Ocean’s 8 (2018) – Blu-Ray Review

Sandra Bullock and Cate Blanchett headline an all-star cast in this the third sequel to the remake of Ocean’s 11 from 2001. Ocean’s 8 hits blu-ray and DVD from Warner Brothers today.

Joining the pair are Rihanna, Mindy Kaling, Sarah Paulson and Helena Bonham-Carter. Bullock plays Debbie the sister of George Clooney’s Danny Ocean. Getting released from prison after a stint, she has a plan, much like her brother did, to pull off the perfect heist… centering on the Met Gala.

The key to a heist film is that the audience wants to be taken in, they want to fall for the con as much as the marks in the film. But they also want all the pieces to be there, so if they revisit it, or throwback their memories, they can be like “oh… that’s what that was about!”

In this case the film does some of that, as long as you remember to watch everything you are being shown. There are expectations going into these films and this incarnation of the Ocean tradition is well-realized, though the cast doesn’t seem to be having quite as much fun as Clooney and his bunch.

oceans81

The cast looks amazing, the glam and the look of the series remains the same allowing for a nice through line from sequel to sequel, though in this case Gary Ross takes over the directorial chair from Steven Soderbergh.

Debbie recruits her friends, including Blanchett’s Lou in a con, with a con, with a twist of revenge. There is a sense of fun that runs throughout the film that doesn’t quite come to the fruition it should. It hints at a good time, and almost allows us to be in on the joke, but never quite comes through.

That being said, I would be interested in seeing another outing with this group, and perhaps a familiar face or two from the first trilogy (alongside Elliott Gould’s Reuben who joins Debbie in the cemetery where she visits the resting place of a late family member.

There are some fun cameos, some playful casting, and a chance for most of the cast to have a really good time. It’s fun to watch them play, but they never seem to let the audience the whole way in. It’s a fine line to walk, you want to feel like part of the group, but you also want to be fooled and then delighted when the twists play out.

The blu-ray unquestionably looks great, the picture and sound are great, and the heist sequence in the Met is lots of fun, as colors pop, and stunning fashions sweep across the screen.

The disc includes a look at some deleted scenes, the way the cast came together under director Gary Ross, a featurette on the look and the glamour of the heist, especially the fact that they do them in heels, and redesigning the Met and the gala for the film.

Check it out for yourself today on blu-ray and DVD. Ocean’s 8 is available now from Warner Brothers.

oceans8

Advertisement

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s