'Logan Lucky' Review: Ocean's with a twist! Soderbergh back and at his finest!

💰 Logan Lucky 💰 Review 💰 8.5/10 💰

Steven Soderbergh returns to the big screen after a self-imposed "retirement" with a movie that's very much in the vein of his Ocean's trilogy but pulpier and quirkier -- and a shit load of fun. Whereas the Ocean's movies were slick and sophisticated, with a big-city sheen, Logan Lucky is more of a "country cousin," focusing on members of a more close-knit, laid-back rural community, whose lives follow an entirely different rhythm -- a rather offbeat one. The characters' Southern drawl reminds me alot of what was probably the Coen brothers' funniest film (O Brother, Where Art Thou?), and their criminal cleverness is a little reminiscent of some of Quentin Tarantino's work which I admired.

The cast were all great; Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, Daniel Craig, Riley Keough, there were some hilarious cameos by Sebastian Stan and Hilary Swank who absolutely killed it in the short time she was on screen (she literally had me in stitches every time), but, for me Adam Driver stole the show with an outstanding performance as one-armed brother Clyde.

The screenplay by Rebecca Blunt -- her first -- cooks up a sharp, air-tight, surprising heist plan, as well as many hilarious, offbeat lines of dialogue. But, like so many writers who pen movies of this type, Blunt fails to consistently balance both elements. The first half of the movie is funnier, and the second half is more thrilling, but the mixing of the two tones doesn't happen as easily as it could have (then again it is her first time). Still, Logan Lucky is packed with so many brilliant moments, many belly laughs, and so many truly clever ploys (Soderbergh back at his best), that it'll be worth several viewings aslong as you can put aside Channing Tatums terrible accent.