Although director Steven Soderbergh (Erin Brockovic, the Ocean’s Eleven films, Che, The Informant) announced in 2013 that he would stop making films that sad news. Yet saying something and sticking to it turned out to be difficult for him. He directed the The Knick series for HBO, helped Spike Jonze to edit Her and made his own “cuts” of well-known films available online. He had never really been away and now he “officially” is back with Logan Lucky, which to quote the film itself is an Ocean’s 7-11. In other words, a “heist” film, but in a setting that is a lot less glamorous.
Jimmy Logan (Channing Tatum) is separated from his wife (Katie Holmes) with whom he has a daughter. He works in construction, but he is fired because he has not disclosed a problem with his leg when he applied for the job. He decides to stray from the right path and asks his brother Clyde (Adam Driver) to rob the safe of a race circuit together. The two, however, lack the expertise and approach Joe Bang (Daniel Craig), who is in prison, because he has the knowledge of cracking safes. They may not seem very smart, but they have an extensive plan to make this theft a success.
Since Soderbergh already has three Ocean’s films to his name, he knows how to make these kinds of films and it looks effortless here. The execution of the plan, the moments where things seem to be going wrong, unexpected setbacks, they are all depicted full of bravado. In addition, the excellent cast contributes to the whole by fun characters who all just have enough screen time in order to get to know them. The end result is a title that is wonderful to watch, never boring and contains a lot of humor. Steven Soderbergh, welcome back.
