Shot Caller

These days there are fewer decent prison dramas than pretty prostitutes, which makes me all the more pleasantly surprised that two have been made overseas this year. While Brawl in Cell Block 99 takes a more psychological approach portraying a monstrous path to moral vindication with minimalism, Shot Caller is a complex and expansive story with more clichés, but at the same time a backdrop of a properly thought-out narrative structure that makes the film build up excellently, leaving question marks until the intelligent final twist. The layered plot does not hinder the established pace, on the contrary, it dynamically develops the motivations of the lead character and creates a strong basis for the finale, where the narrative stabilizes on the main time plane. The portrayal of the prison hierarchy seems a bit absurd and the team of detectives doesn't get enough space to make the situation even more dramatic, but otherwise a very cool affair with a very cool Nikolai in the lead. (03/12/2017)

A great crime movie with an excellent cast. How to go from financier to murderous inmate in two easy steps. Coster-Waldau undergoes the transformation with elan. Director Roman Waugh gets the maximum out of this story. He’s good at prison movies. The best scenes are the ones with the Beast in the middle of nothingness. (05/01/2018)

The antithesis to The Shawshank Redemption. Darabont’s film had violence and plenty of harsh scenes, but it is also a film full of vitality and melancholy, as every fan knows. It's almost steeped in subtle poetry and a positive mood that gradually creeps into your mind the longer you watch it. Shot Caller is a prison drama, too, and almost epic is scope, but its psychological effect is the exact opposite. It’s a place where you come in strong, but you will hardly ever leave. A place that takes away freedom, but at the same time can dramatically change a personality. The transformation of GoT darling Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is more than impressive, confirming what an exceptional actor he is. The script is quite sophisticatedly combines a no-frills prison drama with a typical American gangster movie (filmed in L.A.). It also handles the temporal narrative of the plot well, making the script seem complex and convoluted. Of course, you won't find Darabont's directorial virtuosity, nor does the film have such ambitions, which is why it will never be a milestone or a cult classic. But it is one of those films that will stand out gradually, over time, and will be more for connoisseurs than for the mainstream. It has little marketing, and probably knows why. Waugh wanted to tell a depressive story of a man who had everything and lost it, and he succeeded brilliantly. Raw, austere, uncompromising. (21/08/2017)

The prison environment from another perspective, as Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is no criminal. Unfortunately, one event turns his life upside down and the American system throws him into a prison full of perverts, murderers, blacks and Nazis. And I am not really sure if he is mentally unstable when he gives in to the Nazis, but the screenwriters created quite some twists for him, so the audience doesn’t get bored. The biggest issue is that Nikolaj really doesn’t look like a murderer and when he does kill, he looks like a gassy newborn. On the other hand, the movie has incredible guts and the ending was truly flawless. I was deciding between three or four stars, and in the end settled for the better than average. (11/01/2018)

Brilliantly acted, and brilliantly handled visually, where the casting was simply excellent, and Coster-Waldau and Bernthal were superbly chosen for their roles, where you believe Nikolaj in both positions. On top of that, the film is pretty gritty, which definitely helps the overall impression. If we want to mess up our lives, we can do it thoroughly. (02/08/2017)