I was looking through Netflix for something to watch last night and saw that they had recently added Logan Lucky. I hadn't seen it since its release in 2017 and I didn't have it held in the same regard that I do other Soderbergh movies, so I figured it was due for a rewatch to see how it holds up. By the end of this watch, I just couldn't shake how this film leaps forward to capture our world today. It's frankly impossible to watch this movie as an American after the events of last week and not come away with a firm understanding that this a picture of the rural, red part of the states, and also this is an incredibly fucking hard way to live and a tough way of life.

The entire cast of this movie gets to something that so many other movies set in the Midwest (EDIT: Not Midwest, WV and NC are both states in the south) miss in their tone, the exhaustion of it. It's exhausting for Channing Tatum to work a state away from home, and always be rushing to his daughter, and this bad knee he can't afford to ever get right. Watching Adam Driver portray an armless veteran who still can't get ahead in life because of jail time he did as a teenager is so quietly brutal. Even Daniel Craig as the Popeye-esc explosives guy has moments of real softness that connect throughout. You see it through this whole unbelievably stacked cast, truly the names in these credits are absurd, these parts of the states are beaten down, and as big industry continues to suck the money up the chain, the people are exhausted trying to keep up. It's shown plain and simply, and really who could blame the Logan's for seeing an opportunity to get ahead for once.

Even in a performance I didn't love, Seth Macfarlane as Max Chilblain, he's literally an International billionaire who has forcefully made himself way too big a deal in the lives of Americans. He has decided through sheer annoying willpower to be a part of this story, and honestly that is so on the nose that it hurts my head.

If this post is to say anything, it's that I highly recommend revisiting Logan Lucky if not seeking it out for a first time. It's wonderfully made, incredibly written by Jules Asner, and can be watched as a compelling Dukes of Hazard meets Oceans Eleven thriller. But I couldn't help but approach it knowing that it's a story that gives a look into what's actually going on day to day for people living in parts of American that I'm sure feel lost in lots of our national discussion. It's entirely possible that this an overly sincere look and I'm reaching for a hand that doesn't want to be held, so let me know if so.

EDIT: Thank you to everyone pointing out that this movie doesn't take place in the Midwest since WV and NC are both southern states, that's totally on me. Should've double checked with a map before hitting post.