New to Home Theaters: Gritty prison gang film follows sentence, life of a former business man
A former family and business man is forced to maneuver the confines of his new home in prison by joining a gang in an action film new to Blu-ray and DVD this weekend.
“Shot Caller” is brought to the screen by director Ric Roman Waugh, who is known for his work on “Snitch” and “Felon.”
The film opens on Jacob (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, “Game of Thrones” and “Oblivion”) — a successful businessman man and father — who is sentence to prison after a fatal traffic accident. Given the options of life or death in the rabbit hole of the prison system, Jacob joins a ruthless prison gang, loosing the ties to the outside world, including his wife Kate (Lake Bell, “What Happens in Vegas” and “No Strings Attached”) and son.
In prison, Jacob meets Frank ‘Shotgun’ (Jon Bernthal, “The Wolf of Wall Street” and “Baby Driver”), Bottles (Jeffrey Donovan, “Burn Notice” and “Sicario”), Chopper (Evan Jones, “8 Mile” and “The Book of Eli”) and The Beast (Holt McCallany, “Fight Club” and “Gangster Squad”) as he transforms into a hardened man known as Money. The film also follows Money’s parole officer, Kutcher (Omari Hardwick, “The A-Team” and “The Guardian”), young acolyte Howie (Emory Cohen, “Brooklyn” and “War Machine”) and Sheriff Sanchez (Benjamin Bratt, “Law & Order” and “Miss Congeniality”).
“Shot Caller” has received a 74 percent and 81 percent fresh rating from critics and audiences, respectively, from the media review website, RottenTomatoes.com, while members of the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) gave it 7.4 out of 10 stars.
Early reviews praised Coster-Waldau’s performance, with Stephen Farber writing for The Hollywood Reporter about Coster-Waldau’s range of performance.
“He conveys a strong masculine presence in both sections of the film, and it is fascinating to watch his transformation from privileged family man to hardened con,” Farber wrote.
In a review for RogerEbert.com, though, Vikram Murthi points out a number of contradictions that makes it hard to follow.
“Waugh also too frequently wants to have his cake and eat it too by portraying Jacob as a vicious criminal and a victim of the prison and a good guy who somehow still retains his own morality,” Murthi wrote. He continued, though, with praise for Waugh’s attention for detail.
“Waugh undoubtedly paints with a broad brush to communicate ideas, but he also has an eye for detail that shouldn’t go unnoticed,” Murthi wrote.
The film rated R for strong bloody violence, pervasive language, some drug use and brief nudity.
Other films that arrived on Blu-ray and DVD this week include:
n “Landline” starring Jenny Slate, Jay Duplass and Abby Quinn, directed by Gillian Robespierre, follows a mid-1990s teenager living with her sister.
The film is rated R.
n “Batman vs. Two-Face” featuring the voices of Adam West, Burt Ward and William Shatner, directed by Rick Morales, is an animated feature about Harvey Dent’s crime spree.
The film is rated PG.
n “Girls Trip” directed by Malcolm D. Lee, starring Regina Hall, Queen Latifah and Jada Pinkett Smith, follows four lifelong friends on a trip to New Orleans.
The film is rated R.