Ocean's Eleven, But Make It Spanish

Picture this: It's 2001, "Ocean's Eleven" has just been released and everybody is talking about it.

You've got Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Matt Damon all in one film so the female demographic is bound to swoon. You've got Julia Roberts for the guys. Add in Don Cheadle and his terrible British accent and the fact that the plot centres around a $150 million money heist from three casinos, and bon appetit!

You've got yourself a worldwide grossing film of $450,728,529!

It is a classic film that many love, and Entertainment Weekly put the heist scene on its end-of-the-decade "best of..." list.

The first time I watched it, I loved the light-hearted nature of the movie and the creativity of the heist. It's not overly complicated or realistic, nor is it the most complex heist movie out there, but it's fast-paced and super entertaining and that's why people love it. It's the definition of comedic genius, due to the character's playful personalities and the clever plot twists along the way.

Now, since 2001, heist movies have progressed into a wider gene. Some movies taking the same comedic route, such as "Tower Heist" starring Ben Stiller, and some taking the more serious and complex route such as "Inception", where the heist takes on the stealing of information, not money.

As well as this, the heist genre has taken a new form in television shows, and one in particular TV show should catch your eye if you're a heist fan.

Netflix's "Money Heist" is one to watch if you're a fan of "Ocean's Eleven".

Originally a Spanish show titled "La Casa de Papel", which means The House of Paper, this show was first released in 2017. It is currently on Netflix and has been dubbed with English speaking actors. There are two seasons, split into four parts.

The story starts with eight code-named criminals who have been rallied together by the brains of the operation, a man who goes by the name of The Professor. These eight criminals storm the Royal Mint, take hostages and the team begin their plan.

Eleven days, sixty-seven hostages, strange Salvador Dali masks and a lifetime's worth of money. What could go wrong?

In comparison to "Ocean's Eleven", "Money Heist" has it all. It has the complexity of the heist, and even bigger plot twists. It has humour, it has romance and it has mind-blowing plots. It's more intense but I love it that way.

"Money Heist" is also told from the perspective of a woman, one of the code-named robbers called "Tokyo". This is uncommon for the heist genre, but is even more interesting when you realise Tokyo is an unreliable narrator.

There's flashbacks, time-jumps and plot-twists that will have your brain on fire trying to put together the plot like puzzle pieces.

And you want to know the best bit? Listen up everybody I'm about to tell you something that makes "Money Heist" the coolest heist TV show...EVER!

The writers of the show never produced scripts for the entire season at once. They waited on fan responses and critical reviews of previous episodes meaning that they wrote the season as they went along!

This meant that actors only got their scripts on the day of filming. That's crazy! Imagine getting your script for the day and finding out your character gets shot or has to do something super dangerous! It created chaos and adrenaline, which is perfect for the show.

So, when you watch it, and you think "omg this is so well written and that plot twist was great" etc, just remember the writers just made it up as they went along!

To me, that's much more genius than anything the writers of "Ocean's Eleven" had to offer, but they're both amazing pieces within the heist genre.

So, if you've seen one of these and not the other, then please go check the other heist out! Or, if you've seen neither...go watch them both now! I promise you won't be disappointed.

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Here's some other TV show related articles while you're here:

"WandaVision and The Female Identity"

"My Guilty Binge-Watch Show: MTV's 'Teen Wolf'"

"5 Perfect Netflix Original's That'll Cure Self-Isolation Boredom"

Thanks for reading, see you soon!