Son of a Gun **** (2014, Ewan McGregor, Brenton Thwaites, Alicia Vikander) – Movie Review

Debut feature writer-director Julius Avery’s nerve-jangling Aussie prison drama, then gold heist thriller is an action crime caper with attitude and a commendably tough tone. Filmed on fresh, atmospheric Aussie locations, t’s all it should be – tense, brutal, gritty as well as twisty and exciting.

Brenton Thwaites proves himself a real rising star as handsome 19-year-old young offender JR, who gets help to survive his six months’ term in prison from Scotsman Brendan Lynch, Australia’s most notorious criminal, in return for busting him and a couple of goons out of the jail after he gets released from the hell hole.

JR then joins Lynch’s gang for a gold heist that soon pits the two men against one another, especially when a sexy young foreign woman, gangster’s moll Tasha (Alicia Vikander), hoves up on the scene, getting JR in a frenzy.

The thriller’s kicked into top gear almost throughout by precision skilled work on writing and direction by Julius Avery, after seven short films over a decade, earning him a few awards internationally.

I’m not so sure about Ewan McGregor as quite such a tough guy, though nevertheless he is convincingly tough and nasty enough, and surprisingly charismatic with it. He doesn’t come across as much of a father figure for JR, but maybe that’s the point.

It has been quite a brilliant couple of weeks for Vikander, who has shown her impressive versatility and range, as well as beauty, as Edwardian English woman Vera Brittain in Testament of Youth, the artificial intelligence Ava in Ex Machina and now an East European call girl. Not bad for a 26-year-old Swedish woman from Gothenburg. Next for her is a role in The Man from U.N.C.L.E (2015)

© Derek Winnert 2015 Movie Review

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