Shot Caller barely bought a launch when it got here out in 2018, nevertheless it’s gone on to change into a cult movie nicely price trying out.
THE STORY: After inflicting a lethal accident whereas driving drunk, a household man (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) is shipped to a most safety penitentiary. There, he’s recruited by the Aryan Brotherhood, and coerced into acts of violence that threaten to erase any hint of the person he as soon as was.
THE PLAYERS: Starring: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Omari Hardwick, Lake Bell, Jon Bernthal, Emory Cohen & Jeffrey Donovan. Written and directed by Ric Roman Waugh.
THE HISTORY: Shot Caller was launched with little or no fanfare final summer season. A low-key VOD launch from Saban, which nonetheless acquired some fairly good critiques when it performed the pageant circuit, it varieties a free trilogy for director Ric Roman Waugh, following his earlier FELON and SNITCH. Initially a Relativity manufacturing, that firm’s chapter despatched the completed movie right into a tailspin, therefore the restricted launch. Given how VOD numbers are not often revealed, it’s not possible to know the way the movie did financially, nevertheless it appears to have been a closely pirated title, reducing into the underside line – though that facet additionally gave the movie a sure cult notoriety which appears to be rising.
I didn’t know a lot of Saban Movies once we had been on the lookout for a brand new house — I simply considered Haim Saban and the “Power Rangers” franchise. I ended up assembly with the staff at this new unbiased distributor and had abruptly discovered companions that had been tremendous passionate in regards to the movie and understood what the film was and the advertising enhances it in that manner. I really feel like we traded up. I knew it wasn’t going to be a large field workplace hit however I hope it makes sufficient to make everybody pleased. – Ric Roman Waugh Selection interview
WHY IT’S GREAT: As I wrote once I initially reviewed this title, Shot Caller is the explanation I evaluation so many VOD movies. Normally, they’re crap, however sometimes, an ideal little sleeper, corresponding to this one, hits the platform, and makes the digging worthwhile. A troublesome-as-nails jail thriller, Sport of Thrones star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau offers the efficiency of his life because the comfortable, white-collar household man turned laborious as nails killer.
I knew I needed to get a man that would straddle each strains — plausible as a white collar man, but shock you once they change into violent. After I talked with Nik, it actually was one of many biggest conversations I’ve had with an actor. All he talked about for 3 hours was the subtext of the character, what the film meant and nothing about any of the cool stuff the character would do. It had nothing to do with that. It was all about what the film was attempting to current, and I knew proper there I had my companion. – Ric Roman Waugh Selection interview
Shot Caller by no means begs you to sympathize with Coster-Waldau’s Jacob (or – as he’s known as within the slammer – “Money”). It’s made clear that it’s his personal fault that he wound up in jail, having pushed drunk after which refused a plea which might have saved him from his destiny. It jogged my memory a little bit of the outdated Tom Selleck automobile, An Harmless Man, though Jacob’s not, in truth, harmless. But, you continue to naturally empathize with him, even when he makes horrible selections, corresponding to affiliating with the Aryan Brotherhood. Even then, there’s an escape, with their chapter head (an unnerving Jeffrey Donovan) advising him to maintain his head down and do what they inform him, however his personal machismo will get the higher of him. Quickly, his thirty-month sentence turns into a decade, and the movie crosses forwards and backwards between his eventual launch, the place he’s now a high-ranking gang member, to his jail profession. He’s our hero, but you by no means actually root for him to get again to his household, as they are surely higher with out him – giving the movie a palpable sense of tragedy.
On the identical time, Shot Caller works as a thriller, with brutal motion scenes, and an incredible supporting solid, together with Lake Bell as Jacob’s spouse, Donovan, and Jon Bernthal as one other gang member – plus Omari Hardwick of Energy because the probation officer on Jacob’s path. Waugh offers it a gritty, stripped-down really feel, and earns the two-hour plus operating time. In a greater market, this is able to have been an A-level studio launch.vi
SEE IT: Shot Caller is offered on most streaming websites, and on Blu-ray.
PARTING SHOT: Given the low-key launch, that is probably one of many few motion pictures on this column I wager lots of people genuinely have by no means seen, nevertheless it’s an under-the-radar gem and a should see. Test it out!
