Movie Review: Oceans 8

Review Written by Michael J. Ruhland

Michael's Movie Grade: C+

Review: I will never consider this a great movie, but I did have fun watching it.


What works best about this movie is the humor and the music. The jokes are often quite funny. While few of them are of the laugh out loud variety, these jokes kept a smile on my face through out much of the film. The humor is also very well incorporated into the story, making it all the more enjoyable. While there are too many films out there simply using popular songs to seem hip and cool, this film not only tries that but successeds fantastically. Every time one of these songs come on they match the on screen action perfectly. They also enhance this action and give the film a fun breezy feel. Also helping this movie is the visual filmmaking and great performances from the cast. From the cinematography to the sets this film always keeps a visual interest. A major fault of this film is that the characters are underwritten. The characters are likable and enjoyable but never quite feel real enough for us to fully engage with them. However these actresses give great performances that often command attention, even when their characters don't.

What this film lacks is the excitement that one expects from such a movie. Because we never fully believe the characters, we never get fully drawn into the heist. This leaves little room for suspense and because of this the heist is actually one of the least interesting scenes in the movie.


Still with good humor, performances, use of music and visual filmmaking, I enjoyed this movie, even if does leave a bit to be desired at times.


-Michael J. Ruhland