I read somewhere some time ago about a spin-off of the famous Ocean's trilogy movie with all female cast. But then I completely forgotten about it, until few weeks ago, the movie started to get the promotion via the social media of Indonesian cinema chains. Funnily enough, from the past few movies I saw in theaters, there was never any time that the trailer to this movie was shown. So I did not have any idea what the story or plot would be. Which probably could be a good thing for a heist movie such as this. Well we should get on with the movie now.
Brief Story Line
Debbie Ocean (Sandra Bullock - Speed, Miss Congeniality etc) was just released from prison after a con that involved her old boyfriend Claude Becker (Richard Armitage - The Hobbit trilogy, Hannibal TV series etc) gone wrong. During her time in jail, she thought of a heist plan which she believed would have made her infamous brother Danny Ocean proud. In order to do her plan, she recruited her old partner Lou (Cate Blanchett - Elizabeth, The Aviator etc) who she thought would be able to assist in finding the right persons to do the heist.
Debbie and Lou then began their search for the team which would include a failed fashion designer Rose Weil (Helena Bonham Carter - The King's Speech, Harry Potter series etc), a jewelry maker Amita (Mindy Kaling - The Office TV series, The Mindy Project TV series etc), a brilliant hacker called Nine Ball (Rihanna - Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, Battleship etc), a fast hand thief Constance (Awkwafina) and finally a racketeer Tammy (Sarah Paulson - American Horror Story TV series, 12 Years a Slave etc).
Debbie's plan was to steal a very expensive diamond being worn by a famous celebrity Daphne Kluger (Anne Hathaway - Colossal, The Princess Diaries etc) during the most exclusive event of Met Gala where it would be heavily protected. So could this team of extraordinary women manage to pull off with the greatest heist? Find them all in this fun and interesting heist movie.
End of Brief Story Line
I have to say that I cannot remember in details of the original Ocean's trilogy where the main character was Danny Ocean played brilliantly then by George Clooney, with a great ensemble cast that include stars such as Matt Damon, Brad Pitt, Bernie Mac, Don Cheadle, Andy Garcia, Elliot Gould, Julia Roberts and so on. All I remember was the movie was focusing on a great heist and throughout all the 3 movies, each one was able to give me a sense of excitement, thrill and fun about the heist.
So this movie was no different. At first I felt that the pace was a bit slow, especially during the new characters introduction. But when all have been introduced and the pieces started to be put in place, the movie became much more exciting. Some of the cast also were fun to see. My favorite characters in here were surely Debbie Ocean (which made my wife and I felt in awe of her intelligence), Rose Weil that was awkwardly funny and also Daphne (played brilliantly by Anne Hathaway) that my wife quite adored. However, the best part of this kind of heist movie not only was the brilliance of the theft itself, but the surprising twists that we never would have guessed.
Another thing that is required to make a good heist movie to be a success would have to be the chemistry among all the team. I think the director Gary Ross (experienced in directing movies such as Seabiscuit, The Hunger Games etc) was quite excellent in making sure the big names were able to cooperate with one another. I imagine it would have been very challenging as some of the cast were multiple awards nominees & winners themselves. Oh it was also interesting to see more than 1 character from the original Ocean's trilogy movies did a brief/cameo appearance (if you have seen them, then you would have known who I meant). Plus some of major public figures also appeared during the Met Gala event (which I found out later that it was an actual event).
Be reminded that this is a heist comedy movie, so audience should not expect a lot of actions involved. There were few fun scenes and few a bit suspenseful scenes during the heist, and the blow your mind scene towards the end that I thought was the best part of this movie (I personally felt that the heist was not too spectacular and only became great when we finally understand the whole picture by the end). There was no mid or post end-credit scenes at all in case you are wondering. And if the movie was successful enough, who knows they might be interested in making Ocean's Nine and Ten respectively.
For a spin off from a successful trilogy, I think this one did not disappoint, even if the movie felt a lot lighter than the original movies. Overall, this was a fun movie to be enjoyed if not for the heist story, at least for the great performance from the ensemble cast.
Happy watching!
Mikes's movie moments rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
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