Because it’s basically all on the shoulders of Steven Soderbergh, Logan Lucky won’t make a lot of money and isn’t a movie that many people even know about. Seeing as how it has no marketing power behind it, these facts shouldn’t be a shock to anyone. However, all though most people will never see it, that doesn’t mean that it’s not a movie that you shouldn’t see.
With the hopes of trying to reverse a family curse, brothers Jimmy (Channing Tatum) and Clyde Logan (Adam Driver) plan an elaborate heist that will take place during a big race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. In order to achieve their goal, they know that they’ll need more than a little luck. They’ll also get help from people as loyal as their sister (Riley Keough) and as experienced as a convict (Daniel Craig) to pull off their intricately detailed plan that will see them get rich or end up racking up years behind bars if something goes awry.
Logan Lucky is kind of old school in the sense that it’s mainly calm until it reaches the expected culmination of events that we’re waiting for. Back in the day, this was something that happened more frequently than it does now. It doesn’t always work, but in cases like this, you can understand how building up a movie in this fashion can be successful. And as long as it’s done by someone who is professional and skilled, experiencing something like this is completely acceptable.
With its less than speedy pace, Logan Lucky is still able to reach everywhere it needs to be in a timely manner. And once there, you’re able to find out just how well put together much of this is from a structural standpoint. There’s a good amount of stuff in terms of story and plot that’s held from us until we get there, but it all makes sense when it comes together.
Using this style these days is somewhat strange, the strangest thing about this film is the amount of togetherness many of the cast members show with one another when it comes to their characters and the relationships they establish. What I mean by that is that family members feel like family members. Each carry characteristics that favor each other in some way.
It’s also important because in spite of its messages about issues that some may need to deal with today, the movie is also about family and trust. This allows for the film to move along well as it helps maintain a structure that is balanced and kind of simplistic. To accomplish this, creating a group of people who feel like they relate to each other in ways makes for a more pleasant journey during this thoughtful caper.
Even though very few will see it, Logan Lucky will delight the people who do. In an age where most of what we get is big, expensive and incoherent, Soderbergh offers us something that can be considered genuine and earnest version of counter-programming. It’s not like a lot of low-budget films that can be too weird, poorly structured or something that only a few people can get into. Instead, it’s the kind of movie that just anybody can get into and follow.
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Cast:
Channing Tatum
Adam Driver
Daniel Craig
Riley Keough
Farrah MacKenzie
Katherine Waterston
Dwight Yoakam
Seth MacFarlane
Sebastian Stan
David Denman
Hilary Swank
Macon Blair
Jack Quaid
Brian Gleeson
Film Length: 119 minutes
Release Date: August 18, 2017
Distributor: Bleecker Street
