She Rides Shotgun review by Bobby Blakey
Ever since breaking out with The Kingsmen, Taron Egerton has been really delivering a variety of great roles in films including Tetris, Rocketman and most recently Carry-On. His latest film She Rides Shotgun co-stars Ana Sophia Heger, Rob Yang, and John Carroll Lynch with director Nick Rowland at the helm. Could this film offer up yet another great role for Egerton or will it fail to survive the green light?
She Rides Shotgun follows newly released ex-con Nate. Marked for death by unrelenting enemies, Nate must now protect his estranged 11-year-old daughter, Polly at all costs. Shy, precocious, and wary of her father, Polly is swept up in Nate’s dangerous plight as they flee to evade the corrupt sheriff and brutal leader of a gang who will stop at nothing to protect his criminal interests. With scant resources and no one to trust, Nate and Polly form a bond forged under fire as he shows her how to fight and survive — and she teaches him what unconditional love truly means in this intense, moving story about loyalty, strength, and redemption.
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Every so often a movie comes along seemingly out of nowhere that you don’t quite know what to expect and it ends up knocking it out of the park. This is one of those films. The story isn’t too complex and mostly a downer filled with not so good people, but it’s handled with care and grit to make it something you get invested in due to the father daughter relationship and their circumstance. It starts in a way that almost feels like something all together different is coming upon us before things start to unfold and let the audience know the truth. It’s a well-crafted opener to a film that oozes depth in various ways.
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Everyone here is great with my only issue being the sorely underused John Carroll Lynch. He is a straightforward character that gets built up to something more
than what we actually get, but he is always just so great that he takes it and chews up the few scenes he gets. This story though is all about Edgerton and Heger and they are both fantastic with her shining above most this time around. Their uneasy chemistry makes for a confusing yet compelling nature to their troublesome relationship but allows it to potentially grow into something more or implode altogether.
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The film is a slow burn but infuses it with so much life in these characters struggling with each other and the world around them. Anytime they are alone just talking the strength of the film shines through. You can feel the trust and love building and shining through despite the uneasiness and fear that it’s not what it seems. It is a dirty film visually that mimics the life they are living, and it fits perfectly. There isn’t a ton of action here, but what is here is grounded and well-handled right up until the explosive and heavy finale. The final scene of the film is heartbreaking and uncomfortable, but also the perfect visual representation of the new life and struggles still to be faced under the circumstances that you might not always think about.
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I was surprised how much I enjoyed this film, especially with it really not having any good or redeeming characters outside of Polly and Detective Park. This might be one that some struggle to connect with as it fully embraces the real world and violence, but that is also what makes it work so well. I hope it finds the audience it deserves and would love to see Edgerton in more roles like this.
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Decide for yourself and check out She Rides Shotgun in theaters now from Lionsgate.