It seems like Sandra Bullock doesn’t make as many movies as she used to, but it’s nice to know that when they do come around, the films actually take advantage of her talents. In Ocean’s Eight she gets to play a hot, tough, fast-talking grifter, the sister of George Clooney’s character from Ocean’s Eleven. Fresh out of prison, she gets seven women with various different skills together to pull off a heist at the ritzy Met Gala. Helping Bullock is her right-hand woman (Cate Blanchett), a down on her luck fashion designer (Helena Bonham Carter), a ditzy movie star (Anne Hathaway), a forger (Mindy Kaling), a hacker (Rhianna), a pickpocket (Awkwafina), and a fence (Sarah Paulson).
Director Gary Ross keeps things zipping along at a crackling pace. He also imbues the film with its own sense of style while very much feeling like an honest to goodness continuation of the franchise, and not just… you know… the same shit, but with women. The heist is exciting and entertaining too and contains at least more than one genuine surprise.
The movie gets a lot of mileage from the chemistry between the stars too. (Bullock’s scenes with Blanchett are particularly fun.) Even though it’s primarily a Bullock vehicle, the other actresses all have their moments to shine, and it’s fun just seeing them bouncing off one another. The Met Gala finale also serves as a good opportunity to shoehorn a lot of cameos in there as well.
Speaking of cameos, there are at least two notable cameos by previous members of the Ocean’s Eleven franchise, although they don’t manage to stick around for very long. Apparently, other members of the series were supposed to show up too, but their scenes were cut. Not that the movie really needed them anyway. It does just fine on its own merits.
Ocean’s Eleven’s director Steven Soderbergh also served as a producer and surprisingly enough, was the second unit director for Ross’s The Hunger Games.
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