Logan Lucky (2017)

Directed by: Steven Soderbergh | 119 minutes | comedy, crime, drama | Actors: Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, Seth MacFarlane, Riley Keough, Katie Holmes, Katherine Waterston, Dwight Yoakam, Sebastian Stan, Brian Gleeson, Jack Quaid, Hilary Swank, Daniel Craig

In 2013, director Steven Soderbergh decided to stop making films. Despite the solid films like ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ and ‘Magic Mike’ (unfortunately also films like ‘Ocean’s Twelve’) he saw no future in the cinema experience and started to focus on television work. However, it didn’t take long for Soderbergh to return to the big screen. Artists who announce eventually come back, who can deny a visionary a nice comeback? Soderbergh returns after four years focusing on his series ‘The Knick’ with heist film ‘Logan Lucky’. So back to the roots, but hasn’t Soderbergh forgotten about filmmaking yet?

The short answer to that is “no”. ‘Logan Lucky’ is entertaining enough to call it a success, but the impression it makes is not great. The film follows brothers Jimmy (Channing Tatum) and Clyde Logan (Adam Driver), who plan a major heist with the help of the Bang family, most notably the eccentric Joe Bang (Daniel Craig). What follows is a great heist film as we are used to from the director, in fact he manages to partially recapture the magic of ‘Oceans Eleven’ and have it take place in North Carolina this time.

This means that there are a whole variety of other people at the center. The robbery is less intense and the pace is also somewhat slower. Not a big deal, of course, the film enters familiar territory without it feeling that it is simply running a rehearsal. Now it’s just that intensity, pace and characters that think extremely fast are some of the main charms of just about every heist film. In terms of motivations it is good again, it is good to empathize with the Logan brothers and if we are honest he earns all the money it can steal.

However, it is a pity that the accents of the actors at a certain point start to get boring. It’s painfully obvious that most of the actors aren’t from the local area, so it starts to look like a parody over time. The dialogues suffer a lot from this. Apart from the accents, the acting performances are fine. Tatum as well as Driver and Craig prove why they rank among Hollywood’s most sought-after actors. It’s also a shame that a film of talents like this should be tainted with the performances of Seth MacFarlane, who plays a character who seems to have walked right out of one of his many animated series, and Katie Holmes (but let’s be honest, when did she ever jumped off the screen?).

All in all, ‘Logan Lucky’ is a good movie, but it just could have been a great movie. The slow pace isn’t a problem if the rest of the shortcomings weren’t there. It is mainly due to a number of weaker performances and the fact that there is a point in the film that it refuses to stop. There are still characters introduced in the last few scenes that don’t add much to the whole in the end, as well as a few twists that were absolutely unnecessary. As said, not great. Just good and entertaining, a timid but solid return from Soderbergh.