Review of Logan Lucky (2017) by Kevin M — 21 Aug 2017

If you've seen a Steven Soderbergh movie before, particularly the Ocean's trilogy, you'll notice many similarities between them and Logan Lucky. They're both about a group of colorful characters trying to pull off a multi-million dollar heist, all while avoiding capture.

It's the cast and setting that make it stand on it's own, versus being Ocean's 14. Channing Tatum, as he did in the Jump Street movies, once again proves that he can make an audience laugh while standing shoulder to shoulder with high-caliber dramatic actors like Adam Driver, Hilary Swank, and Daniel Craig.

Did I mention Daniel Craig? The latest Bond turns in what is by far his funniest performance, toting a heavy southern accent with a strangely random knack for science. Tatum, Driver, and Craig set out to rob the vault of the biggest Nascar event of the year, located in Concord, North Carolina.

Like Soderbergh's Ocean movies, the majority of the film is an incredibly elaborate, step-by-step plan to execute a heist, coupled with sharp editing and a smart script. A particularly memorable scene involves the prisoners of Daniel Craig's jail starting a riot so that he can escape, perform the heist, and make it back before dinner.

Their list of demands are simple; add a Game of Thrones shelf to their library. As a huge fan of Game of Thrones, watching them engage in back-and-forth banter with the warden (an all too proud Dwight Yoakam) about when the next books are going to be released was a major highlight, and had me rolling.

Yet even with the wise-cracking characters and top-notch cinematography, a feeling of deja vu was still lurking in the back of my mind. Thankfully, it wasn't enough to distract me from concluding that Logan Lucky was mostly a genuinely funny and smart late-summer flick.