

Benjamin Frohman ’19 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer
In a film cycle dominated by men, it is not only refreshing but critical to have films where women dominate the screen and are the center of the story. Unlike the all-female Ghostbusters reboot, which received hate for simply existing, Ocean’s 8 sidesteps the reboot approach by being a spinoff that has no effect on the last films, and rather eloquently builds off the universe set up by the first three. Ocean’s 8 takes the previous series shakes it up a bit and womanizes the franchise.
Debbie Ocean (Sandra Bullock), a newly released convict, has spent her time developing a master plan to rob the Met Gala. Debbie happens to be the sister of famed con man Frank Ocean (George Clooney), who was the focus of Ocean’s Eleven, Twelve, and Thirteen. Debbie and Frank share similarities in their leadership roles, charm, and knack for master plans. Frank is supposedly deceased in this film, but the movie leaves it open for more installments and room for tying up loose ends, so to speak. Debbie, though she said she would lead a simple life, instead gets back into her old ways of fraud and theft. Debbie contacts her friend Lou (Cate Blanchett), a motorbike riding bar owner, who agrees to help Debbie on her calculated plan.
The team is trying to steal a famous Cartier $150 million diamond necklace, off the neck of Anne Hathaway’s Daphne Kluger, a seemingly rich self-absorbed celebrity, who will be sporting it at the Met Gala. The plot thickens when an insurance investigator played by James Corden enters the picture, an ex-lover mixed in, and some snags in the fabric of the mission begin to happen.
Ocean’s 8 is cut from the same cloth of the previous entries but with new material, which complements the women who make up this film. This movie aces the Bechdel test, it demonstrates how a franchise can live on while also passing the baton to others, as well as it is able to add its own sprinkle of pizazz and glamour. The film exudes female empowerment and complex women characters hungry for a prize. The plot is furthered by twists, nail-biting executions, and cunning wit. There are also fun cameos and the film serves as a bountiful platter to what looks like a fresh and fun trilogy much like the previous ones. Ocean’s 8 is sure to keep audiences on the edge of their seat, as these women outthink and outperform everyone around them.
Overall Grade: B
Watch The Trailer:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFWF9dU5Zc0[/embedyt]