Ocean’s 8 Made Me Want To Plan a Heist
“Why are they making ANOTHER Ocean’s movie? Three is enough!”
“George Clooney isn’t even in this one! What’s the point of watching it?”
“There have been other crime movies with an all-women cast. What makes Ocean’s 8 so special?”
The past few years have been the century of movie remakes, and I can only imagine a slew of complaints have been made, and for Ocean’s 8, I am assuming that it has not been any different. I won’t lie because I thought the same thing. However, I have changed my mind after seeing the movie, and I have decided that I am going to address these Frequently Asked Questions, or FAQs, that are likely to have been stated in response to the release of Ocean’s 8.
Q: “Why are they making ANOTHER Ocean’s movie? Three is enough!”
A: The Ocean’s series has been named as being genre defining and leading to the proliferation and commercializations of heist films worldwide. The series is based on the 1960 Rat Pack film, Ocean’s 11, and has seen collaborated to a positive critical response and a substantial amount of success commercially, collectively grossing $1.17 billion worldwide. Familiar Hollywood names like George Clooney, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia, Brad Pitt, Bernie Mac, Julia Roberts and Don Cheadle have stared in all three films (except Julia Roberts, who was only in the first two films). Ocean’s 8 is №1 at the Box Office and has opened with franchise-best $41.5 million, so the continuation of the series with Ocean’s 8 has proven to be successful, if not more, than the others.
Q: “George Clooney isn’t even in this one! What’s the point of watching it?”
A: Even though George Clooney is not actually starring in the film, he is part of the movie plot! Sandra Bullock plays his estranged sister, Debbie Ocean, in the movie, who schemes to steal the Toussaint, a Cartier necklace worth $150 million, off the neck of Anne Hathaway’s character. She recruits Cate Blanchett, Mindy Kaling, Sarah Paulson, Awkwafina, Rihanna, and Helena Bonham Carter, who serve as her fellow masterminds and complete the ensemble cast. They are women that you have seen in the film and entertainment industry plenty of times before and have come to greatly admire! The cast is diverse — not only in their heritages (Caucasian, African-American, Asian, Indian), but also in their notable careers which are represented in televisions, films, and music.
Q: “There have been other crime movies with an all-female cast. What makes Ocean’s 8 so special?”
A: You are not wrong. There’s been 9 to 5, Mad Money, Good Girls, etc. You can tell by the hunger in the cast’s eyes that they are taking down the Met Gala not only because of the eventual financial payoff, but because they can and to prove that they are smarter than the event organizers. Debbie Ocean’s heist is motivated purely by ego, not necessarily the financial necessity. Like the cast of Ocean’s 11, Debbie and her fellow masterminds are glamorous and seasoned professionals. They know what they are doing. They have the skillset and means to get away with this. They don’t exactly NEED the money, they just want the money. Ocean’s 8 has allowed this all-female cast of ensembles to be ambitious, logical, and take on the system with bravado, like one would see in a movie with an all-male cast of this genre. It’s rare to have an ensemble cast like Ocean’s 8 does. In other all-female heist movies and TV shows, the women are not professional criminals, but normal women you might encounter at the grocery store or at yoga class.
It is amazing to see how they navigate around the many obstacles that surround them as they try to pull of this heist, and still partake in smooth sailing, by the skin of their teeth. Even though the operation of their scheme and its (eventual) success seems too good to be true, I still walked away from the movie theater feeling as confident as ever that I could do the same thing and never get caught. Ocean’s 8 is a movie by women and for women, but I think that any gender will be able to seek their teeth into this film.
So go see Ocean’s 8.
