1988. Logan Lucky (2017)

Starring: Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, Daniel Craig

Director: Steven Soderbergh

Running Time: 118 mins

Logan Lucky is an American film about two brothers who attempt to pull off a daring robbery in the vault underneath a NASCAR race in North Carolina.

I really liked this film. Although it gets off to a bit of a rocky start, not helped by its somewhat excessively large ensemble cast, it’s a film that’s filled with great humour, very entertaining performances, and a carefully crafted plot that, while not endlessly thrilling, is very watertight throughout, and makes for a riveting and very entertaining watch from start to finish.

First off, the most entertaining part of this film is definitely the performances. With a whole heap of A-listers putting on their best West Virginia/North Carolina accents possible, and playing a range of both buffoonish and simply bizarre characters, there’s a lot of fun to be had in watching the leads in this movie.

Channing Tatum and Adam Driver play the supposedly unlucky and dim-witted Logan brothers, both proving very entertaining in a simple capacity as ‘dumb’ men, but also still interesting enough throughout to make their characters more than just comic relief, something that was vital to keep the film working. Daniel Craig, too, puts in a very unorthodox performance as a local convict who takes part in the heist, and with great energy and hilariously bizarre acting throughout, he’s an absolute joy to watch.

What’s more is that the movie does a great job at making its heist story not only very entertaining, but interesting, surprisingly unpredictable, and pretty free of plot holes too. It’s definitely a great laugh to watch this band of misfits carry out this ridiculous heist, a very simple premise that’s as entertainign as it’s ever been, but what’s even better is to see how all of the dots connect as the boys plan their entrance and escape to and from the raceway, and not without a whole bunch of hurdles.

In that, the film manages to make itself more than just a crime-comedy, proving just as interesting in following the planning of the heist as funny and entertaining in the carrying out of the actual operation. It’s a premise that we’ve seen before, but definitely don’t get as often in Hollywood as a few decades ago, so it was really nice to see the plot executed so well throughout, all the while bringing about a good few surprises along the way.

Director Steven Soderbergh does a brilliant job at blending the comedic and dramatic sides of the story too. Save for a couple of awkward and very unnecessary patriotic sequences, the film is tonally very consistent, with its funny side never dampening throughout, and yet still proving dramatic and well-executed enough to be a genuinely interesting crime movie too, something that really isn’t all that easy to pull off.

The only issues that I’d find with Logan Lucky come in its first and final acts. While the middle act, watching the planning and execution of the heist, is a huge amount of fun, its opening act is a little hard to get to grips with, as we’re introduced to a plethora of characters that don’t quite fit together all that swiftly early on.

Meanwhile, after all the fun of the heist, the film really quietens down in the final act once again, and although it’s got a couple of great twists to finish, the finale adds in an entire new storyline separate from the previous hour or so, and doesn’t do enough to convince you of its importance, which is frustrating given the amount of focus that the new side of the story gets.

Overall, however, I had a lot of fun with Logan Lucky. Although not totally perfect, it’s a very funny and entertaining film with a fantastically-executed crime story, and bolstered by a collection of great performances and strong directing, which is why I’m giving it a 7.6.