Director: Steven Soderbergh.
Starring: Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, Daniel Craig, Riley Keough, Jack Quaid, Brian Gleeson, Seth MacFarlane, Katie Holmes, David Denman, Sebastian Stan, Katherine Waterston, Dwight Yoakam, Hilary Swank, Macon Blair.
Soderbergh goes back to what he does best. A heist movie with a twist where two southern state brothers devise and rob the Charlotte Motor Speedway, the home of NASCAR, during the Coca-Cola 600; and as the trailer rightly suggests, such a plan is no easy task and requires some degree of skill and a lot of luck.
Tatum and Driver play the Logan Brothers perfectly, but Jimmy (Tatum) isn't as simple minded as people say, Clyde (Adam) on the otherhand. With a little backstory and some introductions, the Logan's enlist the help of Joe Bang (Craig) who is equally brilliant as the abrasive, explosive expert. Now his brothers, the Bang brothers are roped in too (you keeping up?) the ones who are very simple-minded but are superbly portrayed by Jack Quaid, Son of Meg Ryan and Dennis; and Brendan Gleeson's other son, Brian Gleeson. Oh! Let's not forget the sister, Mellie (Keough) who's probably just as vital to the plan as anyone else.
All give great and rememberable performances with the help of having such rich characters to work with and having great chemistry. Watching the gang plod along and attempt to work together to pull the job off is captivating with a great sense of disbelief which makes this all the more fun.
Soderbergh works the same magic he did with the Ocean's franchise with clever shots, impressive sequence and very slick editing that really gives it it's comedy caper feel to it. It's his usual comedy style where the film is funny without it actually being an all-out comedy. Like it what's to be taken seriously but is funny, jeez, this is hard to explain.
However it Isn't as clever as it pretends to be and falls a little short of the hype. I want to say it is a hilarious hillbilly heist movie, but it's not that hilarious, I just wanted to get another 'H' word in there. But this doesn't mean it isn't funny or entertaining, because it is a joy to watch and there is a moment of heart
David Holmes returns to do a brilliant, stylistic score that suits both the genre and setting; and it's got a great soundtrack consisting of classic from the likes of Dr. John, CCR, Brainbox and of course the main character's favourite, John Denver.
As every most of the Soderbergh's films, everything appears on point with excellent production all round, costume, lighting and sound, all put together brilliantly to create an amusing and entertaining heist movie. It's better than Ocean's 12 and just lacks the coolness from the other two. Those aside, it's a good fun film to watch.
Running Time: 8
The Cast: 8
Performance: 9
Direction: 8
Story: 8
Script: 8
Creativity: 9
Soundtrack: 9
Job Description: 9
The Extra Bonus Point: 0
76% 8/10
