Dipping back into the Oceans

After a four-year hiatus from making feature films, during which time he knocked off 20 episodes of the excellent TV series The Knick, the great, prolific, eclectic director Steven Soderbergh (Schizopolis, The Limey) returns to the big screen with an unofficial remake of his biggest hit to date, 2001’s all-star heist flick Ocean’s Eleven.

LOGAN LUCKY

Director: Steven Soderbergh
Cast: Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, Seth MacFarlane, Riley Keough, Katie Holmes, Katherine Waterston, Dwight Yoakam, Hilary Swank, Daniel Craig
Rating: (M)
Three and a half stars (out of five)

This time, the glitzy Las Vegas setting is transplanted to the rather more down-home locale of the US Bible Belt (i.e., Trump country), although Logan Lucky  wisely steers clear of any political soapboxing, preferring to paint its quirky cast of rednecks and hillbillies with a warm, loving and sympathetic brush.

Channing Tatum, Adam Driver and Riley Keough play the Logan siblings, who team up with an incarcerated explosives expert named Joe Bang (talented newcomer Daniel Craig) to rob the Charlotte Motor Speedway in North Carolina during its biggest event of the year, the Memorial Day weekend Coca-Cola 600.

The actors are terrific, the screenplay by Rebecca Blunt, who may or may not actually exist, is tight, cohesive and often very funny, and the camera work, by Soderbergh himself, is outstanding.

All the elements come together to create something slightly less than the sum of its parts. It’s no classic, but if you just want a good night out at the movies you won’t beat it.

- Jeremy Quinn