La estafa de los Logan

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.

Was on my radar for a long time.

Saw this recently on Amazon Prime.

Was a treat to see Adam Driver, Channing Tatum n Daniel Craig together.

The movie moves at a good pace n the performances are top notch.

Steven Soderbergh has never been one of my favorite directors, but you have to respect the diversity of his output. He appears to be about as whimsical as a filmmaker can be, given the dedication and discipline of such a medium, taking on projects as they intrigue him for the pure pleasure of the craft and the journey of the creation. I almost wonder if he even pays much attention when his films are released; it seems more likely he's already preoccupied at that point with whatever's next.

Logan Lucky is another take on the "cool heist" subgenre already explored by Soderbergh in the Ocean's Eleven franchise. This one takes place in the South and leaves no character archetype of such a milieu unexploited. The cast is great, with Adam Driver's laconic, minimalistic performance as an ex-soldier-turned-bartender being the standout for me. He gives Buster Keaton a run for his money as far as brilliantly expressive stone-faced characters are concerned.

Like a lot of heist movies (or con man films), the plot is a bit too intricate for its own good. Much of the fun in the first act of the film (the dry wit of the character interactions) subsides as the complexities of the plan are illustrated for the audience. Such movies tend to fall in love with the cleverness of their own mechanics, and that's not particularly what I'm there for. Fortunately there are a couple of uproarious set pieces sprinkled amidst the job itself that redeem all the exposition and the a-to-b-to-c logistics. It also takes too long to end. But I watched Logan Lucky with a group of friends and it was a definite crowd-pleaser, so obviously the flaws are not overwhelming.