Shot Caller

It has been a long time since I wrote a review but this movie deserves my time and attention. I definitely did not expect this movie to touch me in the way that it did.

The Pros:- -It is so well edited that I had to recheck the run time of the movie when it ended. Two hours flew past like the wind.

-The acting is great.

-The plot will reel you in and never let go. This is simple story telling at it's best.

-The dialogue will never feel boring and the prison scenes are shot in a way that will leave you in awe.

-The score is one of the best I've heard in recent memory. Reminds me of Sicario, another great film. Some people said it could have been better but I disagree. The score had me wishing I can write music that good for movies. It had a certain twist to it, sounds of flutes or sounds of Arabian music undertones.

• The directing? All hail Ric Roman Waugh. I'm going to search for some of his other movies. If half are as half as good as half of this film, I might pass out with glee.

The Cons: There are non I can think of. I wrote this review a few days after seeing the film so that I can write a honest review absent attachment to the film.

Go see it.

There's the movie you close when it ends. You don't look at the credits, you just close everything and go on about other things.

And there's the movie that lingers. The one that glued you till the very last scene, and then it cuts to the credits and you watch all of it.

Shot Caller is the latter. Stuntman turned writer/director Ric Roman Waugh signs here a beautiful, poignant and powerful movie. The story is compelling, easy to understand. It shines in its simplicity, with a cast that leads the narrative like masters.

I highly recommend you watch it.

Unexpectedly, this is one of the better films released this year and is definitely worth watching.

Albeit the story-line seems rather dull and predictable at first, I assure you that past the 20min mark you'll be on edge and glued to the screen right to the end.

Some of the acting could have been much better considering the actors caliber but the story-line makes up for the shortfall.

Without spoiling it for you, it will take balls to watch this film to the harsh, brutal and twisted end. Definitely not for the faint of heart.

Would love to see a second installment.

Well I can safely say I did not expect that film to be that good. It's absolutely outstanding. Amazing acting, brilliant storyline and the characters are so good. It's genuinely got the whole package.

First 20 minutes or so I was a bit 50/50 on what was happening. There was 2 storylines and no real direction for either. Then it slowly starts falling into place and it gets better and better and better. And that's the only real negative I have to offer on this film. Maybe another negative is that I personally would have liked a little more depth on the 2 police officers. You are offered very little on them and it doesn't particularly take anything away from this movie, just would have liked to have known more. Like why is he so hellbent on wanting to catch these etc

But that's honestly nit picking because this really is a great film. The idea of the past/present storylines then merging was done absolutely brilliantly and best of all his character arc was simply superb. And to top it off it gives off a great message about people being institutionalised and what can happen to low offenders.

For a film I genuinely never heard of before, this genuinely blew me away. The only reason I haven't gone higher on ratings is that I have given films like the the departed and shutter island 9/10 and I don't think it's on that sort of level. But I'd go 8.5/10 on this. Please give this a watch if you haven't already.

It showed a lot of potential with the premise, but it spends most of its time hovering between wanting to be a smart character study of how a businessman can become a ruthless gangster through prison, and a violent action/thriller that focuses on gangs and how they operate. By not fully committing to either, some potency is lost. But is it bad? Not at all. In fact, with a captivating central performance of a complex character from Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and enough interesting ideas to hold your attention (particularly when it comes to the effects and inner-workings of a prison), it's still pretty entertaining.