Director: Gary Ross
Starring: Sandra Bullock, Kate Blanchett, Rihanna, Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter, Sarah Paulson, Awkwafina, Mindy Kaling, James Corban, Richard Armitage.
Being a fan of the ocean films, it felt like I don’t need to give much background about this one specially it is quite obvious from the name of the film and the cast on the poster this is number four to the Ocean films sequel and it is heist comedy film with a full brilliant female cast.
Sandra Bullock plays the role of Debbie Ocean, the sister of Danny Ocean from the Ocean films sequel who leads a group of women to conduct a sophisticated heist at the Metropolitan Gala in New York City.
I personally loved the film, it is light, funny, has lots of jocks and the plot was very well made. Of course, the major strength of the film is the incredible cast who gave great performance. Sandra Bullock and Kate Blanchett were brilliant in leading the rest of the team. Also, Anne Hathaway and Helena Bonham Carter made sure to leave their mark. I was a bit skeptical about Rihanna but actually she was ok although her role was small anyway. The rest also did great but maybe were slightly overshadowed by the others, Awkwafina was super funny even with her small role, and Sarah Poulson and Mindy Kaling also added nice mix of flavor.
For the males in the film, I loved the entrance of James Corden which added extra layers of comedy without having any comedy lines but I thought the role and performance of Richard Armitage was so bland, being almost the only male character, he could have added a great balance to the mix specially if they had chosen stronger actor and gave the role a bit more depth.
It is of course quite obvious the film is like a remake of Ocean 11 with a full female cast, and this was probably the major down side to the film for two reasons. First if I am watching a fourth film to a well-known franchise such as James Bond or Mission Impossible then I really expect to see something new not just a change in the cast gender so here it seems the Director Gary Ross was just lazy and thought correctly that having the strong cast will be a block buster movie. Secondly and most importantly choosing an all-female cast in heist theme film with large production is extremely exciting in an era where women are making concrete steps in the film industry so spoiling it all with just relying on doing a re-make without adding a distinct identity to the film is probably a sin specially the film did have some clear messages about male dominance.
Overall, I think the critiques were quite harsh on the film as despite whatever downs they could spot in the film, I thought it is really enjoyable and I don’t mind watching it again in the future. The good news for me, they featured couple of stars from the Ocean trilogy and hinted that the death of Danny Ocean is not confirmed which opens the door for future Ocean series.
Zaineb Reviews 