Featured, Home, Movie Reviews

Movie Review: “Logan Lucky” Is A Terrible Tragedy

[yasr_overall_rating]
 

Two brothers attempt to pull off a heist during a NASCAR race in North Carolina.

In 2013, director Steven Soderbergh announced his plans to retire from filmmaking. Supposedly unhappy with the overall experience of making a movie, he did retire, somewhat, but not fully. He worked on a TV show for STARZ called “The Knick,” said he was going to be working on an Off-Broadway play titled “The Library,” starring Chloë Grace Moretz, and would executive produce another TV show, this time, one based on an earlier film of his, “The Girlfriend Experience,” again, for STARZ. Now that he is actively making movies again, his first feature is one that he should have completely bypassed and moved onto something else altogether, anything else. The problem with “Logan Lucky” is that we are introduced to a plethora of characters that we simply do not care about as we are never told much about them. We are given depthless, fragmented snippets in regards to their background and history and then thrown into the mix with them and expected to automatically like and support them. I knew very little about this film going to the press screening as sometimes, knowing very little can be a nice surprise and all the way through, I kept asking myself, “Who directed this sloppy, incoherent mess?” Imagine my surprise when I saw it was Steven Soderbergh. Now, I like Soderbergh, I loved his remake of “Ocean’s Eleven,” that rare occasion where the new adaptation was better than the original, and I also liked “Erin Brockovich,” “Out of Sight,” and “The Limey.” He can be a terrific director, with the right material, unfortunately, “Logan Lucky” is not good material.

The movie takes place in North Carolina as two redneck brothers, Jimmy (Channing Tatum) and Clyde Logan (Adam Driver), attempt to pull off the ultimate heist during the Coca-Cola 600 race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. The only problem is, they know how to get to the vault, they know how to steal the money inside of it, but don’t know how to open it. That is where Joe Bang (Daniel Craig) comes into play. He is somewhat of a local legend, a bank robber who can open any safe put in front of him but he is currently behind bars for his criminal activities in a minimum security prison. Jimmy and Clyde pay him a visit and tell him their plan and while Joe is all for it, naturally, he cannot just walk out the door. But the two brothers have a plan. When Clyde “accidentally” crashes his car into a gas station, he is given 90 days by a local judge and once he is inside, he talks with the inmates, many who know him and puts his plan in motion. They cause a rebellion which in turn, forces the warden to seal the prison but Clyde and Joe manage to escape as all hell breaks loose. Once they get to the Speedway, Joe works his magic in the vault and along with his two brothers, Fish (Jack Quaid) and Sam (Brian Gleeson), as well as Jimmy and Clyde’s sister Mellie (Riley Keough), they successfully pull off the heist. Or so they think. As Clyde and Joe make their way back to the prison, disguised as firemen as the inmates have started a fire, Jimmy disappears and when word gets out about the robbery, and it is then announced that all of the money was returned by an anonymous tipster, everyone involved begins asking questions, and most importantly, why do the robbery if all the money was going to be returned? That is where the “supposed” twist comes in to play but by the time it is revealed, you simply don’t care any more.

The film’s multiple endings could be compared to Peter Jackson’s “Return of the King,” but at least the preceding events in that picture were entertaining. Although the story takes place in North Carolina, everyone involved speaks with the worst Southern accent in the history of movies. Wait till you hear the cast put Keanu Reeves’ twang to shame from “The Devil’s Advocate,” or Lucas Black in “Friday Night Lights,” or even Nicolas Cage in “Con Air,” between the ensemble on display here, they have everyone beat. But what an ensemble it is, Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, Daniel Craig, Riley Keough, Katie Holmes, and even Hilary Swank makes an appearance but not one of them, or even all of them, could help save this. It is a redneck’s “Ocean’s Eleven,” minus the gadgets, gimmicks, humor, and onscreen charisma of everyone involved that helped propel that story along and make it as entertaining as it was. One of the biggest issues I had with the film is that when we are first introduced to Jimmy and Clyde, they are both working in low-wage jobs, Jimmy as a construction worker and Clyde as a bartender and it appears they have spent most of their lives in this manner. Out of the blue, Jimmy concocts this amazing plan to rob the Speedway but never once is it explained where he got the proficiency to pull off such an intricate job. Initially, he is working on a construction project that just happens to be directly underneath the Speedway and while there, he sees all the various pneumatic tubes that propel the containers filled with money throughout numerous networks and while this is obviously what inspires him, it is never made clear where and how he got the technical expertise to achieve such an accomplishment. And for someone of Jimmy’s disposition, ie. not very bright, this element literally comes out of nowhere and with the filmmakers not explaining the reasoning behind it, it leaves you shaking your head in wonderment. Maybe Mr. Soderbergh should re-visit Danny Ocean and the gang because as inferior as “Ocean’s 12 & 13” were, they were a lot more fun than “Logan Lucky.”

In theaters Friday, August 18th

 

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

2 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Nigel McGuinness
Nigel McGuinness
6 years ago

I totally agree, I went to this movie based on Rotten Tomatoe’s really high rating. Then I was scratching my head and taking little naps out of bordom when watching it. I can’t believe there was so much positive feedback from other critics. It has a great cast and I was delighted to see our own Brian Gleeson in it. Either the cast were all really under rehearsed or the director & editor were just in a little bubble of self endulgence, because the majority of scenes felt badly paced and unrewardingly awkward. Anyway I was glad to see a… Read more »

James McDonald

Originally from Dublin, Ireland, James is a Movie Critic with 40 years of experience in the film industry as an Award-Winning Filmmaker. He is also a member of the Critics Choice Association and the Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association.