Brief Notes On Logan Lucky.

Steven Soderbergh is back behind the camera following an extended sojourn that saw him turn to television and a series of fascinating lists. Thankfully, a once-threatened retirement from feature-filmmaking turned out to be nothing of the sort.

Logan Lucky is an impressive return to the silver screen for the director. A caper set in the world of NASCAR, Soderbergh’s film sees an impressive cast of actors assembled for a blue collar take on the heist movie. Channing Tatum, the filmmaker’s Magic Mike and Side Effects muse, takes centre stage, while Riley Keough, Daniel Craig and Adam Driver are amongst the extensive roster of supporting players. An against type Hilary Swank, as a determined FBI agent and seemingly channeling Dirty Harry himself, is a particular highlight.

The film does, in a sense, feel like a Country & Western cover version of the director’s earlier Ocean’s Eleven, and is arguably less sprawling or ambitious than some of the director’s more towering achievements, but it’s a delightful, full-bodied return to cinema for one of the contemporary American film industry’s finest practitioners.