Review of Logan Lucky (2017) by Saintdecky — 21 Aug 2017

Logan Lucky is an enjoyable, fun summer movie for if you want to sit back, relax, and have some good laughs.

Acting: Tatum and Driver are fine in their roles, but Daniel Craig is definitely the stand-out, of course. It was nice to see him play a wild, unpredictable, enjoyable character, taking a step away from the countless cool and laid-back roles during his career. He was one of the best parts of the movie, as his performance was spectacular and was enjoyable to watch. Hilary Swank easily earned the worst performance. During the last 20 or so minutes, which I will talk about later, she was terrible, speaking in a monotone voice, being completely stiff, and having an annoying smirk. Seth MacFarlane, who I don't find terribly funny in the first place, didn't really make an impact on me. He was borderline annoying, and I didn't care for the whole subplot that he was involved in.

Characters: Again, Daniel Craig as Joe Bang was easily the best performance and best character, just because he was interesting and cast well. All the other characters are fine. Nearly all of them are over-the-top or stereotypes, which I see many people dislike, but I think it worked with the sort of wacky style of the movie.

Plot: The story was fine, despite there being a few plot holes here and there. The heist was intriguing to watch and easy to follow. The last 20 or so minutes drag on for way too long, however. In the final act of the movie, Hilary Swank plays a detective, looking into what happened during the heist. It isn't interesting, and feels completely disconnected from the movie, as only 1 of the (sort of) main characters is actually in it. It could have been scrapped from the movie and made it a bit better. Another subplot that wasn't too interesting was the racing one with Seth MacFarlane's character. It never really went anywhere or added anything to the main story, and again MacFarlane was a bit annoying. The story also would have been fine without this whole part. Also, this movie is different from Oceans 11 or other Soderbergh heist movies because it focuses more on the characters and their motivations. Tatum's character and others have a reason to be doing it, and there is more of a plot outside of the heist itself. I didn't mind this, as it was different than Oceans 11 and not just following the same path. This might have been why he put in the last 20 minutes, so the movie wouldn't just end right after the heist. Nevertheless, it could have been removed and been fine.

Humor: Now, just because I found this movie to be particularly funny, especially in a few scenes that were hilarious, it doesn't mean you will. I found it to be consistently funny throughout, but others apparently didn't laugh once. Unless it's an Adam Sandler movie, I usually don't take people's words for it when they say it was or wasn't funny. But with other movies, I try to give them a chance. If someone else found it funny, good for them, but it doesn't mean me or the guy next to me in the theater will. I've also seen some reviews saying it was trying too hard to be a Coen brothers movie, but that's not the case at all. The Coens' movies are quirky while maintaining a dark element and incorporating dark humor. Logan Lucky is just wacky and not supposed to be taken extremely seriously.

Script: Not the best, but I don't think it was trying to be. Was charming and pretty funny throughout (to me). Rebecca Blunt, who made her debut writing this movie, may or not be real, but whoever it was who wrote it did fine.

Logan Lucky is a movie that you can expect to sit back and at least somewhat enjoy. Even if the jokes don't make you laugh or even chuckle, at the very least it is a somewhat respectable heist movie that isn't supposed to be too serious, at least in my eyes.