When Steven Soderbergh announced his retirement after the film “Side Effects,” the world wasn’t really shocked, but more intrigued. Now, after only a three-year hiatus, Soderbergh has taken a break from directing television series and off Broadway works to deliver “Logan Lucky.”
Returning to the crime genre he injected so much energy into with the “Oceans” trilogy, “The Informant!” and “Out of Sight,” can Soderbergh still make magic happen with a much less intellectual crew?
“Logan Lucky” immediately catches the audience’s attention with its first scene. Channing Tatum’s Jimmy Logan rattles off a speech about the song “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” to his daughter at Aaron Sorkin levels of motor mouth chatter.
It isn’t very often that a film features a set of West Virginia hicks with missing arms, bleach blonde hair and busted knees, but lets them speak with such honesty and conviction.
Channing Tatum and Adam Driver pull off their country bumbkin brothers due largely to their great chemistry together. Daniel Craig absolutely steals the show however, as the Bond actor speaks with a thick southern accent, a crazy look in his eye, and bleach blonde hair.
The supporting cast also excels; Farrah Mackenzie and Riley Keough especially so as Jimmy Logan’s daughter and sister, respectively. “Lucky” is filled with manic performances where you feel like these people are just making up their schemes as they go along. This helps to deliver a lot of the film’s stellar humor and excellent tension.
Without resorting to telling jokes, “Lucky” manages to be exceptionally funny. It does this by pulling its humor instead from the bizarreness of its characters and the situations they find themselves in.
Not once does it feel mean spirited either. Soderbergh and writer Rebecca Blunt walk a thin line by never making direct fun of both the southern side of the story as well as the richer side of the story. It works, and helps the film to feel even more refreshing.
The centerpiece of every heist film is its pacing. If the film is engaging and smart, but slows to a crawl during the actual heist, it would damage the overall film. Thankfully, Soderbergh knows this and not only keeps the pace up, but even manages to trick the audience on the direction of the story two thirds into it.
It’s also a testament to Soderbergh’s directing and Blunt’s script that despite so many things all coinciding during the actual heist, the audience never feels lost or confused at the proceedings.
They dole out just enough information so that the audience never gets confused, and keep just enough held back so that they can have unveiling scene at the end and still have it deliver such a huge impact.
“Logan Lucky” serves as a return to form for director Steven Soderbergh. After being away from the crime genre for so long, “Logan Lucky” is a smart, funny, emotional and well-paced, film without ever feeling like its crossing a line into camp or unbelievability.
It ends in just the right way and ties up all its loose ends perfectly. Like with Shane Black and last years’ “The Nice Guys,” “Logan Lucky” shows that a director can return to a genre he staked a claim in so many years ago. These Logans may be simple minded, but their film is excellent. 4.5/5
