Country: Australia
Movie Review: Julius Avery’s Australian crime thriller, “Son of a Gun” lacks inspiration and freshness to get a prominent position within the genre. The story follows 19-year-old JR (Brenton Thwaites), locked up for minor criminal charges in a high-security prison where a lot of abuses are perpetrated among the inmates. In a smart way, JR gains the sympathy of Brendan Lynch (Ewan McGregor), the most notorious criminal of Australia, who gives him the protection he was looking for. However, this protection comes with a high price, and JR will have to follow Brendan’s ambitious plans to escape prison and then participate in a jeopardous gold heist. In addition to the highly clichéd action scenes, which look old most of the times with the use of staged shootings, a cheesy romance was also introduced when JR falls for a brave stripper. The film can be divided in three uneven parts: the ‘life in the hole’ was capable to draw some attention, the ‘outside robbery’ was both unoriginal and unexciting, and finally the ‘sharing of the gold’, which failed to create any impact or even surprise. “Son of a Gun” also showed to be unattractive in its visuals, while the score by Jed Kurzel (much better in “Snowtown” and “The Babadook”) wasn’t so effective this time. In comparison with “Starred Up”, last year’s most riveting prison crime drama, I can say that filmmaker David Mackenzie did much more with less than Julius Avery could achieve with a messy film whose good twists and thrills were missing all the time. Thwaites and McGregor didn’t convince either with their undistinguishable performances.
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