Movie Review: Ocean's 8

Ocean's 8 *** ½ / *****

Directed by: Gary Ross.

Written by: Gary Ross & Olivia Milch based on characters by George Clayton Johnson & Jack Golden Russell.

Starring: Sandra Bullock (Debbie Ocean), Cate Blanchett (Lou), Anne Hathaway (Daphne Kluger), Mindy Kaling (Amita), Sarah Paulson (Tammy), Awkwafina (Constance), Rihanna (Nine Ball), Helena Bonham Carter (Rose Well ), Richard Armitage(Claude Becker), James Corden (John Frazier), Dakota Fanning (Penelope Stern).

 

You cannot really blame Ocean’s 8 for not being quite the perfect, lightweight, endlessly re-watchable film that Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s 11 was – after all, Soderbergh himself couldn’t pull off that magic trick twice even though he made two sequels to the Oceans movies (to be fair to Soderbergh, he didn’t really try – those movies increasingly became about themselves more than anything else – and he was able to get there with Logan Lucky – everyone else just needs to realize that now). The frustrating thing about Ocean’s 8 is how close it comes to being that, without ever getting there. They clearly have the right cast – there is not a weak link in it, they’ll all having a blast, and it’s fun to watch them work together. As I watched the film, I couldn’t help but wonder why they hired Gary Ross to direct it. No offense to Ross – who is a fine filmmaker in his own right, but this movie needed the lightweight, breezy kick that a master like Soderbergh gave the original film. And if you weren’t getting Soderbergh back, why not hire a woman to direct? Ross’ direction on Oceans 8 isn’t – its solid, but not spectacular – he’s clearly seen Ocean’s 11 countless times (as have we all) and is trying to ape Soderbergh’s style, but it just never quite gets there. The resulting movie is still undeniably fun – I cannot imagine anyone with any interest in seeing it who would walk out not having had a good time. More there was more here that could have been done – and it just feels like they left it on the table.

 

The plot of the movie is both very simple and hugely complex. In a nutshell, Debbie Ocean (Sandra Bullock), sister of Clooney’s Danny, is just out of jail, and wants to kill two birds with one stone – one commit an impossibly complex robbery and two, get even with her ex-boyfriend Claude (Richard Armitage) who was responsible for her going to jail in the first place. She immediately hooks back up with her old partner Lou (Cate Blanchett) – and tells her the plan to rob a $150 million Cartier necklace from the Met Gala that will be around the neck of Daphne Kluger (Anne Hathaway). Of course, they’ll need a team – hacker Nine Ball (Rihanna), diamond expert Amita (Mindy Kalling), fence Tammy (Sarah Paulson), pickpocket Constance (Awkwafina) and fashion designer Rose (Helena Bonham Carter) all join up pretty quickly. The plan is, of course, impossibly complicated, and gets more so as one unexpected wrinkle after another comes up – but we all know how this is going to turn out in the end.

 

A chief pleasure of these movies has always been watching movie stars be movie stars – and few have done it better, or made it look so easy as Clooney and Pitt in the Ocean’s movies. Bullock and Blanchett pretty much pull it off however. Yes, there relationship is cribbed perhaps too heavily from Clooney/Pitt in the original – but since both are so perfectly cast, and work so effortlessly together, it doesn’t matter. This is also the movie that proves that Rihanna can have an acting career if she wants – she doesn’t do all that much to be honest, but she does it so well. The wonderfully named Awkafina isn’t given much to do either, but she’s so charming and funny while doing it, it doesn’t really matter. I loved how Helena Bonham Carter decided to make her character Irish for no reason, although it works wonderfully. Sarah Paulson is clearly overqualified for her role as the criminal turned mommy turned criminal again – but she’s still in fine form. Poor Mindy Kaling may be the weakest of the bunch – not because she’s bad per se, but she’s certainly the one who fades most into the background. The standout performance is clearly by Anne Hathaway – not playing a version of herself, but playing a version of herself in the minds of all those idiots who have decided they hate her for reasons that have always escaped me. The more vapid and over the top she goes here, the more I loved her in it.

 

The movie moves along at a brisk clip through, and is never less than fun. It’s just lacking that certain something that would make it go from fun movie you’ll forget about in a few days, to the type of classic that plays on every cable channel once a week for entirety like Ocean’s 11. If they make a sequel to this film – and they should – they need to swing for the fences more. Bring in someone behind the camera capable of giving all that talent in front of the camera the movie they really deserve.

Movie Review: The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games *** ½ Directed by: Gary Ross.
Written by: Gary Ross and Suzanne Collins and Billy Ray based on the book by Suzanne Collins.
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence (Katniss Everdeen), Josh Hutcherson (Peeta Mellark), Woody Harrelson (Haymitch Abernathy), Elizabeth Banks (Effie Trinket), Stanley Tucci (Caesar Flickerman), Donald Sutherland (President Snow), Wes Bentley (Seneca Crane), Lenny Kravitz (Cinna), Willow Shields (Primrose Everdeen), Liam Hemsworth (Gale Hawthorne), Paula Malcomson (Katniss' Mother), Toby Jones (Claudius Templesmith), Amandla Stenberg (Rue), Dayo Okeniyi (Thresh), Leven Rambin (Glimmer), Jack Quaid (Marvel), Latarsha Rose (Portia), Alexander Ludwig (Cato), Isabelle Fuhrman (Clove).

The Hunger Games is a very good movie based on a great book. Yes, I know that The Hunger Games books are aimed at teenagers, but as a series they are as good as Harry Potter, and much better than Twilight. Fans of the book will likely like the movie more than non-fans – because they will be better able to fill in the gaps. The movie doesn’t change anything from the book – but it does leave out a few details – and it’s in the details that make this series go from very good to great.

The movie opens in a dystopian future. A failed revolution decades before has left the Capitol all powerful, and the other districts trembling in fear. There are 12 districts outside the Capitol – each poorer than the ahead of it, and they live in fear because the 13^th District was destroyed by the Capitol. One of the ways in which the Capitol keeps the District under their thumb, living in fear, is The Hunger Games – an annual event in which one teenager boy and one teenage girl from each district are put into a huge arena, and left to fight till the death. To the people in the Capitol, this is all little more than reality TV taken to the extreme – and of course they love it. For everyone else, it can literally be life or death.

Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) is from District 12. She has been the sole provider for her mother and younger sister since her father died years ago. At the “Reaping”, the draw to see who gets the “honor” of taking part in The Hunger Games, she is shocked and horrified when her young sister Prim is selected – without thinking, Katniss steps up and volunteers to go in her place. For the boys, it is Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) who is selected. So, they board a train for the Capitol along with their “mentor” Haymitch (Woody Harrelson) – a former winner of the Games – to participate.

What the movie gets right about the book is the propulsive, brutal energy of the novel. The movie doesn’t soften the blow of the violence – even if it may be less bloody than it should be, in order to get a PG-13 rating in America. When the games start, it is still kids killing kids – some with brutal, unrelenting glee, some reluctantly, but everyone does what they need to do to survive. Some have pointed out the similarity between The Hunger Games and the Japanese film Battle Royale – a true masterpiece – and it’s true they have similarities. But then, so does The Hunger Games and two Stephen King stories – The Long Walk and The Running Man. And of course, you can trace this basic premise back to William Golding’s literally masterwork The Lord of the Flies.  The idea of kids killing kids, or people dying for the entertainment of others, is not an overly original idea, but it is one that when done properly still retains an undeniable power.

What made The Hunger Games, as a book, stand out to me is that addition to the kids killing kids angle, it was also a dead on media satire. Katniss becomes a star at the games, not because of who she is, but of how she looks. Aided by a stylist, Katniss looks great, and hence garners fans. When she and Peeta, with the advice of Haymitch, learn to play the media and the audience, to become stars. The movie implicates the viewers in the Capitol – and by extension the readers of the book – in the bloodlust on display in the book. The over the top TV show produced by The Hunger Games is little more than an extension of the current reality TV shows. This is the aspect of the book that made The Hunger Games great – and it is mainly missing from the movie. The audience is barely viewed, and the movie rushes through too much of the rest. And that’s a shame.

But The Hunger Games is still a very good movie. For one thing, they have found the perfect Katniss in Jennifer Lawrence. I didn’t realize it before, but her Oscar nominated performance in Winter’s Bone shares a lot in common with Katniss – both being strong, self-reliant, responsible teenagers who are effectively raising their siblings in a world that doesn’t give a shit about her. Lawrence carries the movie and it is a great performance. Josh Hutcherson, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks -  as a representative from the Capitol, Stanley Tucci – as an over the top TV personality – and Donald Sutherland as the evil President provide effective support. Co-writer and director Gary Ross, who was an odd choice for the material, does a very good job behind the camera, keeping the pace going, and giving the movie the violent edge it needs.

The Hunger Games stops short of being a great movie because it doesn’t push things far enough. Perhaps it was simply a question of running time – something had to go, and it’s easier to cut satire than violence. But hopefully the next two movies – which will almost certainly be made and as quickly as possible now – goes a little farther. The series is going to get much, much darker before it ends – and the filmmakers need to push themselves farther.