Oceans 8 (Otherwise known as the better Oceans movie)

Apparently, Danny Ocean is dead. Or not. And he has a sister, Debbie Ocean, thus the movie, Oceans 8.It follows the same Oceans plot and formula, nothing new here, except its better. Not just for the fashion porn, or the all female cast, but because of the way the movie moved. It flowed better than the previous Oceans movie, and this is probably because there were less characters to focus on. Although there were much less background story on the other actresses like Rhianna or Awkwafina, each actress made the best of their scenes and each one looked like they were having fun, which made it fun to watch them.

There is no doubt that the stars of the movie were Sandra Bullock (both my mom and I agree that whatever she’s doing with her face, she needs to stop because it’s very noticeable in the big screen close-ups) and Cate Blanchett. Although, I may be a bit bias when it comes to Cate because I think she can do no wrong, and that she’s actually a celestial being sent to this earth to grace us poor mortals by just existing around us. However, it is Ann Hathaway who steals the show (see what I did there? “Steal.” Oh, never mind). Her comedic timing and her “bad” acting reminded me how she charmed everyone as the awkward “princess” in Princess Diaries. I loved Helena Bonham Carter, tapping into her reputation as a person with a “unique” fashion sense and reputation that goes beyond bohemian, and crosses the line to satire.

Oceans 8 is over a decade late in trying to make the right wrong of how women were shut out in Oceans 11. And they did more than make-up for it in this wonderful ensemble, each one being pitch perfect. But this is not just about women empowerment. At it’s core is an enjoyable heist movie where everyone seems committed to their role and making the most of it. Of course, the fact that the smarmy ex was played by Richard Armitage didn’t harm the movie either; nor does my love for RM (who will always be forever, Mr. Thornton). My favorite line of the movie though is

“A ‘him’ gets noticed. A ‘her’ gets ignored. And for once, we’d like to be ignored.”

This was Debbie’s response to Lou’s question why they can’t have a male in the con. That whole line anchors the movie–of women who are good at their jobs, and perhaps have no other motivation (aside from the cool $16 Ms) to pull a con other that they’re very good at what they do.

There are few movies focused on women and friendships, because you know, women can’t form lasting, healthy, supportive relationships with other women. But Oceans 8 shows us that we can not only have loyal and lasting friendships with other women, we crave it (which is exactly what motivated Daphne). And the cherry on top is the “maybe-maybe not” relationship between Debbie and Lou. They barely scrape the top of that, teasing us with it but that’s ok because that’s not really what this movie is about–it’s about eight women pulling a con that was better executed than their male counterpart’s.