Rent Son of a Gun on Amazon Video (paid link)
Written by: Julius Avery, John Collee (additional material)
Directed by: Julius Avery
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Brenton Thwaites, Alicia Vikander
Rated: R
Watch the trailer
Plot
A small-time crook becomes indebted to one of Australia's most notorious criminals and gets wrapped up in a high-stakes gold heist.
Verdict
It's a decent heist movie that adds some depth with a notorious crook, his protege, and a love interest. The heist is the best part, but this is more interested in the romance that never feels more than completely scripted. While you wonder where allegiances lie, it doesn't really matter.
Skip it.
Review
JR (Brenton Thwaites) is a young guy interred into prison. Like most prison movies, we see him trying to make his way He manages to impress notorious robber Lynch (Ewan McGregor) with chess moves. You've got to figure that JR knowing more about Lynch in chess is telling. Lynch doesn't welcome JR into the fold. Lynch is gruff, advising the kid not to get involved and to keep his head down. It's best not to be known inside the prison walls, but JR needs to find a group. He also sees other young prisoners mistreated. JR has to be thinking he could be next in line. Either out of concern or trying to impress he steps in, but the results aren't what he expected. It does lead to Lynch agreeing to protect him as long as JR helps him when he gets out as Lynch is in for life.
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| Ewan McGregor plays Lynch |
As soon as JR is out, he's called upon for an errand and then another more risky favor which culminates in a heist. JR also meets a girl, Tasha (Alicia Vikander). It's convenient in so many ways. Now his loyalties are divided between Tasha and Lynch. He's indebted to Lynch, but he likes Tasha.
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| Brenton Thwaites plays JR |
It's a pretty neat heist that doesn't get enough time as the movie is more interested in the romance. Everyone involved thinks there's one too many people getting a cut of the pie. JR discovers he wasn't Lynch's protege but a means to an end. As the initial chess game indicated, JR was always better at plotting moves a few steps ahead than Lynch was.
Having recently watched Shot Caller, that does almost everything this movie does and better. This focuses on a contrived romance when it should focus more on the heist. While this uses Tasha as a way to divide JR's loyalties, he should have know from the beginning that he was just a pawn to Lynch.
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