Somewhere I Belong

Son of a Gun

I have a confession to make. I have a strong love for British films. I love American cinema, don’t get me wrong, but my love for English films is quite strong. Sometimes I feel that their stories are better told due to the budget maybe. I just know that their movies can trump American films on some levels. So last week I decided to take a look at other movies from countries I never tired, maybe finding a diamond in the rough. For my first film I took a look at an Australian film which stars a Scottish actor, crime thriller Son of a Gun.

Young and impressionable JR White (Brenton Thwaites The Giver) has found himself in prison. JR quickly makes an ally with Brendan Lynch (Ewan McGregor Mortdecai), a thief serving 20 years without parole. JR finds himself in debt to Lynch after  JR is targeted to be ‘used’ by another inmate. So after his six months is up, JR aids Lynch in his daring escape from prison and is sucked up into a plan to steal $4 million in gold. What JR needs to quickly learn, however, is that things are never as they appear.

With it’s Michael Mann-type feel, Son of a Gun is a decent film but just not worth the genre title of thriller. Gun takes a lot of it’s ques from films like Heat and The Score though the film’s downfall is that it is boring. The movie is mainly a look at Thwaites character and his journey through a life he has no business being a part of. The performances were good and the direction was amicable, it is the story that I really had a problem with.

Thwaites plays the innocent JR like Dorothy just landing in OZ. JR is a young kid that is looking to belong somewhere but he has chosen the wrong crowd. Thawaites plays this really well and proves toward the end that he isn’t what he seems either. I loved McGregor in this film, mainly because it isn’t a polished character. Lynch is more gritty and conniving than most of McGregor’s other characters. McGregor has a great presence in the film proving that he can make it in action films.

Australian director Julius Avery (Jerrycan) is given a chance here to make a feature length film. Avery has done a lot of short films in the past which he has written and/or directed. I thought Avery created a very harsh (in a good way) world with Son of a Gun, but the film took too long to get going. The pace of the film seemed to drag in places where there were a lot of character interaction and ‘soul searching’ scenes of JR contemplating what he is doing or why he is doing it. I thought that Avery also made JR a little too naïve. This character just seemed like he was floating in the wind until the last ten minutes of the movie. Plus this was supposed to be a thriller and it wasn’t really thrilling.

With a tighter script I think that Son of a Gun could have been a much better movie. Though the film is filled with above average performances and good directing, the movie just falls short of greatness because the pace was too slow.

The Verdict: Watch on Cable.