Critical Mass—May 30, 2015
The real star of this action packed prison/crime drama is the youthful Aussie actor Brenton Thwaites (Oculus, Blue Lagoon, The Signal, The Giver) who has come a long way from playing pretty boy Prince Phillip in Maleficent. Incarcerated for some petty crime, he avoids being raped and beaten thanks to the help of Ewan McGregor and his fellow criminal buddies. EM takes BT under his protective wing and treats him like a master to student (shades of Episodes II and III of Star Wars). All is being prepared for an eventual prison break to be followed by a lucrative robbery. This is to be done after BT has already been released. The eventual idea was for BT to join up with EM and his escaped prison buddies to execute the pre-planned crime. Without giving anything away, there are a number of surprises and twists which, along with the constant action, keeps this movie going at a rapid pace. There is also a very human quality to all of this regardless of the lawlessness. In fact, it ultimately plays a crucial role in the film. BT has been given a moustache which, combined with a shaved head that is retained from his prison days and facial pallor, gives him an older and hardened appearance - highly appropriate for this film. Indeed, he is able to stand up to EM when necessary. The bond that evolves between these two is an essential feature of the movie. With two excellent actors as the leads along with an excellent supporting cast (especially Alicia Vikander as the one female representative in the mix), this film is far better than one might initially suspect and makes worthwhile viewing. Read more
nyc—November 5, 2015
This is a suspense movie. Very good because everything is not what it seems. There are plenty of twist and turns that makes you say "wow, I wasn't expecting that." Great acting and great storyline. A nice young man ends up in prison only to be protected by a notorious criminal played by Ewan McGregor, who becomes like a father figure to him. The young man seems to be great at chess, thus, comes across as someone super smart in the eyes of McGregor, so McGregor takes him under his wings. This is a Mentor vs. Mentee situation in which eventually the Mentee wants to become as good or even better than the Mentor. There is a romantic component in this film for the young man who falls for a young lady who is the girlfriend of a notorious gang leader. This romantic component of course complicates everything. The question is who is playing who throughout this movie. This movie is action packed, has romance, has male-bonding, has a story. Oh, did I mention it has suspense? Read more
VonMeisenbug—October 13, 2015
Different. I'm a fan of Brenton Thwaites so I was interested to see character development...find out what this movie was about. Had to adjust to the Australian accents. Had to 'accept' a few 'convenient' plot issues. But, let me tell you this: the video stream stopped right in the middle of the movie. I sat there confounded and upset...was streaming it through my phone to the TV. I panicked. Downloaded the movie right away...waited patiently...and right after it was done, I immediately started to watch it again. That's when I realized that the movie had captivated me--I couldn't stop watching it or "wait until later" as the streaming message suggested. No way. I had to finish watching so I could find out what happened. When a movie does that for me, I don't care what all of the critics or reviewers think about it at all. As long as it pulls me in...let's me forget about everything else but watching it...and I can't wait to see what's next...that's when I know I can recommend this movie to you. It was good. It was unique, had some great twists...yes--dark, but it was able to capture vulnerability as well. I was very entertained and will watch it again. I hope you like it. Read more
Zero One—November 2, 2016
This functional heist drama is missing -- something. I couldn't place it exactly. While reasonably enjoyable, it missed the mark. The characters almost had more depth than a lot of these genre films. But maybe that's the problem. The film chooses to focus on a young inmate jailed for a minor offense, who is coopted by a master thief (Ewan McGregor). I was pleased to see McGregor in this role. "Trainspotting" put him on the map as an emaciated heroin addict whose charisma and glib charm shined through. He's passed through dramas and romantic comedies, never getting his due. Here, McGregor is a jacked apex predator and criminal Brendan. He's cunning and ferocious, yet largely quiet and understated. Brendan loosely, and incidentally, resembles Robert DeNiro's thief in Michael Mann's "Heat": A consummate professional who employs violence as a tool; never for its own sake. Maybe this is the problem. McGregor's character, motivations, insights -- they're the best parts of the film. The protagonist is kind of an empty shell; he doesn't really make any hard moral choices. He's kind of a wimp compared to everyone he's up against, but there's no evolution there. I saw a prior comparison of this film to "A Prophet." Absolutely not. Where this is a boilerplate film with some good elements and McGregor's performance, it never achieves the depths, symbolism, or character development of "A Prophet." You simply don't experience the same transformation. "A Prophet" may have been one of the best crash courses in strategy and applied political science on film. There, you watch an illiterate North African criminal work through Muslim and Sardinian crime bosses, mixing long-term planning and opportunistic power grabs. With "Son of a Gun" you get a low-level henchman who ..., and while ill-suited to a life of crime doesn't offer and presence of other motivations. The only thing that seems to animate him is an attractive young woman he's fascinated (Alicia Vikander) with who escaped the Ex Machina facility. Vikander shines, but isn't given much to work with. She's a talented chameleon whose appearance and ethnicity shift with roles. That's not to say this is a bad film. It's better than much of what's offered. It's just simplistic compared to its pretensions. The first 30 minutes are outstanding. Some of the heists are thoughtful and well-executed. There's just not a ton of praise here. McGregor deserved a bonus for keeping the film afloat and offering an original, if underexplored, character. (My comparison to DeNiro in "Heat" was analogous; McGregor's Brendan stands on his own.) Ultimately, it's worth a look. My final comparison would be to "Gangs of New York," a tragically blighted and unsatisfying film. It needed only shift perspective to Daniel Day Lewis's character and follow a rise-and-fall arc. While "Son of a Gun" is enjoyable, contrast from McGregor's perspective in some additional scenes could have propelled this film. Read more
