TxMike My wife and I watched this at home on DVD from our public library. Loosely based on, or inspired by, real criminals.Recently I was viewing an article on actress Alicia Vikander, I have become a fan of hers after seeing a few of her movies but realized I had never seen "Son of a Gun". I also am a big fan of Ewan McGregor, starting with his character in "Trainspotting."Set and filmed in Australia, 20-something Brenton Thwaites plays 19-yr- old JR starting a several month stint in prison for an undisclosed crime. It is clear that incarceration is all new to him, he seems like a rather nice young man.Of course the older, stronger, hardened criminals try to take advantage of JR's type but in an early scene Ewan McGregor as hardened criminal Brendan Lynch takes a liking to the boy when JR informs him of a bad chess move. From then on he becomes JR's protector but with a condition, JR will set something up for Lynch when he is released.That something involves a carefully orchestrated prison break involving a getaway by helicopter. Plus, they formulate a plan to rob a gold mining operation and get away with a few gold bars, fencing them in Melbourne will get each enough cash to run away for their old worlds and live other lives.The movie recycles themes that most of us have seen before in movies but is put together well, and acted well, so it comes off as an entertaining 90+ minutes. Vikander has a relatively small role, but it is important as she and JR end up falling in love.SPOILERS: In the end Lynch, in spite of his apparent caring about JR, decides to run off with all the loot, the gold bars, for himself. But JR and the girl pulled a switcheroo, they had the gold bars, Lynch had nothing. If Lynch cooperated they would call him later and tell him where to find his share. Maybe...

magnuslhad JR is a young guy on his first prison stretch, about to encounter harder, tougher, seasoned cons. He doesn't back down though, and this saves him short term but long term, drags him into more serious crime. He is mentored by Brendan who has JR play a pivotal role in his own escape. Brendan takes a shine to JR for reasons we never quite understand, but Brendan sporadically asserts his independence at various crucial junctures. McGregor is an odd fit in this role, more convincing as the philosophical mentor than as the hardened man of violence. The bromance between the two never quite reaches Donnie Brasco levels, part of an overall unevenness in tone. There is a brisk pace and a decent twist at the end. In short, worth watching, but basically an average heist movie and not much else.

Theo Robertson This opens with one of the most clichéd scenes you get in cinema - a young pretty boy called Jesse Ryan is in a prison van going to prison and he's surrounded by creatures several species down the evolutionary ladder who are looking at him in a hostile way . Yeah it's clichéd but people enjoy a good cliché now and again especially prison ones and being an Aussie film I was intrigued I might be watching something along the lines of John Hillcoat's 1988 prison nightmare movie GHOSTS OF THE CIVIL DEAD , a film that was criminally underrated and despite being understated had the capacity to shock . SON OF A GUN isn't really in the same league and tries to be a plot driven gritty thriller !!!!! SPOILERS !!!!! This might have succeeded in its aims of being a great plot driven thriller but it often misses the mark where credibility is concerned . Jesse is sent to prison for a relatively minor offence that carries a sentence of six months but apparently he finds himself in a prison full of convicts who are doing life . I'd have thought that like Britain and America Australian prisons would have different categories where people doing relatively short sentences don't mix with lifers . I'm guessing this is because Jesse needs to meet someone who can save him from prison predators who have nothing to lose and that man is Brendan Lynch who has another twenty years to serve . If he protects Jesse from the predators he wants Jesse to come up with a plan to spring him from jail by hi-jacking a copter . Hmmm so someone who can't protect himself in jail might just happen to be a very effective hijacker on the outside ? . It's not like Jesse is all that hardened and violent .Doesn't Brendan have any mates on the outside who might be more reliable ? And what's to stop Jesse changing his mind ? Let's face it he's looking at 25 years in jail if he gets caught but I guess if the characters stopped to think about all this as much as the audience do then the film would abruptly stop The contrived writing is a pity because SON OF A GUN is a rather enjoyable and tense thriller in parts . Ewan McGregor is normally an actor I dislike and seems incapable of giving a convincing performance but here he's something of a revelation as tough villain Brendan Lynch and speaking in his native accent does help . I take it by his spoken idiom Lynch is a Scot ? He's ably supported by a cast I'd had no previous knowledge of in a film while entertaining could have been a bit more intelligent

zardoz-13 This above-average, Australian-set heist thriller is neither as grandiose nor as exciting as Michael Mann's legendary "Heat," but director Julius Avery's first full-length crime melodrama isn't a total write-off. Brenton Thwaites of "The Giver" is a young man thrown into an Aussie prison who soon learns that being a good-looking lad behind bars has its disadvantages. A homosexual contingent of inmates has already taken advantage of her cell mate, and they have fixed their bony eyes on him when two other scruffy inmates intervene. These fellows are Brendan Lynch (Ewan McGregor of "Star Wars") and Sterlo (Matt Nable), and Lynch takes a liking to the J.R. They become friends, and J.R. gives Lynch advice about his chess game. Since he has been sentenced to a mere six months, J.R. gets out and arranges things through another treacherous individual, Sam Lennox (Jacek Koman), to break Lynch and two of his buddies out of prison. The audacious jailbreak resembles a similar jailbreak from the Charles Bronson thriller "Breakout" where a helicopter was used to rescue a prison. After Lynch and his mates make their way outside of the prison to an open field within the walls, J.R. forces the pilot to set down and Lynch and company clamber aboard and fly away. Sam has set up a gold ingot heist at a gold mine, and Lynch brings J.R. in on the job. While they are hiding out from the authorities courtesy of Sam, J.R. gets involved in a romantic relationship with a Tasha (Alicia Vikander) who works as a waitress at Sam's strip club. Lynch warns J.R. about the complications that woman can create, but J.R. ignores him and Tasha and he fall in love.Our protagonists pull off the heist and make a successful getaway. Unfortunately, the faithful Sterlo dies during the careening car chase. Like all memorable heist thrillers, getting the loot constitutes one set of obstacles. Naturally, Sam betrays Lynch and company. Nevertheless, Tasha warns J.R. in time for them to escape. Sam now has $4 million in gold and plans to exchange it for cash in Melbourne. Lynch and J.R. make their way to Melbourne and recover the gold after they convince an assassin sent by Sam to knock them out to join them. Lynch is still dead set against having Tasha around and relates how a women wound up sending him back to prison. Ironically, despite showing J.R. the ropes of the crime business, Lynch is surprised when J.R. and Tasha turn the tables on him and escape with all the gold. Honorable man that J.R. is, he buries Lynch's share in a graveyard while Lynch sits out another prison sentence. At this juncture of the action, everything gets a little muddled. All we know is that J.R. pulled a switch on Lynch after Lynch had decided to double-cross J.R. for his own good and give him three-quarters of a million dollars. Lynch has purchased a boat and appears to have life made. Instead, he winds up at a laundry mat and the authorities show up and arrest him. Meantime, J.R. and Tasha get away.A shortage of suspense, a muddled third act, and not enough hair-raising action slows down "Son of the Gun," but if you've got an afternoon to fill, this qualifies as an above-average, atmospheric yarn.