‘Lucky’ Review: Anya Taylor-Joy’s Well-Acted Apple Series Is More Plucky Than Good

“Lucky” is a chase movie stretched to series length, but for as smooth as Jonathan Tropper’s seven-episode sprint can be, the journey isn’t exactly special. As much is clear from the otherwise useless in-media-res opening, in which a panicked Lucky (Anya Taylor-Joy) scurries between parked semi-trailers while an armed FBI agent stalks her every turn. When he blocks her last route out, she screeches to a halt and slams her open palms on the maze’s metal walls.

Is she trapped? Why’s she running? Who even are these people, and who names their kid Lucky? Natural questions all, but when “Lucky” catches up to the scene later in the first episode, the only musing that comes to mind is, “…that’s it?” After deliberately pointing to this moment as if to say, “Wait til you see this!”, the big reveal couldn’t matter less. Sure, Lucky’s escape is nearly foiled by the fleet-of-foot federal agent, but the same could be said for dozens of similar encounters throughout the premiere, at more perilous junctures than a brief jog between immobile trailers. Nothing makes this part of the chase memorable or important enough to merit a flash-forward, which turns it into a deflating blunder in a series that can’t afford to slow down.

Based on Marissa Stapley’s 2021 novel, “Lucky” really starts the night prior, when Lucky and her husband, Cary (Drew Starkey), celebrate their final heist. The couple just stole $10 million — a theft consequential enough to set the entire story in motion, yet also too boring to depict outside a brief flashback? — and they’re making the most of their last night in Las Vegas. They hit the tables, hit the clubs, and hit the bottle(s) — hard. Too hard, it turns out, when Lucky wakes up plus one hangover and minus one husband. Cary is gone. So is the money. And the cops are already on their way.

So she runs. Well, she runs a little. Lucky is smart enough to know that anyone hauling ass through Caesar’s Palace will quickly attract unwanted attention, so she strolls through the casino floor, hoping against hope no one will notice another bedraggled blonde twenty-something amid the hordes of barely-hanging-on party girls.

Unfortunately, “Lucky” isn’t smart enough to know that a brisk walk isn’t as thrilling as an all-out chase, and having seen Taylor-Joy put through her paces in some of the greatest chase scenes ever filmed, her latest escape doesn’t compare. With fervent editing, careful scene geography, and assured direction, the walk before the run can be tense enough to send viewers crawling out of their seats, willing the fugitive onscreen to get a move on already.

Here, any such visceral anxiety is sacrificed at the alter of exposition. The initial pursuit — which technically lasts the entire episode — is plagued by stops and starts to introduce characters and better explain the stakes. Agent Billie Rand (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor) shows up as the overly invested lead investigator, barking orders at her capable colleagues and exhibiting the kind of supernatural instincts that could only come from spending way too much time studying case files. A seedy fellow named Dutch (Clifton Collins Jr.) saunters up to the casino doors right when Lucky is about to exit, which sends her back into the lion’s den, presumably because she’s more scared of him than the police.

But it’s not him she’s scared of — it’s his boss, Priscilla Matheson (Annette Bening), a high-ranking mafioso and the mother of Lucky’s missing husband. That’s right! This job isn’t just about the payday. This time… it’s personal. Priscilla is Lucky’s mother-in-law, and — further complicating their emotional investment in tracking down both the money and the boy — Priscilla also knows Lucky’s father, John (Timothy Olyphant), who’s locked away in prison while his old boss (Priscilla) and daughter are locked in a deadly game of cat and mouse.

Timothy Olyphant in ‘Lucky’Courtesy of Jessica Brooks / Apple TV

To say any more would venture into spoiler territory, but “Lucky” isn’t overly dependent on twists. They’re there, and they’re serviceable, but the mad dash takes priority even though it rarely exceeds expectations. Standard fare car chases and shootouts overwhelm intermittent cleverness, like a rickety wreck (shot jarringly close to the passengers’ tumbling faces) and an inventive vanishing act (involving an ambulance, a lie, and an uncomfortable moral concession). Solid locations — a dingy gas station, a grimy water tower, downtown L.A. — help stock sequences stand out, and Fiona Apple’s eerie opening title track sets a great tone the story can’t quite live up to.

The only area where “Lucky” thrives is the one where it’s virtually guaranteed to do so: its cast. Taylor-Joy brings the necessary confidence to her confidence woman, while still conveying the childlike fear inherent to a character who’s felt trapped her whole life. She’s cool without being remote and vulnerable without being anyone’s victim.

Bening, meanwhile, relishes Priscilla’s lifetime of unconscionable choices in scenes where she acts as tough as she talks. But she never pushes her character past the point of redemption — internal, anyway — which becomes all the more important as the series navigates toward a satisfying ending. Olyphant’s having a ball (again) as the bad dad who still loves his daughter, and Ellis-Taylor throws herself so fully into the committed-cop archetype that she comes into her own. (Also worth noting: Alanna Ubach rocks a key guest role in the second episode.)

If a distracting flight filled with good folks is all you’re looking for (perhaps to distract you on a future flight filled with loud babies and yipping dogs), “Lucky” will do the trick. There’s just a better version lurking inside, one that could’ve elevated the action-chase genre instead of merely loitering there. Better luck next time.

Grade: C+

“Lucky” premieres Wednesday, July 15 with two episodes on Apple TV. New episodes will be released weekly through the finale (Episode 7) on August 19.