Logan Lucky

Logan Lucky

Starring Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, Daniel Craig, Riley Keough

Directed by Steven Soderbergh

The Story:
Lowly West Virginian construction worker Jimmy Logan (Channing Tatum) has just been fired from his job for having a pre-existing condition involving an injured knee he got while playing football.  He needs to find a way to support his young daughter, so he plans on robbing the Charlotte Motor Speedway because his last job was there and he knows there will be some easy access points to gain the money spent at concessions.  He enlists his brother, Clyde (Adam Driver), who lost his hand in Iraq, and together they bring in convicted explosives expert Joe Bang (Daniel Craig), who is incarcerated.

Jimmy hatches a plan with Clyde to bust Joe out of prison to commit the crime, and return him to prison before they even knew he was gone.  They also bring in their younger sister Mellie (Riley Keough), along with Joe's brothers, to pull off the caper.  However, the Logans have been known to be incredibly unlucky - will luck finally hit them?

The Synopsis:
2017 is a great year for movies with the name "Logan."  "Logan," the final film of Hugh Jackman's stint as Wolverine, was a critical and audience hit that revolutionized the superhero genre.  Now Steven Soderbergh (best known for directing the "Ocean's" movies, as well as Channing Tatum in "Magic Mike") comes out of 'retirement' to direct "Logan Lucky," which even a reporter on a news cast during the film calls "Ocean's 7/11."  It's basically a hillbilly "Ocean's Eleven," and you can tell Soderbergh hasn't lost his touch in his excellent form of directing.

The film gets off to a slow start, but that's all part of his master plan.  There's scenes that you wonder why they've been included, but again it's a part of Soderbergh's long con on the audience - and it's so good we don't mind that we've been duped in the end.  Every scene matters, and every seemingly random occurrence has an overarching point.  Once the entire scheme has been revealed, it'll have you going "aha!" and wanting to re-watch the film to pick up on the so subtle clues.

What's great about the film - besides the solid, highly cerebral script (especially centering around a bunch of buffoonish broods) - is the actors.  They make you want to sit back and experience what you're seeing, because they're so good in their roles.  Soderbergh cast the top-notch acting talent for this hillbilly caper, and found a way to focus on their strengths.  The film seemed individually written with Channing Tatum in mind, as he plays Jimmy Logan, a former football star in high school whose career got sidetracked when he suffered a knee injury, much like what happened in Tatum's real life (which led him to becoming a male stripper).  He's a doting father, a caring brother and faithful friend, and hidden deep in his "awe-shucks" persona is an intellectual genius that slowly develops over the course of the film.  From having a ten-step plan (two steps include the phrase "s*** happens") to recruiting just the right people to hatching the plan in its full fruition, he manages to stay one step ahead of everyone else in the film.

Equally, Adam Driver's Clyde is comedic gold, and plays to Driver's appearance well.  Most of the film he maintains a low-brow, unemotional center that makes his dry humor all the more humorous, as he seems to breeze through the film with little effort and consequence, especially since he's missing an arm (or, as he often says, a hand).  His scenes are downright hilarious and his on-screen chemistry with Channing Tatum is infectious - you really believe they're brothers.

The film also features some other amazing actors, even in their limited screen time.  Riley Keough (the granddaughter of Elvis Presley) does great as youngest sister Mellie, who also serves as the getaway driver.  Katie Holmes lays on the accent as Jimmy's ex, while Seth MacFarlane plays an arrogant British businessman with gusto.  Dwight Yoakam plays a warden at the prison where Joe is "in-car-cer-a-ted" and delivers some of the best lines in the film - a hilarious back-and-forth about the importance of understanding George R.R. Martin and "Game of Thrones" - and also serves as a hilarious bumbling fool.  Sebastian Stan steals the few scenes he's in as race car driver Dayton White, who's also a grandiose showman who is a complete d-bag.  Sadly, Katherine Waterston's character seems wasted, and two-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank is criminally under-used, but even those two slight blemishes don't take away from the greatness of the whole.

The final actor to mention is Daniel Craig, who takes a wild departure from his debonair James Bond character to play hillbilly explosives export Joe Bang (the last name not being lost on the audience or Craig himself).  He is the scene stealer, the glue that holds the film together, and his comedic chops are impeccable.  There could be a spin-off movie centering on his character, and I would totally buy a ticket for it.  He's a laugh riot and it's obvious he was having a blast playing the character, because it translates so well on screen.

The final glorious aspect of the film is the intelligence in the title.  Throughout the film characters talk about the "Logan curse" that seems to befall Jimmy and Clyde, and you begin to wonder if this curse will show during the heist.  Then again, with the title "Logan Lucky," you think that they might be able to pull this epic heist off without a hitch.  Then again...again...there's those two steps to Jimmy's ten-step plan - "s*** happens."

The Summary:
So much can be said about the greatness of "Logan Lucky" - from the heavily crafted story to the outstanding directing and acting  - but it's one of those films you need to see and appreciate to fully grasp the amazing nature of the film.

The Score: A+