Ocean's 8
Cert: 12A / 110 mins / Dir. Gary Ross / Trailer
Gary Ross's female-led heist spin-off is a movie saved wholly by the likeability of its players. An entertaining if unadventurous adventure, Sandra Bullock's plot to liberate an obscene quantity of karats from the Met Gala isn't let down so much by its overall predictability, but lack of any real third act, cliff-edge danger.
Plenty smooth but with absolutely no weight, this screenplay corners like it's on rails. Not as witty, zippy or smart as a cast the fantastic deserves (the writing and the editing, basically), the gang nonetheless give it their all and just about win the audience's trust in return. And fair play to the physical acting chops of Bullock and Cate Blanchett, each wearing so much foundation that I'm amazed we were able to see their faces move.
Thoroughly undemanding and 12A-safe, check your disbelief in at the foyer and you'll have a much easier ride…
The previous Ocean's movies, I shouldn't wonder.
I haven't actually seen any of them. No agenda behind that, they just haven't crossed my path. And with the best will in the world, that isn't something I feel I now have to rectify.
Well the distributor of this movie has lined up a selection of pre-film adverts and trailers suggesting they believe that every woman in the land will flock to the cinema to see Ocean's 8 instead of watching The Football™. Not a completely unfair assumption, but a pretty patronising one. And given that tonight's sizeable audience was around one-third guys, it's not entirely accurate either.
Stream it, or wait to buy until it comes down in price.
Well no film with James Corden in is going to be as good as the one where he gets his head smashed in...
Doubtful, although I'm sure we'll have an interesting conversation about Cate Blanchett and Helena Bonham Carter's accents apparently being stuck in Shop Demonstration Mode™.
There isn't.
Level 1: Lt. Gavyn Sykes is in this.
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You criticised the goddesses! *shocked face* Helena Bonham Carter improves everything simply by being there. Ditto Cate Blanchett. ;-)
ReplyDeleteIt's like HBC has been asked to do an Irish accent by someone who's never heard an Irish accent.
ReplyDeleteThere's a reference to Blanchett's odd version of Australian in the script, but I think it was probably thrown in during post-production after Cate admitted she can't remember what she's supposed to sound like. Gerard Butler suffers from a similar affliction.