Logan Lucky

A few years ago director Steven Soderbergh made no secret of his waning passion for filmmaking. He announced his intention to retire from feature films following the release of 2013's Behind the Candelabra and cited his desire to pursue other creative interests. Well, it may have taken four years (and a brief stint directing TV's The Knick) to reignite his filmmaking passion, but Soderbergh proves his hand behind the camera is as assured as ever in the rollicking heist caper Logan Lucky.

Aptly described by Soderbergh himself as an "anti-glam version of an Ocean's movie", Logan Lucky is a return to the style of filmmaking that made his Ocean's trilogy box office hits. The film moves at a neat pace, features a strong ensemble cast and is packed with enough twist and turns to keep things interesting throughout its two hour running time.

The story follows the Logan family, brothers Jimmy (Channing Tatum) and Clyde (Adam Driver) and their sister Mellie Logan (Riley Keough), who are known for their family history of bad-luck. After loosing his job at a mine located underneath the Charlotte Motor Speedway, Jimmy plans to pull of an elaborate heist to put the Logan's financial woes behind them and break the family curse. With intricate knowledge of a series of underground tubes that run from the Speedway to a central bank vault filled with millions of dollars, Jimmy sees the perfect opening to rob the vault during a NARSCAR race. To pull it off, he enlists the help of his siblings along with bomb expert Joe Bang (a scene stealing Daniel Craig) and his two brothers, Sam (Brian Gleeson) and Fish Bang (Jack Quaid). The only problem: Joe's in prison. So on top of concocting a plan to steal the cash, they'll need to figure out a way to break Joe out of prison and get him back with no one the wiser. No pressure.

It's a zany comedy about unremarkable characters punching well above their weight but through sheer luck managing to pull things off. Half the fun of the film is seeing things not happening to plan but somehow working out in the end. To its credit, the film never treats itself too seriously and invites you to laugh along with the character's mishaps and the farcical parts of the story are frequently the funniest. One gag involving a prison riot and a jab at Game of Thrones writer George R.R. Martin's glacial writing pace is as screwy as it is funny.

For the most part, the film moves along at a nice pace. Just like in the Ocean's films, Soderbergh (who edits his own film) employs slick, fast cut editing to keep the heist scenes interesting and involving. He also manages to make good use of an impressive ensemble cast, with the likes of Seth MacFarlane, Katie Holmes, Katherine Waterston and Sebastian Stan all making minor but memorable appearances. And while Adam Driver and Channing Tatum both give impressive performances, the standout is an almost unrecognisable Daniel Craig playing blue-collar criminal Joe Bang. An explosions expert sporting a heavy southern accent and bright blonde hair, he's an anti-glam version of Bond if you will. It's Craig's impeccable comedic timing that will make you wish the Bond films would let him exercise his comedic chops a little bit more.

It's only in the last act that the film starts to feel a little played out. The introduction of Hillary Swank as a Special Agent in the last 20 minutes of the film feels a little rushed and ultimately doesn't really go anywhere. Instead, the story continues through a number of false endings, not entirely sure when to bring down the curtain.

Overall, as the first feature to draw Soderbergh out of semi-retirement, Logan Lucky is clearly something he wanted to make and his passion comes through in the final product. Produced entirely on his own and without studio interference, Logan Lucky inverts the glamour and opulence of the Ocean's trilogy without loosing the series' trademark quirks and high entertainment value. If Logan Lucky is intended to act as sort of push-back of the Hollywood system and studio meddling, then Soderbergh has succeeded at both proving a point and making you laugh while doing it.

After a summer of remakes and so called blockbusters i popped along to watch this with no hopes or misgivings...I hold an unlimited card so went knowing the cost was immaterial.

What I found was typical of the kind of movie you decide to just take in because I have a card and 2 hours to spare..

A little cracker of a gem to finish off the summer.

Some people are complaining about it not being what the trailers says it is...but if you know about movies then you should know that they never are.

A very well made " Just watch it" movie which never takes itself too seriously and makes you smile and chuckle from start to finish.

Everybody is in on what this movie should be..in my opinion somewhere in between "Stir Crazy" and " The Italian Job" ...with a pinch of "Twin Peaks" added to the recipe.

Surprisingly cheerful and just what the doctor ordered for the onslaught of the usual rehash and part 2's and 3's.

The only way to make up your mind is to suspend your senses and dabble with this for a while.

I saw this film at a drive-in, and it was the second film in the double feature I had gone to see. For the culturally deprived, drive-ins still show two features. Anyway, this film was a revelation. At first I had expected that the working-class characters would fall into their designated stereotypes and we'd chug along to an easily-expected finish.

Not so much.

Actually, the characters were nicely filled out, there were stereotypes but not the ones I expected, and the movie had some rather nice convolutions to it and contrary to some other reviewers I found the late-arriving Hillary Swank to be a really interesting addition to the cast - and a possible bell-weather to a sequel. Just sayin'. There was comedy, drama, some real-world concerns and a lot more. Go see it. The cast and script alone will make it worth your while.

This was probably my 4th or 5th time watching "Logan Lucky". The movie ages like fine wine. Each new veiwing just gets better and better, and with each new viewing you pick up on something you hadn't before. The characters are witty, perfectly flawed, oddly relatable, and surprisingly ethical, which makes the heist they're attempting to pull off even better.

Logan Lucky is first and foremost a heist movie. Arguably it's the first of its kind this decade, since the last time a really good movie of this stripe has focused on downhill good 'ol boys pulling an all-American snatch-and-grab, Burt Reynolds was still relevant. In its advertising the film mentions itself in the same breath as Ocean's Eleven (2001) but aside from both having the same director, the two couldn't be more miles apart. One's about career confidence men drinking fancy martinis. The other's about petty criminals snatching chump change from concession drawers. One's essentially Michael Caine, the other is Steve Martin.

As such, Logan Lucky doesn't come with the standard beats and rhythms of your average Italian Job (2003). It's slower, quirkier, meanders down narrative avenues then calls it all back in drastically different ways. While doing so it's also more human, more sympathetic calling to mind the best aspects of The Big Deal on Madonna Street (1958) with a uniquely Appalachian twang.

Recently let go from his construction job due to, "liability reasons with insurance," former football prodigy Jimmy Logan (Tatum) decides to put in motion a robbery plan he's obviously been thinking about for some time. He recruits his siblings, hairdresser Mellie (Keough) and one-handed bartender Clyde (Driver), to aid him. Then they knock on the door of infamous local demolitions expert and safe cracker Joe Bang (Craig) whose incarceration proves the first snag of many to rob the Charlotte Motor Speedway.

As with all heist movies, much of the entertainment stems from the tension created when the plan, as described to the satisfaction of the audience deviates ever so slightly risking exposure. What Logan Lucky doesn't just get right but gets near darn perfect is the way it plays with that convention. Large problems seem to wash over the ensemble with increasing grace almost as if they know they can rely on their community; family and own God-given intelligence to carry the day. Minor problems come across as inspired character moments for which Jimmy, Joe Bang and his brothers (Quaid and Gleeson) show their goofy, simple, superstitious selves.

I say goofy and simple not to be derivative, though if that's what you take from it then the film's prestige may come as a more pleasant surprise than you could hope for. Much of the plan relies on other characters, such as a stuffy prison warden (Yoakam) and a haughty race promoter (MacFarlane) to underestimate our ensemble's abilities.

The film does an excellent job humanizing our heroes by exploring and framing their environments as a point of fact. Jimmy doesn't live in squalor; he lives in a cozy house overlooking the West Virginia hills. Clyde isn't a one-handed freak, he's a war hero and a dedicated bartender to boot, Mellie, a capable getaway driver, the Bang brothers - professional bandits who "know all the twitters". The camera further highlights this by panning and gliding at low angles making everyone loom larger; everyone including a late third act addition in Hilary Swank as a resourceful FBI investigator.

The film is not without its faults. The pacing seems to shift up and down like a Mustang barreling down the Eastbound I-64. And despite its knack for air-tight alibis, Logan Lucky leaves the audience hanging with a lot of unanswered questions. Given the controversy surrounding the financing of the film, there's little doubt a sequel is being planned. One which I look forward to, but if film is said to be poetic justice in a hundred minutes or less, Logan Lucky doesn't come across as poetic as it should be.

All that said, Steven Soderbergh's Logan Lucky is a breeze. It's a fine and feral addition to the pantheon of good time slice-of-life crime comedies that were first kicked off by Dirty Mary Crazy Larry (1974) and the like. And its quirkiness is helped immensely by its motley cast who by enlarge do wonders humanizing characters that otherwise would have been shrouded in misplaced mythos. If you've been curious about this one, do yourself a favor and check it out.