The poster for Logan Lucky already says a lot: “From the Director of Ocean’s 11, 12, and 13“, “See How The Other Half Steals”. So the audience knows to expect a heist movie, filled with testosterone and surprises. This time, however, the gang behind the heist will not be wearing fancy suits at the Bellagio: this is about working-class Americans in West Virginia. 

Directed by Steven Soderbergh, who came back from retirement, Logan Lucky‘s main characters are brothers Jimmy (Channing Tatum) and Clyde Logan (Adam Driver): the former has just been fired from his job and is about to see his daughter move to another state with his ex-wife (Katie Holmes) and the latter is a veteran who lost his left hand in Iraq and who firmly believes that the Logan family is cursed with bad luck. Determined to have money and keep seeing his daughter, Jimmy decides to rob the NASCAR race, since he knows where the money is kept – in tubes underground. 

In order to pull if off, they assemble their sister (Riley Keough) as the getaway driver, as well as another family: the Bang brothers. Sam (Brian Gleeson) and Fish Bang (Jack Quaid) are not the smartest people, but they are interested in the plan as long as there is some moral reason that would justify stealing that money, despite their past not being that moral. But their older brother is the one responsible for the most important part of the plan: actually blowing up the safe. Joe Bang (Daniel Craig) has still five months of his jail time to serve, but the Logan brothers know how to pull him out without anyone noticing.

Even though the movie is a bit slow at first, it quickly picks up the pace when showing the audience how the heist will take place and, as in the Ocean‘s movies, it only tells us what we need to know, when we need to know it. One very interesting change of pace happens when the story suddenly stops for a beauty pageant, which just shows how different this heist movie is. 

There are also many funny moments, including a discussion involving Game of Thrones and a scene about Clyde’s mechanic arm. 

The cast overall is good, despite their accents not being entirely consistent (I still don’t know for sure what Seth MacFarlane’s accent was supposed to be). But that does not impact the fun outcome of their performances and their lines. The best one has to be Daniel Craig. He appears in the credits as “And Introducing Daniel Craig”, which is a bit sarcastic and a bit true as well. He is completely different from any other of his previous movies, specially James Bond. The initials may be the same, but Joe Bang has a thick accent, bleached hair, tattoos all over his body, and is a master of making explosives using Gummy Bears. That scene alone is worth watching the entire movie.

Perhaps the only letdown in the film is Hillary Swank’s character. She’s introduced so late in the story that one cannot help but wonder if she is needed at all. 

Written by Rebecca Blunt, whose existence many people question, claiming it’s actually a pseudonym, Logan Lucky is clearly the result of hard work combined with a lot of fun in the process. The end credits, with a note “Nobody was robbed during the making of this movie. Except you.” proves just that. 

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