Sandra Bullock plays Debbie Ocean, sister of George Clooney's Danny Ocean of 11, 12, & 13. She is recently paroled after 5 years, all of which was used to plot her next heist. The heist is to burgle the Met gala, swiping a few million worth of jewels from the necks of the rich and famous. She needs, and assembles, a team of 7 to pull it off, and proceeds to pull it off. I am definitely a huge fan of a good heist film, and this one had many of the elements of a good heist film: the assembly of the team, each with a clear and unique role specific to the heist; a reveal of enough of the planning to see what is happening, but not all of the planning so there are some reveals during the heist; ; a con within a con; an all star cast playing their roles perfectly; etc. But where this falls flat is the complete lack of tension. Of course in a film like this, all tension is manufactured and overcome as part of the script. But a good film manufactures good tension. Reasonable, unexpected, reliable problems that must be "overcome" in the heat of the moment. There is none of that here. There is some cleverness, and some "oooh, I see...", but never any struggle. I feel like this was in many ways a set up for a trilogy (here comes Ocean's 9 & 10 to complete the series)... and the Ocean's 14 where the two gangs get together... and then... Cynical much?
3 stars (out of 5)
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