Anya Taylor-Joy may be the closest thing we have today to one of the great silent film actresses who could hold the camera so demonstrably without ever speaking a word. Think about how little she said in her roles in THE WITCH, THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT, and FURIOSA: A MAD MAX SAGA, and yet each was a star turn for her. With her big, unblinking eyes and the steely determination so obvious in her tightened jaw and pursed lips, Taylor-Joy can speak volumes with one look.
The same is true of her latest, the new miniseries LUCKY, which premiered on Apple TV on July 15. It’s a crime thriller based on the novel of the same name by Marissa Stapley and adapted for the streaming platform by Jonathan Tropper. It’s one big, tough, elongated chase scene, really, with Taylor-Joy playing a con artist named Lucky who is suspected of pocketing a million dollars of mob money when a heist goes sideways. With the Feds and criminal enforcers after her, Lucky will face a lot of bad luck throughout her attempt to find her husband, Cary (Drew Starkey), whom she thinks disappeared with the loot, and the misadventures that will take her from Las Vegas through the desert all the way to Los Angeles.
The ride is bumpy, nasty, and rather violent for a show that wants to be a breezy caper but isn’t quite clever or buoyant enough to be one. But it does have Taylor-Joy, in scene after scene, staring down all comers and hellbent on staying alive, catching her thieving hubby, and returning the money so that she won’t be executed by those after her. She’s the reason to watch, and she’s fun to watch glaring at everyone else on screen with her. She makes staring daggers into an art form.
Amongst those chasing her and trying to get their hands on the money are tough-talking crime boss Priscilla Masterson (Annette Bening), her mob enforcer Harris Dutch (Clifton Collins, Jr.), and Lucky’s wily father John Armstrong (Timothy Olyphant), who will waggle his way out of prison to join in pursuit. Additionally, a tenacious FBI Agent Billie Rand (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor) is always just a few steps behind them, but she’s also hampered by the locals and the heat, which slow her down.
There are some amusing set-pieces along the way, with Taylor-Joy drolly participating in all of them, and Bening and Olyphant chew on the scenery with great relish, but the miniseries wants to be both wildly funny and dangerously tense, like an Elmore Leonard novel or a Quentin Tarantino film, yet it comes up short on both. Still, it’s amusing enough, violent enough, and surprising enough to keep percolating along, even though, at seven episodes, it’s probably two eps too long.
But Taylor-Joy is just that, a joy to encounter once again. She’s sharp, mean, empathetic, and yes, exceedingly fashionable and gorgeous, even when she’s in stolen clothing or covered in dirt. The bona fide star can play tough cookies in her sleep, and her badass here is eminently watchable, especially when she sets her gaze on someone she doesn’t like for getting in the way of her pursuits.
Lucky for this production, and all of us watching, Taylor-Joy is heading up this amusing journey, and she runs with it.
