Watched Ocean’s 8.
Since it was the first Ocean’s film I have seen and had no points of comparison, I started watching all of them …
oceans 11 (1960)
The original one. My guess nobody is going to watch it, so I will be spoilerrific. I also assume that you have seen the 2001 remake.
The 1960 version features Danny Ocean played by Frank Sinatra, he and ten of his friends rob a casino vault using blackout, and Ocean has an ex-wife, which are about the only common elements between it and the remake. The eleven men are all old comrades from the same unit in WWII, and Danny is not a criminal. The number 11 comes from the plan that five pairs rob five casinos simultaneously and one collects the money. Because of that, most members play identical roles in the heist and you see the same simple heist repeated five times (albeit being edited fairly snappily). Some characters receive more development than others, but generally the introduction for each is very brief. The film has a good chunk of aftermath after the heist, being investigated by one of the men’s relatives who conveniently happens to be a detective. To cut the story short, the men failed to retrieve the money they hid and the heist ended in vain.
It is an underwhelming film, and the reason is the amount of contrived plot lines. Ocean has an ex-wife and a new girlfriend, both of whom he flirts with but are not at all involved in the story. They are misused red herrings. And the aforementioned detective is not only conveniently a family member of one of the eleven, but also happens to be in one of the five casinos at the time of the robbery. And even though he is very good with his deduction skill, he does not catch the men when he has a chance to do so (there’s no reason, he just doesn’t).
The amount of naive sexism is something I noticed but does not offend me personally, partially because it’s an old film and I can accept the naivety of the time, but it is very much that of the ‘60s and would easily come across as distasteful today. I will save that discussion for Ocean’s 8.
In conclusion, the original Ocean’s 11 was a great idea of a film that went to the kitchen too early, as Sinatra seemed to have hurried into production since he liked the idea so much. The heist was too simple, the eleven did not have distinct enough personalities, the romance plot had no payoff, and while I like the bitter twist ending, the build up to it was shaky. Having said that, I may be looking at this from modern lens, and if someone grew up with it and like it very much, I can totally see why. I can also totally see why someone would want to make a better version of it, which speaks to Soderbergh’s keen eye. I give it 4⁄10.
At least everyone can agree that Saul Bass did a great job with the opening animation, which is easily the best part of the film (if not the only good part).
oceans 11 (2001)
Wow, Soderbergh nailed it!
I had never seen the film and I thought I was going to be on the minority side, but I was pleasantly surprised. It does almost everything better than the original, except for the opening credits.
Danny Ocean, played by George Clooney this time (one of Soderbergh’s favourite actors, like Kurt Russel is to John Carpenter), finishes his 4 year imprisonment and immediately starts planning a heist, recruiting his old friends. Unlike the original, the ex-wife plot is used to the film’s benefit and gives purpose to the macguffin more value than its monetary one. Clear motivation, check.
Also each of the eleven men plays different part in the heist. Leader, second in command, card dealer, mechanic, actor, demolition, acrobat, financier, pickpocket, and two drivers. Unique roles, check. (Actually the financier was the twelfth guy in the original, which was another wasted character)
In order to make the execution part thrilling, it helps to understand through exposition if the characters are performing as planned or making mistakes. To make that happen, the heist plan needs to be elaborated to the audience beforehand. For example, the 1996 Mission Impossible’s famous CIA heist scene looks goofy out of context, and knowing that Tom Cruise – or even his sweat, must not touch the floor and not make a noise either – makes the scene nail-biting. It seems obvious, but it’s not always done well. Ocean’s 11 checks that.
And wait, we have a bad guy now! I love Andy Garcia and he is great in the film, though he is too dumb to connect so many odd things happening in one evening. He has what Ocean wants, and his motivation, ability, weakness are all clear. A well-defined bad guy, checked.
The snappy pacing and classical filmography is also a big plus. The music selection is perfectly fit for the film. The original had a professional singer in the eleven, performing on screen. So, when it comes to music, I would call it a draw.
Though, it is not emotionally strong film, it is a great light-hearted heist film that perfectly hits the note it is supposed to, and is probably close to the best you can with the setup of eleven-men heist. I think the problem with the original is still there, which is weak characterization and the chemistry of some members, but that could only be solved with fewer heist members, longer runtime, or in a sequel in which you do not need to build all characters from scratch. 8.5/10.
As a designer who revives past works regularly, I strive to make failed but good ideas back to life. And I believe Ocean’s 11 is a theatrical embodiment of my taste. I do not want another instalment of something already great and popular, just so that Hollywood can milk more money out of it until it runs dry. I do not want another Star Wars, Terminator, and Ghostbusters (which the millennial Ocean’s series is also a victim to). Remakes have to have creative heart too, and I really appreciate the choices of failed good ideas and the better modern results of films like The Fly, The Thing, Scarface, and of course, Ocean’s 11.
oceans 12 (2004)
Twelve. The direction and acting are just as good as the previous film, and the new antagonist is cool. The problem is the twist ending that explains the true events in flashback that makes the main heist meaningless.
The details of the events of the film are not well thought out, and the script does not make good use of the characters. Not sure if it’s worse than the 1960 original, but I was really unimpressed.
oceans 13 (2007)
It’s another sequel not so well conceived plot-wise, but I appreciate that each film has different theme and focus more on the characters, instead of repeating the first film. Some details of the plot don’t make sense in hindsight but only exist to give a false tension, but compared to 12 which the plot hole did ruin the story, it’s much more bearable.
This time, the finance guy gets ripped off by a rival casino and the team pulls off the ‘heist’ as a revenge. It doesn’t matter how much they win, it’s about how much their enemy loses. They are even joined by their former enemy, which is a great twist; more Andy Garcia is always welcome (he is in the Mamma Mia sequel, but I refuse to watch it even with him in the cast). Ocean’s 11 was 8.5/10, 12 was 6, and I give 13 7.5/10. Next is the final entry of the series, Ocean’s 8.
oceans 8 (2018)
So, finally Ocean’s 8.
While it’s perfectly watchable, its artistic merit is nonexistent; it is a carbon copy of both the 1960 original and 2001 remake, re-packaged in a female box. Your opinion of the film will vary, depending on if you react to superficial girly stuff, if you have seen previous Ocean’s films, and how familiar you are with heist films in general.
In terms of direction, this movie does a good job copying Soderbergh’s style (Gary Ross is credited as director). The pacing was snappy and I was never bored, and the main actors have good chemistry. I was worried about casting and acting, but it was adequate for what the film needed. Anne Hathaway is usually not someone I give credit for acting, but her role was perfect. Helena Bonham Carter’s character was borderline comical, but she managed to pull it off. Sandra Bullock wasn’t at her best, but the film does not call for emotional investment anyway. Rihanna, playing a character called 9 Ball (because there was 8 Ball in the original), was also positively unexpected.
In terms of the story, the first half was almost exactly the same as the Soderbergh’s version, even starting with the jail. It comes with girly sugar coating, however; instead of money, the macguffin is a jewellery designed by Cartier, and the heist takes place at a fashion gala dinner where you see tons of female celebrity cameos. Like in the Ghostbusters 2016 which depicted all male characters as either super moron or super evil, Ocean’s 8 also treats men negatively; it’s a revenge on Bullock character’s ex boyfriend, and she also refuses to hire a man for the team simply because he is a dude. Is that what feminism is about? The past Ocean’s films were not sexist towards women, well, except for the 1960 original which did have moments which would come across as sexist today. But that’s how things were back then and people didn’t know better. By the level of intent, I would say that Ocean’s 8 is more sexist. It is not offensively so, compared to the disaster known as Ghostbusters 2016.
The quality of the heist is average. Usually in heist films, the objective and strategy will be experimented and explained in detail before, so that the audience understands the stake and what contributes to success or failure. The thrill comes from the execution part, especially when things are about to go wrong, either by accident, conflict between the law enforcement or competitor, or double cross within the team (again, you can spot the danger only if the plan is explained to you). Unfortunately, Ocean’s 8 is rather sloppy on this front. The briefing part is too short, and nobody fails anything in the execution, and if anything happens, digital technology fixes everything. It is a safe auto-pilot with too many miracles (I can tolerate the latter somewhat). It is at least a bit better than 12, not too bad among the five Ocean’s films.
The biggest story element taken from the original involves the last act, and it’s already getting quite long, so I’ll skip it.
The film is fine, it’s enjoyable enough. My gripe is that never becomes its own thing and becomes clear that they just wanted a gender-swapped version of an existing film, shitting on men along the way. In the light of feminism, there are lots of great films with female leads that deserve more praise. This film, as well as Ghostbusters 2016, do not empower feminism, they just want feminists’ money. I really think female adaptation is a wrong approach and rather an insult to women. Is a lesser version of men’s film the best Hollywood can give to women? You do not need to rally around stuffs like this. It’s a girls’ guilty pleasure at best, and shouldn’t be taken any more seriously than that (to its credit, the public doesn’t seem to). 5⁄10 for me, with a room for up to +2 largely depending on if you enjoy cursory chick flicks or not.
I have now watched
three franchise failures this summer: Solo, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, and Ocean’s 8 (at least failures in my book). What is common in the three are that they all feel like decisions by the studio executives who only know how to milk a cow but not how to raise one, as opposed to somebody genuinely wanting to create something new out of the franchises. Being an incompetent president of a company must be fun (e.g. Kathleen Kennedy, who actually has a lot of experience), having no understanding of the core value of the company assets, failing to value creativity, screwing over the fans, burning the company reputation to hell, and still getting paid by the millions.
Not all hopes were lost though, as I’ll review The Incredibles 2 next time.
—toshi omagari
Flommist Toshi Omagari fights many things, most recent of which is the auto-correction of his title to florist. Copyright © 2018 Toshi Omagari.
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