Ocean's 8 (2018) * * *

Directed by:  Gary Ross

Starring:  Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Mindy Kaling, Awkwafina, Sarah Paulson, Anne Hathaway, James Corden, Rihanna, Helena Bonham-Carter

The Ocean's series continues with an all-female team of criminals.    It is what you would expect from a quality caper film, including elements which don't hold up under scrutiny, but you don't think about at the time because you are absorbed in the plot.    Like Ocean's 11, 12, and 13, a group of criminals are gathered together to either steal something or mess with someone's life, and occasionally both objectives intertwine.    The group is led by Debbie Ocean (Bullock), estranged sister of George Clooney's Danny Ocean from the original series.    If you're halfway expecting a Clooney cameo, a plot point may make that impossible, but in films like these, you never know.

Debbie just spent over five years in prison after being burned on a con by her weasel boyfriend.    She puts on the dog and pony show in order to get released on parole, and immediately returns to her conning, thieving ways at a posh Manhattan hotel and Bergdorf's.    Her grand scheme includes a bigger target:   A $150 million necklace which has been locked up in a vault at Cartier for the last fifty years.    She has a plan to have it exhibited at the Met on the neck of actress Daphne Kluger (Hathaway) and recruits her friend/partner Lou (Blanchett) to assist her.   You can think of Lou as the Rusty Ryan to Bullock's Danny Ocean.    They recruit five other women:  an expert hacker (Rihanna), a street pickpocket (Awkwafina), a washed-up fashion designer (Bonham-Carter), a suburbanite fence (Paulson), and a jeweler who knows all about stolen goods (Kaling).   

I will not go into how the scheme comes together, nor the surprises or pitfalls.    I enjoyed that Ocean's 8 is somewhat more plausible than the other Ocean's films, although that is not a knock against Clooney's films.    Some of biggest joys from that trilogy were because of how preposterous they were.    But, when things go wrong here, it is not out of the realm of possibility that Debbie and Lou could have constructed a contingency for it.    Counteracting some of the missteps and obstacles in Clooney's series required a crystal ball and perhaps some supernatural powers.   I've heard of next-level thinking, but come on.

Bullock brings an edge to Debbie.    She is not one to be trifled with and remains a step of head of everyone else, which she should.    I strongly doubt there will be any Oscar-nominated performances from Ocean's 8, (there are three Oscar winners in the cast), but that's ok too.    Bullock, Blanchett, Hathaway and company don't slum here.    They have a blast with help from some smart dialogue from screenwriters Gary Ross (who directed) and Olivia Milch.    The film moves along briskly, and if you aren't expecting twists and turns, then you've come to the wrong movie.    Even with those, there are still some pleasant surprises.    What more can you ask?