Son of a Gun (2014)

Directed by Julius Avery. Starring Brenton Thwaites, Ewan McGregor, Alicia Vikander, Matthew Nable, Jacek Koman, Tom Budge, Kazimir Sas, Eddie Baroo, Sam Hutchin, Nash Edgerton. [R]

As repayment for providing protection during his prison stint, petty criminal Thwaites helps break out career criminal McGregor and joins up with him for a major heist. A technically well-made and never-dull genre grab-bag, but writer/director Avery offers up little of substance or ingenuity, and it’s hard to become invested in the outcome with such an uncharismatic antihero at the center and a mountain of clichés surrounding him. McGregor proves capable of radiating untrustworthiness and danger—far more so than his cardboard cohorts—yet Vikander is wasted as an assembly-line love interest who doesn’t share a drop of chemistry with Thwaites. Although the details aren’t always obvious, a lack of detours from the formula prevents the movie from ever becoming a “should-watch” (let alone a “must-watch”) for fans of this kind of fare. Resembling an early “warm-up” mission in a Grand Theft Auto-style video game, is it really that simple to bust out of prisons in Australia? Loosely inspired by the exploits of a real-life armed robber: Brendan “The Post Card Bandit” Abbott.

50/100