Logan Lucky - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Logan Lucky

Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score: ​

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Movie
Steven Soderbergh is no stranger to the heist movie, as he’s most famously known for the Ocean’s trilogy of heist films starring Clooney and crew. However, the man has a varied and widely diverse career, ranging from straight up spy/action films (Haywire), comedic whistle blowing films (The Informant), all the way down the pipe to films about male exotic dancers (Magic Mike and its sequel), so I wasn’t exactly sure WHAT to expect when I saw the trailer for Logan Lucky a few months back. It looked like a fun heist movie, but with Soderbergh’s habit of changing things up on the viewer I wasn’t exactly counting my plot chickens before they were hatched. This time though, it seems like the director wanted to remix an old classic, instead kind of remaking Oceans 11 in west Virginia, substituting hillbilly stupidity by the sleek charisma and charm of the Oceans movies. Despite being almost a blow for blow remake of those films (at least in style and execution), Logan Lucky is a charmer of a film, allowing the redneck sensibilities and sly humor that Soderbergh is known for permeate the experience and leave the audience chuckling as they leave the film.

Jimmy Logan (Channing Tatum) is a divorced father of one little girl, and stuck working his job in the mines of West Virginia. His ex wife, Bobbie Jo Chapman (Katie Holmes), married up the ladder to an annoying (but rich) car dealership owner and poor Jimmy is stuck just hanging around trying to see his daughter on good days. His younger brother, Clyde (Adam Driver) is a maimed combat vet, having lost his left arm in Afghanistan and wallowing in mediocrity running a little bar called “the Duck Tape”. Depressed, realizing that their lives are going nowhere, the two boys hatch up a hair brained hillbilly idea that they’re going to rob the Nascar track a few miles away. It’s the perfect job, as Jimmy just got laid off from the construction crew that was working just around the track so he knows the ins and the outs of the vault, and with so many people coming from miles and miles away to see the races it is just STUFFED with cash. The only thing is, they don’t have a way to get INTO said vault.

This is where Joe Bang (Daniel Craig) comes in. A local safe cracking hero, he’s the logical man for the job, but there’s the slight problem of him being in jail for the next 5 months after a bank robbery gone wrong. Well, that’s no problem for a couple of hicks with bright ideas, so Jimmy and Clyde cook up a scheme to break Joe Bang out of jail, get into the vault with millions in cash, hide the money, AND get Joe Bang back into jail with just the help of a couple relatives and the Logan’s sister, Mellie (Riley Keough). Simple? Right?

Logan Lucky takes one of the oldest stories in the book, and actually does it REALLY well. You’d think that basically following the same pattern that Oceans 11 formulated would be derivative and boring, but Soderbergh infuses the film with fresh new characters that are so completely different than the smooth talking casino robbers that you can’t help but love them. Instead of suave, debonair men making plans and talking like a greased nickel, the film’s dialog is full of red neck hillbilly talk (sorry, I grew up in the south, so I speak bonafide hillbilly fluently) and sly humor disguised as blatant stupidity. Channing Tatum does well as the “smartest” of the crew, but each and every one of them has a blast with their roles. Daniel Craig is in full form as the slightly off the rails Joe Bang, but Adam Driver just steals the show with is slow as molasses Clyde.

Not only that we get a whole host of cameos ranging from Hillary Swank as a straight laced FBI agent, to Seth McFarlane hamming it up in a near unrecognizable getup (it wasn’t until he had his nose broken and was using that nasaly voice that I caught it was him). The film just WORKS even though you know every beat of the film due to these people. They’re everyday, ordinary seeming folks, with ordinary problems, and WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYY too much relatability for those of us who grew up down south of the Mason Dixon line for comfort. It’s just hammy, fun and fully hilarious to watch this Hillbilly heist go down.




Rating:

Rated PG-13 for language and some crude comments




Video:

Shot digitally and mastered in 4K, Lucky Logan looks stunning on 1080p Blu-ray. The 2.39:1 AVC encoded disc is about as clean and clear as can be, without any major flaws or heavy “Soderberghish” visual grading to get in the way from a perfect picture. Everything is razor sharp and makes you feel like you can just get up off your chair and reach through the screen and touch someone. The film has a very neutral look to it, allowing fresh skin tones to look natural and pinkish, while the colors from clothing and background effects to pop off the screen. The ice white hair of Daniel Craig is startling in how much you can actually see of his scalp, and every speck of chipped paint and caked on dirt shows up impeccably on Jimmy’s old Ford F-150. Blacks are deep and inky, with the underground tunnels showing off everything to the naked eye, while the brighter outdoor sequences leave nothing to the imagination. Simply put, a perfect encode, with no artifacting that I could see.





Audio:

Lucky Logan sports a fantastic sounding 5.1 DTS-HD MA track (that is carried equally on both the 4K UHD and the Blu-ray, meaning this write-up will be identical across both reviews) that really is packed with material to enjoy. The film’s sound mixing is fully of energy and pep, shifting between the hustle and bustle of the Duck Tape, to the roar and rumble of the track at a moment’s notice. The under ground tunnel echos off the walls and the thunderous roar of a bulldozer grinding through the tunnels adds some serious low end activity. While the movie is wildly kinetic and full of surround support, the LFE is NOT overcooked and used everywhere. It’s mild when needed, and is used to support heavier duty machinery rather than just pound away with every scene like a drummer out of control. It’s subtle, but effective, and the entire track just feels EXTREMELY well balanced as a result. Dialog is crisp and clean, and the front sound stage spacious enough to really impress. You really can’t get much better for a 5.1 mix.
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Extras:

• Deleted Scenes

Final Score: ​

Logan Lucky doesn’t blaze any new trails in the heist genre, but it’s a relatable film that just has fun with the characters and uses subtle humor and bumbling charm to make the film appeal to the viewers. I have to admit that I’ve been REALLY impressed with Channing Tatum after his career turnaround from being dumb pretty boy. He’s got some acting chops and actually been getting more and more grounded with each and every performance. His side performances have actually been some of the best I’ve seen, but his leading man roles have been getting better and better as well. Adam Driver once again proves that he doesn’t have to be a hipster douche to play a good character, and systematically steals the show once again. The Blu-ray has impeccable specs, with the only weak spot in the package being a couple of deleted scenes for extras, and nothing else. Definitely worth a good, fun, watch for those of you who love a heist film.




Technical Specifications:

Starring: Daniel Craig, Adam Driver, Channing Tatum
Directed by: Steven Soderbergh
Written by: Rebecca Blunt
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, English DTS 2.0, French (Candadian) DTS 5.1
Studio: Universal
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 119 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: November 28th, 2017

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• Michael Scott
• May 11, 2017

Recommendation: Very Fun Watch

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. I didn't expect much from the trailer but after reading the review, I will check it out.