In 2013, following his HBO movie Behind the Candelabra, director Steven Soderbergh announced his retirement from directing movies, citing a frustration in securing financing for the types of movies he wanted to get off the ground. The director’s “retirement” didn’t last too long. He directed the Cinemax series The Knick and served as the cinematographer on Magic Mike XXL. Just four short years after he retired, Soderbergh is back directing feature films with Logan Lucky, which has the filmmaker once again working within the confines of the heist genre. Logan Lucky plays out like a redneck version of Soderbergh’s Ocean’s Eleven, operating with sense of cool that permeates through every frame in this wildly entertaining hillbilly heist flick.
Times are tough for Jimmy Logan (Channing Tatum). He’s behind on his bills. His cellphone has been shut off. He cherishes time with his daughter Sadie (Farrah Mackenzie) but his ex-wife Bobbie Jo (Katie Holmes) is planning on moving with her husband Moody (David Denman) across state lines. Things get even more complicated when Jimmy is let go from his job repairing sinkholes beneath a racetrack due to a visible limp from an old football injury. But Jimmy’s got a plan that will turn it all around. With his one-handed brother Clyde (Adam Driver) and his hairstylist sister Mellie (Riley Keough), Jimmy has laid out a plan to clear out the vault beneath the racetrack. However, in order to pull off such a heist, the Logan family will need the assistance of Joe Bang (Daniel Craig) and his two brothers Sam (Brian Gleeson) and Fish (Jack Quaid). And yet there’s another snag – Joe Bang is incarcerated in prison and has five months left on his sentence and the heist is planned for a mere weeks after it’s schemed. The Logan family will have to do a series of break outs and break ins in order to pull off this daring heist.
There’s just an almost effortless sense of cool that runs through Logan Lucky. Soderbergh and screenwriter Rebecca Blunt (who may or may not exist) craft a number of incredibly funny situations yet never lose sight of the tension required to make a captivating heist film. Like a magician, Soderbergh uses a cinematic form of sleight of hand to withhold just how certain dominoes in this plan fall until after the events occurred in the story. It leaves you wrapped up in the details of the plan while having fun throughout hanging out with the eccentric characters. Soderbergh and Blunt fill Logan Lucky with varied twists and turns that never once feel like story cheats, and each successive reveal works just as well as the one before it.
The impeccable cast assembled delivers stellar work within Logan Lucky, but it’s Daniel Craig who steals the show as the menacing Joe Bang. The British actor has a flawless Southern accent to his character and there’s an energy that Craig gives Joe Bang that can flip on a second from hilarious to scary. The Logan family trio of Tatum, Driver, Keough bring a close-knit family bond to their Southern fried thieves, complete with old feuds and dashed dreams. The fantastic leading cast is given ample support by an array of wild supporting characters, including Seth MacFarlane as a brash English energy drink mogul, Sebastian Stan as a disgruntled race car driver, Katherine Waterston as a nurse whom treats Jimmy, and Hillary Swank and Macon Blair as the FBI agent investigating the racetrack robbery. These characters are fleshed out extremely well and each adds another layer that amplifies the power of the fantastic leads.
Hopefully, Logan Lucky marks the end of Soderbergh’s would-be retirement and dashes that dissatisfaction that forced him to walk away. Steven Soderbergh is too unique a voice within cinema and Logan Lucky is triumphant return, a crowd-pleasing heist movie that is funny, thrilling, and just so damn cool. The soundtrack for the film pops and crackles with a number of rockers and some country twang that gives the film an extra little kick. The ending for Logan Lucky is a bit open-ended, so perhaps we might be able to reunite with these characters once again. It’d be a pleasure to see the Logan family once again because it’s such a great ride the first time around. Welcome back, Steven Soderbergh. Cinema has missed you.
Logan Lucky
- Overall Score
Summary
An effortlessly cool hillbilly heist flick, Logan Lucky is Steven Soderbergh’s triumphant return that is funny, thrilling, and just a damn good time at the movies.
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