I know I'm late to the party with this review. While it is still in cinemas, I want to urge you to go and see it.
Steven Soderbergh returns to the silver screen with Logan Lucky. Soderbergh previously brought us Ocean's Eleven, Ocean's Twelve and Ocean's Thirteen. Next year he will produce Ocean's Eight. It is without doubt that Soderbergh knows how to film a crime caper filled with complex plotting, serious human moments, dead-pan humour and a significant twist at the end.
The plot is straight-forward. Two brothers (played by a charming Channing Tatum and a brilliantly dead-pan Adam Driver) attempt to pull off a heist during a NASCAR race in North Carolina. Along the way they enlist the help of an explosives expert, appropriately names Joe Bang (played by Daniel Craig, who clearly has been let loose and chews up the scenery with gusto).
Set in the heart of Trump-land (it is a thing you know) and close to recent racial protests in Charlottesville, this caper is Ocean's Eleven in a hillbilly world. Are there stereotypes? Yes. Are there southern tropes? Yes. Does it take itself seriously? No.
The film is well put together based on the screenplay by Rebecca Blunt (As of July 2017, suspected to be a fictitious person; a pseudonym for an, as yet, unidentified person. The real person exchanged emails with Channing Tatum, Adam Driver and Daniel Craig, cast members of Logan Lucky (2017), during filming. They believed she resided in the UK).
To invoke a litotes, the film is not without it's faults but where it succeeds is in the performances of this stellar cast. They clearly had fun. The late introduction of Hillary Swank as an FBI agent assigned to investigate our villains/heroes is a masterpiece of casting and Swank makes the most of her limited screen time.
Too much analysis will spoil what is a thoroughly silly, yet enjoyable film. Enjoy!
3.5 out of 5
Steven Soderbergh returns to the silver screen with Logan Lucky. Soderbergh previously brought us Ocean's Eleven, Ocean's Twelve and Ocean's Thirteen. Next year he will produce Ocean's Eight. It is without doubt that Soderbergh knows how to film a crime caper filled with complex plotting, serious human moments, dead-pan humour and a significant twist at the end.
The plot is straight-forward. Two brothers (played by a charming Channing Tatum and a brilliantly dead-pan Adam Driver) attempt to pull off a heist during a NASCAR race in North Carolina. Along the way they enlist the help of an explosives expert, appropriately names Joe Bang (played by Daniel Craig, who clearly has been let loose and chews up the scenery with gusto).
Set in the heart of Trump-land (it is a thing you know) and close to recent racial protests in Charlottesville, this caper is Ocean's Eleven in a hillbilly world. Are there stereotypes? Yes. Are there southern tropes? Yes. Does it take itself seriously? No.
The film is well put together based on the screenplay by Rebecca Blunt (As of July 2017, suspected to be a fictitious person; a pseudonym for an, as yet, unidentified person. The real person exchanged emails with Channing Tatum, Adam Driver and Daniel Craig, cast members of Logan Lucky (2017), during filming. They believed she resided in the UK).
To invoke a litotes, the film is not without it's faults but where it succeeds is in the performances of this stellar cast. They clearly had fun. The late introduction of Hillary Swank as an FBI agent assigned to investigate our villains/heroes is a masterpiece of casting and Swank makes the most of her limited screen time.
Too much analysis will spoil what is a thoroughly silly, yet enjoyable film. Enjoy!
3.5 out of 5