Logan Lucky (12A) ****
Dir: Steven Soderbergh
With: Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, Daniel Craig
Runtime: 119mins
FOUR years after Steven Soderbergh suggested he was finished making films for the big screen, the director returns with the comically endearing Logan Lucky, which nods to past work without ever feeling like repetition.
A deceptively smart tale about two luckless brothers (Channing Tatum and Adam Driver) who hire an explosives expert (Daniel Craig’s Joe Bang) and his two dimwitted siblings (Brian Gleeson and Jack Quaid) to help them pull off a heist from a NASCAR Circuit mid-race, this crackles with witty banter, frothy chemistry and slick storytelling sleight of hand.
Soderbergh imbues the film with his customary sense of style (complete with soundtrack help from regular collaborator David Holmes), yet crucially leaves plenty of room for the likes of Tatum, Driver and Craig, in particular, to create genuinely memorable characters.
Hence, while the heist itself is an expertly crafted mix of laughter and tension, the slow build-up leaves plenty of room for audiences to develop a real affinity for the people attempting to better their lives by turning to crime.
And the self-consciously blue collar feel serves as a nice contrast to the far more fashionable Ocean’s 11 series, to which this will draw most comparisons, while also affording some sly commentary on Trump’s America.
Not everything works, including obnoxious support from Seth MacFarlane, but it’s good to have a filmmaker of Soderbergh’s class back where he belongs and so clearly enjoying himself in the process.
Rob Carnevale
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here