Cinema Reviews

Logan Lucky Review

• 24th Aug 2017

Steven Soderbergh is back after his self imposed exile from film making with Logan Lucky, a film which sees a likely group of assembled criminals try to pull off a heist. And,while it may seem like Soderbergh has brought us here before, Logan Lucky turns the genre on it’s head.

Not quite Oceans 14, Logan Lucky sees us delve into redneck America as brothers Jimmy and Clyde Logan (Channing Tatum and Adam Driver) decide that they need to rob the Charlotte Motor Speedway during it’s biggest of Nascar events, the Coca-Cola 600. The Logan’s are portrayed as simpletons, brilliantly, but they manage to bring together a rag tag crew.

Joe Bang is, shockingly, the explosive expert who is integral to the overall plot. Portrayed by Daniel Craig, he is the crew’s and film’s MVP. Te early portion of the film is based on the gang figuring out how to break Bang out of prison, and get him back in, without anyone realising; this makes for great watching in itself.

But Soderbergh has always relished these kinds of stories, with not so much the twists, but the turns that keep the audience guessing. The deeply we delve into the tale, the more that’s given to us, and towards the end we learn how we, and everyone else, was ultimately duped by the smartest person on screen.

That said, this film is made up of it’s characters and their interactions. Some of the best scenes of 2017 happen within these two hours. There are the moments we’ve seen in the trailers with Craig hamming it up as the deranged Bang, the sheer stupidity of the Logan brothers. But the actions of Seth McFarlane’s Max Chilblain, or the conversation between Bang’s brothers about whether they should take patron the heist or not make for amazing, brilliant cinema. And this isn’t even mentioning the prison inmates unease with George RR Martin’s rate of penmanship.

Soderbergh has a knack for writing characters who love breaking the law, but have a heart and so the audience has a soft spot. That is still the case with Logan Lucky; if Soderbergh wanted to retire because he felt he wasn’t up to the challenge, here’s the counter argument. While not his best work, the characters, sets, colours and story are of the best we’ve seen this year.

Logan Lucky is released in the UK on Friday 25th of August.

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