Why it’s high time we saw some kick-arse women pull off a heist

OCEAN’S 8 has everything you’d expect from a heist film: glitz, glamour, high stakes, mad money, a brilliant but risky plan and eight leading ladies driving it home.

IF THERE’S one film you see at the cinema in 2018, make it Ocean’s 8.

It’s lightweight, funny as hell, star-packed, and — in a year bursting at the seams with movies about heroes fighting crime (seriously, Google “films of 2018”) — it’s high time we got to enjoy one that features a bunch of kick-arse women actually committing one. Why? For mega bucks and a s**tload of diamonds. Naturally.

If you’ve watched the trailer and are still on the fence, perhaps deterred by the level of vitriolic hostility aimed at 2016’s all-female reboot of Ghostbusters, don’t be. Ocean’s 8 has got everything fans of the franchise have come to know and love in any respectable heist film: the glitz, the glamour, the high stakes, the mad money, the brilliant but not entirely risk-free plan, the scheming, and this time, eight leading ladies driving it home.

Cate Blanchett, Sandra Bullock, Anne Hathaway, Sarah Paulson, Rihanna, Helena Bonham Carter, Mindy Kaling and Awkwafina (not to mention a whole Met Gala-full of celeb cameos) all star in this female-led reboot, and each of them get their moment.

In a year packed with movies about heroes fighting crime, Ocean’s 8 is about a bunch of kick-arse women committing one. Picture: Roadshow/Warner Bros Pictures.

The all-female ensemble schemes to steal $150m of Cartier diamonds from the neck of a movie star. Roadshow/Warner Bros Pictures.

Eleven years after the popular trilogy’s last testosterone-stacked outing, Bullock stars as Debbie Ocean, the incarcerated sister of George Clooney’s late, lamented Danny Ocean. She’s finally paroled after serving five years in prison and heads directly to old partner in petty crime Lou (Cate Blanchett) to help her pull off the most ambitious heist of all time.

The goal? Stealing $US150 million of worth of Cartier diamonds off the neck of self-involved movie star Daphne Kluger (Anne Hathaway) while the annual Met Gala is taking place in New York City. Amazing what a professional robber can cook up while sitting in the slammer for half a decade.

To pull it off, the reunited duo assembles a motley crew of crims, who all have an essential part to play in walking away with Cartier’s world-famous Toussaint necklace.

One line that doesn’t go unnoticed comes from Debbie, who convinces Lou why they shouldn’t bring a bloke on board to get the job done. “A him gets noticed, a her gets ignored, for once we want to be ignored,” she tells her.

A subtle nod to the backlash all-female movies have been facing? Or perhaps simply a comment on the reality of being a woman getting s**t done in a man’s world. Either way, the idea that the combination of Bullock, Blanchett, Rihanna, Kaling, Hathaway, Bonham Carter, Paulson, and Awkwafina would ever go unnoticed is laughable.

There’s no reason any man wouldn’t enjoy this funny as hell, star-packed heist movie. Roadshow/Warner Bros Pictures.

Anne Hathaway is delightfully ridiculous sending up the Hollywood cliche. Picture: Barry Wetcher/Warner Bros. via AP

Special mention must go to Hathaway, who plays the role of high-strung starlet with just the right amount of actor narcissism — which seems particularly cheeky, given the very famous faces who make cameo appearances during the Met Gala scenes. She’s obsessed with her looks, her fame, and her décolletage, and it’s easy to tell Hathaway is having a hell of a time sending up the Hollywood cliche. She is delightfully ridiculous and I haven’t enjoyed her in a role this much since The Devil Wears Prada.

But each star is fabulous in their field. Paulson shines as the sticky-fingered housewife; Rihanna finally proves her acting chops as the spliff-smoking hacker; Bonham Carter is a long way from Bellatrix Lestrange as the emotionally fragile fashion designer; and where do we even begin with Blanchett? The wardrobe, the bangs, the subtle nod to her Aussie roots. Give her all the awards.

Ocean’s 8 is an unapologetically big budget women’s film, but there’s no reason to think any dude wouldn’t enjoy seeing eight female stars sparkle on the big screen as brilliantly as the diamonds they set out to steal.

Take your boyfriends, take your husbands, take your brothers, take your dads! This film shouldn’t be enjoyed alone — or without popcorn.

Ocean’s 8 is in cinemas from Thursday, June 7.