Currently, the laziest and most popular screed we’re subjected to is either “the MCU is played out” or Star Wars, take your pick if you think it will make you sound smarter than you really are. One such critic is Martin Scorsese. As much as I love his past work, he should STFU since he’s been making the same movie for most of his career.
The correct answer is Heist flicks are the ones Hollywood needs to give a rest. The Heist Story is a sub-genre of Action, Comedy and Thriller, often combinations of any of these three. Many suck big time including the revered, original Ocean’s 11 with the Rat Pack, it’s a long commercial for Las Vegas minus Elvis and Ann-Margaret. Recently, I got schooled through Dave Anthony and Josh Olson’s podcast The West Wing Thing on a major plot device used for them I had never given much thought; If the characters don’t waste our time with a boring exposition covering their plans, they will succeed in getting the money, jewels, etc. When they do the blah blah blah, it’s a warning to the audience; Get ready folks! Shit will fall apart! Not every movie does this but it’s a common practice to prevent accusations of pulling a deus ex machina. I hate such dull movie filler, it’s right there with the D&D players who overthink an adventure. This ircles back on why I also think the upcoming Dungeons & Dragons movie starring Chris Pine will suck elephant dongs, the trailer lets you know, it’s not a Fantasy movie, it’s a tired Heist movie with a Fantasy “skin” on it, you know, how J.J. Abrams’ crap Star Treks were shitty Action films with Star Trek set designs and costumes. We can’t have a real D&D movie entail a Fantasy/Action story despite millions enjoying the Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings prequels.
Thankfully, Lucky Logan breaks out of this overdone story. What’s the most amazing part about Lucky, it was directed by the person who is responsible for my complaint! Steven Soderbergh. Yeah, the man behind the remake of Ocean’s 11 and its three terrible sequels. He redeemed himself up to the point he took the check for Ocean’s 8.
Let’s get back to Lucky and why it’s worth watching. First up, the cast. Soderbergh utilizes this group of A Listers very well to shore up how weak Channing Tatum and Katie Holmes are in general; those two are immediate warnings saying, “Avoid this movie!” Daniel Craig polished his Southernness here before playing it to excellence in Knives Out and I can’t wait for him to return in the follow-up, The Glass Onion. Adam Driver is no slouch neither as Channing’s reluctant, Gulf-War Vet brother, roped into a harebrained scheme: stealing the cash from all the concession stands at a NASCAR track. It’s all devised shortly after Channing’s character is fired from the construction site tasked with shoring up the land under said race track. The contractor fires him due to a slight injury they fear will become a lawsuit (let’s hear it for Amerikan Exceptionalism! with our healthcare and too many lawyers). Then his ex-wife informs him she’s and her second family are moving further away, reducing his visitation rights to their daughter he adores. He can’t afford a lawyer to fight this, she’s aware of this.
Once Channing and Driver are in agreement on this plan, they need to enlist Craig who is a demolitions expert. Craig immediately refuses…he’s in prison already. Besides, he’ll be out in a year so the scheme is a hard pass up until they inform him how his ex-wife found his hidden stash and took off with a trucker. The brothers enlist their sister who employs her beauty-parlor skills and she’s no slouch at driving; Craig’s two dumber brothers are part of the deal too. They only agree for weird, moral reasons which are comical.
I won’t go on about the heist element, you have to watch. I was pleasantly surprised by the outcome.
What makes Lucky a well-spent two hours are the other subplots and supporting cast. Seth MacFarlane shines in a minor role which is what he should stick to; he’s like Bill Murray, good in small doses yet I’m pretty certain he isn’t an utter asshole on the set with others…like Bill Murray. Sebastian Shaw is MacFarlane’s team driver, a weird guy who is way into New Age stuff, namely not endorsing the shit MacFarlane is paying him to promote. Dwight Yoakam was surprisingly hilarious and hard to recognize as the warden of Craig’s prison. Being a NASCAR-based movie, there’s cameos of people involved the “sport” to make the diehards happy. Hilary Swank is near the end as an FBI agent trying to piece together the aftermath since not everybody in the community tells the truth for varying reasons.
Lucky Logan was on Hulu until the end of August. If you have Showtime, it’s there until further notice.