When people think of the heist film, they're almost always thinking of Ocean's Eleven. Even as someone who went years without ever actually seeing the star-studded Vegas romp, the film was always inextricably linked to that specific genre. It was far from the first heist movie, but Ocean's defined it in a way that few films ever have for any genre. Director Steven Soderbergh injected that film, itself a remake of a 1960s classic, with an effortless sense of cool and a snazzy, crowd-pleasing style- and the result was dynamite. George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, and Matt Damon light up the screen, and the plot is so simple yet so completely thrilling. The heist movie can be molded, shaped, and revolutionized in many different ways, but Ocean's Eleven is the fundamental example of the genre at its very best. Even when viewed 16 years later, it's still a great time.
So when it was revealed that Soderbergh's "retirement" from directing (more like a hiatus) would end with a new heist film, excitement was immediately high. And when it was announced that the cast would be led by Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, Daniel Craig, Riley Keough, Seth MacFarlane, Katherine Waterston, and many, many more, Logan Lucky became one of the most anticipated events of the summer. The result is something that certainly shares DNA with Ocean's Eleven- in a rather meta moment, a newscaster deems the central heist "Ocean's 7/11." But while there are a few surface-level similarities, Logan Lucky is still its own thing, a confident, distinctly Southern caper with a necessary shot of deadpan humor. Soderbergh gets the best out of his talented cast, and while the film is surely flawed in spots, the director's tight control of story, tone, and structure never fails to impress. An imperfect, but joyously memorable ride.
In rural West Virginia, there's a legend that the Logan family is cursed. Jimmy Logan (Channing Tatum) was destined to be a NFL star before injuries wrecked his career, Clyde Logan (Adam Driver) lost his forearm in the Iraq war, and the curse reportedly goes back for generations before that. At the start of Logan Lucky, Jimmy loses his job working construction at NASCAR's Charlotte Motor Speedway. Nonetheless, there's one silver lining in Jimmy's life- his daughter, Sadie (Farrah Mackenzie), who is often shielded from him by his ex-wife (Katie Holmes) and her numbskull husband (David Denman). But in the midst of unemployment and potential lawsuits, Jimmy devises a plan that could make his life a whole lot easier.
Thanks to his former job, Jimmy knows the ins and outs of how money is moved at the speedway. While unlocking such a highly secured vault isn't going to be easy, Jimmy has just the team to pull it off. His sister, Mellie Logan (Riley Keough), does great work with surveillance and transport, gaining important information and serving as a co-mastermind in Jimmy's plan. But the muscle of the job will be carried out by Joe Bang (Daniel Craig), an explosives expert and robbery extraordinaire who is currently locked up in the Monroe County Jail. Along with computer whizzes Fish Bang (Jack Quaid) and Sam Bang (Brian Gleeson), Jimmy compiles a team with the talent to pull off a tricky job. But as the problems begin to pile up, the entire job is called into question, and the team is forced to carry out the mission during the weekend of the biggest race of the year.
Logan Lucky is a little rough around the edges, and I have to say that I wouldn't have objected to seeing a few minutes trimmed off the runtime. The film runs a respectable 119 minutes, which is nearly identical to Ocean's. Nonetheless, it gets off to a bit of a slow start, and while the first act provides the necessary character and story exposition, things don't really begin with a bang. Soderbergh also runs into a few problems after his climatic heist, where he follows two FBI agents (a hysterically straight-faced Hillary Swank and the ever-terrific Macon Blair) as they investigate the robbery. The whole thing feels superfluous to the narrative until the filmmaker reveals his final trick, which makes the whole thing click. Still, shave a few minutes off and you probably wouldn't be missing out on much.
But when Logan Lucky is good, this thing is a rollicking time that doesn't let up. The film is so richly textured, overflowing with memorable characters, meticulous filmmaking, and a distinct sense of humor that remains amusing from start to finish. Soderbergh has created a film that, despite its abundance of influences, remains incredibly distinct, so unique in its style and approach that it sticks in your mind well after the end credits roll. It's a film of simple pleasures, yet it's so intelligently made that the simplicity never feels like a cop out or a misstep. Logan Lucky is far from being a masterpiece, but when it settles into a kind of precisely manic groove, its entertainment value is undeniable.
And it also features a crew of all-star actors working at the very top of their game. It's funny to me that Channing Tatum was once thought of as an untalented pretty boy, someone who was famous for his looks and not his acting chops. Anybody who predicted that his career would fade was so very wrong- he's one of the best dramatic and comedic actors in Hollywood. Credit for his reinvention has to go to Phil Lord and Chris Miller for the Jump Street movies and to Soderbergh himself, who gave him a perfect role in Magic Mike. Soderbergh knows how to use Tatum's bulky everyman abilities to create a sympathetic character, and Jimmy Logan is a great protagonist. Relatively easy to understand on the surface, but somehow also much more mysterious and complex, Logan is the perfect mastermind for the heist. And after watching Adam Driver play a character who slaughters one of cinema's greatest heroes in cold blood, it's fun to watch him loosen up with a good-natured character like Clyde. There's something tragic about Driver's turn here, and he made something great out of what could have been a minor supporting role.
Riley Keough is quickly emerging as one of the most talented actresses in the business, smartly choosing projects that know how to utilize her talent, such as Trey Edward Shults' It Comes at Night and Andrea Arnold's American Honey. She's great here as Mellie Logan, seemingly the only person who can match her brother in ambition and brains. Much has been made of Daniel Craig's turn as Joe Bang, and it mostly lives up to the hype. He's flexing a comedic muscle here that I didn't know he had, and his character manages to be deceptive in the bestkind of way. Soderbergh does something interesting with each and every character in this film, presenting a kind of trashy, dumb stereotype on the surface and then digging deeper to find a unique mix of genuine emotion and untapped potential. Even if the film is making fun of the south, there's nothing mean-spirited about Logan Lucky. Well, except maybe Seth MacFarlane's Max Chilblain, a Brit who is despicable in just about every way. The film definitely hates him.
And while I'm sure that you could read Logan Lucky as a Robin Hood parable for Trump's America, I think it's best viewed as pure popcorn entertainment, a crowd-pleasing comedy made by someone who knows how to have an impact on his audience. The film's sense of humor is almost absurd in a way, played in a relatively straight manner in order to have the best effect. But it's still undeniably laugh-out-loud funny, and the way that Soderbergh twists and crosses over all the various plot threads is magnificent. The main heist is a joy to watch, and I was seriously dazzled by the way that the film balanced genuine thrills and belly laughs with such a deft touch. This movie catches fire at a certain point, and it is just such a pleasure to behold.
Logan Lucky is a shaggy kind of heist movie, lacking the slick polish that has seemed to define the genre going back even beyond Ocean's Eleven. But there's something to be said for the way that it plays with its ragtag crew, a group of characters who unintentionally make us laugh and surprise us at every turn. It's simultaneously a work of precision and sprawling wit, and it helps that the film has its heart in the right place. Is it as good as Ocean's? Well, not quite. It doesn't hit every single note with the kind of jaw-dropping expertise like that 2001 classic. But there's no denying that when this film works, it's an unfiltered blast of pure fun. After a dreary August, it's a good end-of-summer treat.
THE FINAL GRADE: B+ (7.6/10)
Images courtesy of Bleecker Street
In rural West Virginia, there's a legend that the Logan family is cursed. Jimmy Logan (Channing Tatum) was destined to be a NFL star before injuries wrecked his career, Clyde Logan (Adam Driver) lost his forearm in the Iraq war, and the curse reportedly goes back for generations before that. At the start of Logan Lucky, Jimmy loses his job working construction at NASCAR's Charlotte Motor Speedway. Nonetheless, there's one silver lining in Jimmy's life- his daughter, Sadie (Farrah Mackenzie), who is often shielded from him by his ex-wife (Katie Holmes) and her numbskull husband (David Denman). But in the midst of unemployment and potential lawsuits, Jimmy devises a plan that could make his life a whole lot easier.
Thanks to his former job, Jimmy knows the ins and outs of how money is moved at the speedway. While unlocking such a highly secured vault isn't going to be easy, Jimmy has just the team to pull it off. His sister, Mellie Logan (Riley Keough), does great work with surveillance and transport, gaining important information and serving as a co-mastermind in Jimmy's plan. But the muscle of the job will be carried out by Joe Bang (Daniel Craig), an explosives expert and robbery extraordinaire who is currently locked up in the Monroe County Jail. Along with computer whizzes Fish Bang (Jack Quaid) and Sam Bang (Brian Gleeson), Jimmy compiles a team with the talent to pull off a tricky job. But as the problems begin to pile up, the entire job is called into question, and the team is forced to carry out the mission during the weekend of the biggest race of the year.
Logan Lucky is a little rough around the edges, and I have to say that I wouldn't have objected to seeing a few minutes trimmed off the runtime. The film runs a respectable 119 minutes, which is nearly identical to Ocean's. Nonetheless, it gets off to a bit of a slow start, and while the first act provides the necessary character and story exposition, things don't really begin with a bang. Soderbergh also runs into a few problems after his climatic heist, where he follows two FBI agents (a hysterically straight-faced Hillary Swank and the ever-terrific Macon Blair) as they investigate the robbery. The whole thing feels superfluous to the narrative until the filmmaker reveals his final trick, which makes the whole thing click. Still, shave a few minutes off and you probably wouldn't be missing out on much.
But when Logan Lucky is good, this thing is a rollicking time that doesn't let up. The film is so richly textured, overflowing with memorable characters, meticulous filmmaking, and a distinct sense of humor that remains amusing from start to finish. Soderbergh has created a film that, despite its abundance of influences, remains incredibly distinct, so unique in its style and approach that it sticks in your mind well after the end credits roll. It's a film of simple pleasures, yet it's so intelligently made that the simplicity never feels like a cop out or a misstep. Logan Lucky is far from being a masterpiece, but when it settles into a kind of precisely manic groove, its entertainment value is undeniable.
And it also features a crew of all-star actors working at the very top of their game. It's funny to me that Channing Tatum was once thought of as an untalented pretty boy, someone who was famous for his looks and not his acting chops. Anybody who predicted that his career would fade was so very wrong- he's one of the best dramatic and comedic actors in Hollywood. Credit for his reinvention has to go to Phil Lord and Chris Miller for the Jump Street movies and to Soderbergh himself, who gave him a perfect role in Magic Mike. Soderbergh knows how to use Tatum's bulky everyman abilities to create a sympathetic character, and Jimmy Logan is a great protagonist. Relatively easy to understand on the surface, but somehow also much more mysterious and complex, Logan is the perfect mastermind for the heist. And after watching Adam Driver play a character who slaughters one of cinema's greatest heroes in cold blood, it's fun to watch him loosen up with a good-natured character like Clyde. There's something tragic about Driver's turn here, and he made something great out of what could have been a minor supporting role.
Riley Keough is quickly emerging as one of the most talented actresses in the business, smartly choosing projects that know how to utilize her talent, such as Trey Edward Shults' It Comes at Night and Andrea Arnold's American Honey. She's great here as Mellie Logan, seemingly the only person who can match her brother in ambition and brains. Much has been made of Daniel Craig's turn as Joe Bang, and it mostly lives up to the hype. He's flexing a comedic muscle here that I didn't know he had, and his character manages to be deceptive in the bestkind of way. Soderbergh does something interesting with each and every character in this film, presenting a kind of trashy, dumb stereotype on the surface and then digging deeper to find a unique mix of genuine emotion and untapped potential. Even if the film is making fun of the south, there's nothing mean-spirited about Logan Lucky. Well, except maybe Seth MacFarlane's Max Chilblain, a Brit who is despicable in just about every way. The film definitely hates him.
And while I'm sure that you could read Logan Lucky as a Robin Hood parable for Trump's America, I think it's best viewed as pure popcorn entertainment, a crowd-pleasing comedy made by someone who knows how to have an impact on his audience. The film's sense of humor is almost absurd in a way, played in a relatively straight manner in order to have the best effect. But it's still undeniably laugh-out-loud funny, and the way that Soderbergh twists and crosses over all the various plot threads is magnificent. The main heist is a joy to watch, and I was seriously dazzled by the way that the film balanced genuine thrills and belly laughs with such a deft touch. This movie catches fire at a certain point, and it is just such a pleasure to behold.
Logan Lucky is a shaggy kind of heist movie, lacking the slick polish that has seemed to define the genre going back even beyond Ocean's Eleven. But there's something to be said for the way that it plays with its ragtag crew, a group of characters who unintentionally make us laugh and surprise us at every turn. It's simultaneously a work of precision and sprawling wit, and it helps that the film has its heart in the right place. Is it as good as Ocean's? Well, not quite. It doesn't hit every single note with the kind of jaw-dropping expertise like that 2001 classic. But there's no denying that when this film works, it's an unfiltered blast of pure fun. After a dreary August, it's a good end-of-summer treat.
THE FINAL GRADE: B+ (7.6/10)
Images courtesy of Bleecker Street
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