Release date: August 18, 2017
Genres: Heist
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Writers: Rebecca Blunt
Starring: Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, Daniel Craig
Logan Lucky is about two brothers, Clyde (Adam Driver) and Jimmy (Channing Tatum) in West Virginia who decide to rob a Nascar stadium. They’re both fed up with the system that has allowed some people to get rich while the harder- working, blue-collar guys like them remain poor. They don’t seem that bright so they get the help of Joe Bang (Daniel Craig), a childhood friend currently in prison. The result is a slower movie that subverts your expectations as you start to realize that the dim-witted characters you’ve been watching are smarter than they appear.
As I said, this is a slower movie. It has comedy for sure, especially where Daniel Craig’s performance as Joe Bang is concerned. He is having such an amazing time in the role and the movie gets much more fun when he’s on screen. The two leads are each good in their own way but their performances are less showy and probably less appreciated. Yet they reflect the times and the setting of the film and you get why they want to make this heist work.
Let’s talk about the heist itself. It’s slower too and, at times, a little too slow. Again, these characters don’t come off as very bright, so sometimes their ways of getting the heist to work come off as comedic. And yet, the way this film finishes the heist makes you wonder why you ever doubted these guys. They have quite a bit more up their sleeves.
Unfortunately the movie is a little too slow and it also has an additional plotline that develops after the heist is complete that goes just keeps going without much resolution or purpose. The film definitely could have cut out fifteen minutes by cutting out that storyline and been just as rewarding and just as complete. I would still recommend this film for the heist and the subversion of expectations. It gives you a look into a part of America where you wouldn’t expect a successful heist and I think it’s worth it just for that.