Son of a Gun Review

Young, naive JR is sent to prison for a lowly crime where he quickly becomes the target of some very dangerous men on the inside. Luckily, the fresh faced JR is also noticed by Brendan Lynch (Ewan MacGregor), a professional criminal who takes JR under his wing and protects him while on the inside. Brendan’s help comes at a cost though, and JR is soon embroiled with a daring prison escape. Once on the outside, JR becomes an apprentice to Brendan as they plan a major robbery but it soon becomes clear to JR that he may be just a pawn in a very dangerous world of high stakes criminality.

Forgetting one of the most ludicrous prison escapes you will ever see on screen, Son of a Gun is actually a generally grounded and gritty look at professional criminals in Australia’s underworld. The film is filled with shady characters with questionable motives and some seriously seedy crime bosses. JR is lucky he has the brains to keep up, and perhaps stay one step ahead, of these characters as it looks increasingly like behind their charm and banter, they are all willing to make JR a sacrificial lamb.

The father and son dynamic between JR and Brendan is more interesting than the romance that develops between JR and Alicia Vikander’s endangered damsel. It’s a shame Vikander does not get a fully rounded character to show off more than just her striking beauty but instead Ewan MacGregor seizes his role as an unpredictable psycho and relishes it. He is the ruthless spark at the centre of the story and provides the film with its most interesting and volatile character.

Son of a Gun is hampered by predictable plotting but it still manages some very tense set pieces. Starting off as a realistic prison drama, it soon emerges into the Aussie sunlight and develops into something a little more fanciful on its way to a wonderfully tense heist as the criminals go after a horde of gold. The double and triple crosses won’t be surprising to many, but decent performances and some thrilling action keep Son of a Gun from firing too many blanks.

Watch the trailer:

More recent reviews:

Big Hero 6

Inherent Vice 

The Imitation Game

Birdman

A Most Violent Year

Wild

Whiplash

Testament of Youth

The Theory of Everything

American Sniper

My Top 10 of the London Film Festival 2014

Quick disclaimer: some of these I saw at Cannes earlier this year but they were still playing at the LFF so I have included them here even if I didn't get a chance to see them again. I should also mention that I didn't get to see loads of films at the LFF such as The Imitation Game, It Follows, Whiplash or Men, Women and Children to name a few. Sounds like Whiplash may be many people's favourite of the festival but I'm afraid I will have to wait to see it like everybody else!

Anyway, here is my top 10. Click the titles for my reviews:

10. A Hard Day

9. Son of a Gun

8. Timbuktu

7. '71

6. Fury

5. Foxcatcher

4. A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

3. Monsters: Dark Continent

2. Wild Tales

1. White God

More reviews from I Love That Film

More top 10 lists from I Love That Film

More from the London Film Festival 2014

PLEASE buy my book on The Blair Witch Project

BFI London Film Festival 2014 Official Competition

The BFI have released the list of films that will be competing for the Best Film Award at the London Film Festival 2014. It is of course a diverse bunch. Interestingly, though I saw a few of the Gala screening films at Cannes 2014, I only saw one of these films at the festival. That film was Timbuktu  and was a huge surprise to me. Here is the full list and you can find much further detail at the BFI London Film Festival website. 

Out of this bunch, the ones I'm most intrigued by are Dearest, Girlhood, The Keeping Room and Son of a Gun. However, if any of these are as surprising as Timbuktu, then this will be a very exciting competition.

Dearest 

This deeply moving drama charts the turmoil of a Chinese couple whose child is abducted. This one, based on true details of real life kidnappings, will be heavy.

The Duke of Burgundy

 
Peter Strickland’s new film is a bold and sensual exploration of the power dynamic between two women who live cut off from the outside world. This is from the guy who gave us Berberian Sound Studio so will undoubtedly be a bit odd.

The Falling

In 1969, a mysterious fainting sickness overtakes an English all-girl school. This is from Carol Morley, the director of Dreams of a Life and stars Game of Thrones’ own Arya Stark: aka Maisie Williams.

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

A mysterious female vampire stalks the streets of a deadbeat town in this arresting debut. An Iranian vampire Western in black and white? Colour me intrigued.

Girlhood

Céline Sciamma’s triumphant third film is a beautifully observed examination of a young girl’s search for identity in the underprivileged suburbs of Paris. It’s from the director of the excellent Tomboy, but sadly is in now way a sequel to Richard Linklater’s Boyhood.

The Keeping Room

On the American frontier a young woman is forced to go to any means to defend her kin from the ravages of the barbaric outside world. From the director of Harry Brown, and starring Brit Marling and Hailee Steinfeld. Yes please.

Leviathan

Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Cannes award winner is a striking attack on corrupt politics set on Russia’s northwest coastline. This won the best screenplay award at Cannes but unfortunately I didn’t get to see it.

The New Girlfriend

François Ozon’s delicious new drama is a smart and sly satire – with some jaw-dropping twists – about gender, class and consumerism.

Phoenix

A concentration camp survivor undergoes reconstructive surgery and embarks on a search for her husband in postwar Germany.

The President

A provocative and disquieting parable about a deposed president sheltering a child as they travel across country. From Iranian director Moshen Makhmalbaf.

Son of a Gun

A smart heist thriller about a tough young hoodlum who teams up with a ruthless con and finds himself attracted to a smart, street-savvie young woman. After David Michod's Animal Kingdom and The Rover, I'm very excited to see another scorching Australian thriller making a splash internationally. Stars Ewan McGregor.

Timbuktu 

In Abderrahmane Sissako’s stunning new film, residents of a Mali town struggle to cope with the imposition of Sharia Law by radical Islamist invaders. This was the first film I got to see at Cannes 2014 and I was pretty blown away by its sense of humour when dealing with such an infuriating, challenging subject. Click the title for my review.

What tickles your fancy out of this lot?

More on the BFI London Film Festival 2014