REVIEW: YES! YES! YES! YES! x 2 = 8 YES!'s. You get the point. That was my initial reaction to an all female version of the Ocean's Trilogy (OT). Anyone that knows me well knows that the OT is one of my favorite movie series of all time. I mean the cast, the story, the quality heist, the comedy, the intellect, the script, the acting, the directing, the target/score, the swag, the location, and did I mention the cast? All this is true for all 3 of them in some degree. So now we jump to the other gender, and most importantly we must first assemble an amazing female cast . . . check. It needs to be a good story behind the heist . . . meh, good enough, a quality heist . . . check, good comedy . . . okay (OT was a little more amusing), good performances . . . well I mean with this cast how could it not be, did they have swag . . . very much check, a good location . . . very much check again, an impressive target or score of this heist . . . BREATH TAKING and it surpasses the OT (well at least the first one), and it must be very well directed . . . Gary Ross, check. Now if you're keeping score, I left out 2 features on purpose because I felt they were lacking a bit, of course compared to the OT. It is inevitable, a comparison is required and unfortunately for Ocean's 8, the OT is a very tough act to follow and the bar is set quite high. The OT had more intellect, especially in the script, compared to O 8. This film seemed a little more simplistic in its narrative. I felt the character development in the OT was stronger than in this one too. You know what my initial reaction was to hearing about this film, my post reaction on the other hand was more like, okay, it's okay, you know, pretty good.

From the very onset of the film, there are a lot of similarities between O 8 and O 11. Some of you might like this, some of you might not. I for one liked it because I enjoy the homage. The film is definitely fast, funny, suspenseful, and thrilling, about as much as the OT. This is a very good thing. I already mentioned the amazing cast of actors, but how did they fit in their respective roles you ask? Quite appropriately I would say. The easiest observation is that at a minimum, Sandra Bullock could pass as George Clooney's sister so that worked well and also, it's freakin Sandra Bullock. I must say honestly however, I was expecting a little more umph from Cate Blanchett. She is the counterpart to Brad Pitt's role and he is just as big a character in the OT as Clooney. I didn't find her character to be that big. Now the two others besides Sandra that stood out to me were Helena Bonham Carter and Anne Hathaway. Helena gave us a wacky and spacey character that was just so bizarre it was entertaining. Anne was probably the biggest treat of the show. She delighted us with such a stereotypical character that has a lot more to her than just the front we see. In other words, there is depth in the midst of her shallowness. 

Another real treat of the film is the major event that it revolves around, the MET Gala. Priscilla was giddy during all those scenes. Speaking of which, the cinematography was well done as a movie of this genre would require. Even though I would struggle very much to say that this film is as good as its OT counterparts, I do have to say that it is still a quality film. With Director Gary Ross at the helm (Pleasantville, Seabiscuit, Hunger Games, Free State of Jones) it has to be. Steven Soderbergh was brilliant with the OT, so again it's a tough act to follow, but Gary holds his own and does the franchise justice. I'm not disappointed and I don't think you'll be either.

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