Shot Caller

On the surface Ric Roman Waugh’s film appears to be a relatively generic offering which explores the concept that prisons create hardened criminals rather than rehabilitating them.

Shot Caller introduces us to Jacob Harlon (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) who is a white collar family man sentenced to 16 months in prison for manslaughter following a fatal car accident. Once behind bars Harlon quickly falls into the grips of a neo-Nazi gang, initially as a means of survival but eventually moving up through the ranks as he acclimates to his surrounds.

As the story progresses Shot Caller can become overly reliant on cliches and overused tropes from the genre, which sadly this makes the film predictable.

Despite being cliche and telegraphing the ultimate conclusion from some distance the simplistic, bleak nature of the story telling makes for an intriguing watch.

★★★