Logan Lucky (2017)
The redneck NASCAR heist.
Presentation:
From the director of Ocean’s Eleven, Soderbergh gives us a fresh heist film departing from the traditional fancy, sexy, white collar heists we’ve been exposed to in the past. The heist takes place in red neck North Carolina NASCAR orchestrated by an unlikely and unbecoming pair of disabled brothers. Channing Tatum is the mastermind, but he’s quite soft spoken and it’s hard to believe he’d be capable of such a heist. The side characters of Daniel Craig and even the surprising Seth MacFarlane are much more charismatic, which lead to a weird dynamic. Tatum feels flat and invisible, overshadowed by the other cast, which leads to a similar experience of the Ocean’s movies, but here it doesn’t make as much sense. But all the misfits are very charming and there is definitely magic in the bottle that made me watch this twice. Presentation wise the film is notable for an extremely minimal color grade, which looks to be basic Rec709 with Red DSMC2 and Leica lenses. If you wanted to see what Red cameras look like in cinema, here it is. The basic grade makes the film feel natural and ordinary, definitely leading to a grounded, less cinematic experience but it ultimately works and feels more home grown.
Conclusion:
This film was supposed to get sequels and prequels, but it seems anything with Daniel Craig is doomed to be cut short. This is understandable as he was pushed into 10 years of bond films so it makes sense he’d want to do more variety of films than franchises. He’s definitely the most interesting character in this film, but ultimately it’s the heart of the story that takes the stage. A disarming and surprisingly enthralling heist that’ll take you by surprise.
Recommendations
Heist meets circus sideshow.