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Logan Lucky
Steven Soderbergh, who directed the George Clooney version of Ocean's 11, scores with the similarly-themed heist comedy called Logan Lucky, which features the same overly complex plotting, colorful characters, and stylish camera work of his 2001 film, with just enough tweaks to the story that's it not just a Danny Ocean rehash.
This 2017 film stars Channing Tatum (who Soderbergh directed in Magic Mike) plays Jimmy Logan, a laborer who gets fired from his job and asks his brother (Adam Driver) and sister (Riley Keough) to help him rob the giant vault at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, the home Nascar racing. Their plan to blow the vault requires the assistance of a famed safe-cracker named Joe Bang (Daniel Craig) who is already serving time. Our crew has to break Joe out of prison, blow the vault, and return Joe to prison before anyone notices, not to mention getting Jimmy to his daughter's beauty pageant on time.
Yes, what Soderbergh gives us here is a sort of rural re-working of Ocean's 11, except for the fact that most of the Logan crew are not professionals, with the exception of Joe Bang, the character who really gave this film the dash of originality that separates Jimmy Logan from Danny Ocean. First of all, who knew that the home of Nascar had a giant vault on the premises? And Danny never had to break a member of his crew out of jail and return him to jail. This was probably the most amusing part of the story, the temporary liberation of Joe Bang, despite the fact that I don't believe this could actually happen. I bought the way Joe was removed from the facility I just had a hard time believing that no one in the prison caught his absence, no matter what distractions were provided, headcounts in prison are too frequent for an absence con to go unnoticed. On the other hand, I didn't like the addition plot complication of having to change the date of their original plan. Then this has always been an element of the Soderbegh movies, the plan being changed or challenged in some way before it's actually executed.
Soderbergh's camerawork is exemplary here, almost tiring the viewer in having to frequently crane his neck to keep track of what is going on and just like the 2001 film, there is so much going on that it's hard to keep track of everything, but in interest of keeping my eye on the prize, there were holes and plot elements that got by me that would hopefully be caught in a rewatch.
Soderbergh does some interesting casting here...Channing Tatum is completely de-glammed and almost unrecognizable as Jimmy Logan, a role he effectively underplays in the tradition of George Clooney as Danny Ocean. Adam Driver was a lot of fun as Jimmy's one-armed brother and Daniel Craig absolutely lights up the screen as Joe Bang. Dwight Yoakum also brought the proper greasiness to his role as the prison warden like he did in Sling Blade, a razor sharp casting decision from Soderbergh, like Carl Reiner in 2001. Production values are first rate and the similarities to the first Danny Ocean movie cannot be ignored, but there is fun to be had here.
Steven Soderbergh, who directed the George Clooney version of Ocean's 11, scores with the similarly-themed heist comedy called Logan Lucky, which features the same overly complex plotting, colorful characters, and stylish camera work of his 2001 film, with just enough tweaks to the story that's it not just a Danny Ocean rehash.
This 2017 film stars Channing Tatum (who Soderbergh directed in Magic Mike) plays Jimmy Logan, a laborer who gets fired from his job and asks his brother (Adam Driver) and sister (Riley Keough) to help him rob the giant vault at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, the home Nascar racing. Their plan to blow the vault requires the assistance of a famed safe-cracker named Joe Bang (Daniel Craig) who is already serving time. Our crew has to break Joe out of prison, blow the vault, and return Joe to prison before anyone notices, not to mention getting Jimmy to his daughter's beauty pageant on time.
Yes, what Soderbergh gives us here is a sort of rural re-working of Ocean's 11, except for the fact that most of the Logan crew are not professionals, with the exception of Joe Bang, the character who really gave this film the dash of originality that separates Jimmy Logan from Danny Ocean. First of all, who knew that the home of Nascar had a giant vault on the premises? And Danny never had to break a member of his crew out of jail and return him to jail. This was probably the most amusing part of the story, the temporary liberation of Joe Bang, despite the fact that I don't believe this could actually happen. I bought the way Joe was removed from the facility I just had a hard time believing that no one in the prison caught his absence, no matter what distractions were provided, headcounts in prison are too frequent for an absence con to go unnoticed. On the other hand, I didn't like the addition plot complication of having to change the date of their original plan. Then this has always been an element of the Soderbegh movies, the plan being changed or challenged in some way before it's actually executed.
Soderbergh's camerawork is exemplary here, almost tiring the viewer in having to frequently crane his neck to keep track of what is going on and just like the 2001 film, there is so much going on that it's hard to keep track of everything, but in interest of keeping my eye on the prize, there were holes and plot elements that got by me that would hopefully be caught in a rewatch.
Soderbergh does some interesting casting here...Channing Tatum is completely de-glammed and almost unrecognizable as Jimmy Logan, a role he effectively underplays in the tradition of George Clooney as Danny Ocean. Adam Driver was a lot of fun as Jimmy's one-armed brother and Daniel Craig absolutely lights up the screen as Joe Bang. Dwight Yoakum also brought the proper greasiness to his role as the prison warden like he did in Sling Blade, a razor sharp casting decision from Soderbergh, like Carl Reiner in 2001. Production values are first rate and the similarities to the first Danny Ocean movie cannot be ignored, but there is fun to be had here.