Soderbergh pulls off heist with aplomb
STEVEN Soderbergh is masterful in his ability to mash trashy aesthetics with a kinetic energy that allows him to make the films he wants, yet still be accepted in Hollywood.
As a heist film from the director, this is not what I expected. I was more inclined to await the Bernie Mac-less fourth incarnation of the Oceans movies, with a slightly older George Clooney in unreasonably wellfitted suits.
Soderbergh’s return to the movies after a hiatus is something of a romp but not as poised as the Oceans trilogy. Logan Lucky is a film about a family who are anything but lucky. The film is led by Channing Tatum (an actor who I have finally accepted I will never like).
He plays Jimmy, a divorced, cynical dad. The film opens with a wonderfully still shot of Jimmy with his daughter Sadie (Farrah Mackenzie).
They talk about random things and the conversation goes nowhere, but this moment establishes something important about Jimmy: the soft spot he has for his daughter, and how he wants to make sure she never has to live like him, making a living through hard labour.
This point is accentuated when Jimmy loses his job and is forced to come to terms with that familiar problem – the inability to provide.
The male ego and the fragility of masculinity is a recurring theme in the book on which this is based. At times Soderbergh treats it with humour and a casual indifference – as when some of the characters are in pain but pretend to be fine. Take Adam Driver as the bartender Clyde, an Iraqi veteran who has lost an arm but insists on affirming his manhood by serving drinks with one hand while trying to look cool.
When Clyde and Jimmy decide to do a heist and hire the help of a local bomber known as Joe Bangs (Daniel Craig) the movie spirals quickly into beautiful chaos.
Craig, with his southern drawl that sounds out every vowel, is menacing, funny and unpredictable in what is undoubtedly his most uninhibited role in years.
Soderbergh shows us that he hasn’t lost any of that old-time magic – the old dog still has some new tricks. The ability to work an ensemble of actors in and out of big group scenes in beautifully choreographed takes requires a director of immaculate skill.
The pacing of the film is perfect: just when you think it’s overreaching itself with elaborate car chases and stunt set pieces, you are brought back to intimate two-person scenes. This is a reminder of the joy of cinema and specifically the big screen.
I left Logan Lucky invigorated by having watched a film that wasn’t messy, problematic or strained by the weight of identity politics. I left the theatre thinking, damn, that was a good time.