SPOILERS 

The Ocean’s series has become one of the most loved American heist films and it is easy to see why. The four films are, Ocean’s Eleven in 2001,  Ocean’s Twelve in 2004, Ocean’s Thirteen in 2007, and the newest film, Ocean’s Eight in 2018. All of them were big hits in theaters. The first film of the series was, in my opinion, the best of them all. Oceans Eleven came with some great actors. It starred George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, and Don Cheadle in a thrill ride of a heist that leaves you confused even after it’s over. The first film has a simple goal, which is good because as the series goes on ideas tend to run out, so the films get more out of hand. Ocean’s Eleven’s goal is to rob three of the biggest casinos in Las Vegas: the Bellagio, the Mirage, and the MGM Grand. These casinos are owned by Terry Benedict, played by Andy Garcia. Benedict is the target of the group, and they successfully rob him of $160 million and his girlfriend who was once with one of the men on the crew. Ocean’s Eleven is a great movie that mixes action and reality to perfection so it’s definitely the best of the series.

Continuing down the line, Ocean’s Twelve comes in as the second-best film of the series. Ocean’s Twelve brings back the stars of the show with a surprisingly good sequel. Ocean’s Twelve is built on the after-effects of the successful heist. Terry Benedict has found out who robbed him and demands his $160 million-plus more back from the crew. The problem begins with most of the team having already blown through most of their money, and don’t have enough money to pay him back. This leads them to commit another successful heist. With this film set in Europe, the team races to steal the Coronation Egg, a one-of-a-kind art piece. However, Europe also has a master thief named François Toulour, who also attempts to steal the piece. Ocean’s Twelve is reported to have made $100 million less than the first film. However, it is still an entertaining movie, just with a little more unrealistic scenes. This places it second on my list.

Heading down the line again, somehow all of the films have gone in order on my list. Ocean’s Thirteen comes in third on the list. Ocean’s Thirteen goes back on itself with another casino heist. Unfortunately, this heist did not hit the mark that I was hoping for in the Ocean’s series. The film introduces a new target Willy Bank, played by Al Pachio. Bank, who is an on-the-rise casino owner, is Terry Benedict’s rival in Vegas. Because of this, Benedict calls on the old crew to rob Bank. This plot didn’t sit well with me. It was hard for me to accept that Benedict was now helping the crew even though they also had robbed him. The way the crew went about busting the bank was also a little unrealistic. The crew shuts down the security features in order to be able to win big on the floor unnoticed. However, while watching the film, it would take so much luck and perfect timing to achieve what they did, making it not the best of the lot.

Lastly, there’s Ocean’s Eight. In my opinion, Ocean’s Eight is purely a money grab, as well as a method to make the Ocean’s series more gender-inclusive. In the past films, the main characters of the film were all men. So in Ocean’s Eight, they switched it up with an all-women team. I agree that they should have more genders represented in this series. Unfortunately for me, I was already attached to the old crew, so this whole new premise with a whole new team just wasn’t what I was hoping. It also is hard not to notice that all the past films were released 3 years apart from each other, and Ocean’s Eight was released in 2018. To me personally, it just seems like they came back for one last money grab to end the series and to make all the fans happy with the equality. Overall, all of Ocean’s films are worth the watch, and this list was purely opinion. I definitely recommend you watch them if you are into crime films. 

Image Credit:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0240772/