Shot Caller is 2017 crime drama telling the story of a newly released convict. The twist here is that Jacob Harlon, AKA Money (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) did not enter prison as a hardened criminal. He was a successful stockbroker in California with a wife and son. But all that disappears in an instant. Jacob and his wife Kate (Lake Bell) are out with another couple, Tom (Max Greenfield) and Jennifer (Jessy Schram). After dinner Jacob is driving the group home when he runs a red light and his hit by another car, killing Tom. Jacob registered a .10 BAC, making an already horrible situation that much worse. His attorney doesn’t like their chances at winning at trial, so Jacob accepts a plea deal of a sentence of 30 months, of which he will likely only have to serve 16. Given that his crime involved a death that he caused, he will be in prison with what his lawyer refers to as “the big boys.” Immediately upon his arrival, Jacob realizes the just surviving the next 16 months will be no easy task. After getting in a fight his first time in the yard, he is approached Bottles (Jeffrey Donovan), a shot caller for white supremacist gang Public Enemy No. 1, or PEN1. In order to survive, Jacob throws in with the gang, committing various tasks for them, from helping smuggling in drugs all the way to taking part in the murder of another inmate. His ongoing activities with the gang ultimately result in his sentence getting extended another nine years, effectively ending any chance he might have had at regaining even a semblance of his old life. Upon his release, Jacob has made the transformation from Jacob to Money, from family man stockbroker to full-fledged gang member. He is tasked with heading up a gun deal with Hispanic gang Sureños.
This is the only other role I’ve seen Coster-Waldau in besides Game of Thrones and I thought he was fantastic. His performance is the biggest reason this turned out to be a good movie. The movie was slowly paced and truthfully, not a whole lot happened which meant it had to rely heavily on the acting. It was full of great performances but being the lead, his was obviously the most important to nail down. The filming structure was also unique and helped make the slow pacing less of an issue. The movie starts with Harlon being released. Scenes of his life before jail and his time in jail are interspersed throughout the movie, filling in the details of how he changed from one man into another. Shot Caller is also a movie that makes you consider what you would do if you were ever unfortunate enough to be in this, or a similar, situation. It’s something that, in theory, could happen. It’s scary to think about but it’s a potential reality. I like movies like that, when you as the viewer are able to imagine yourself in that situation and think about how you would react. It makes the movie-watching experience more real, more intense, and it makes you more emotionally invested in it, which is always a big plus for any movie. Okay, this next point is the only spoilery part about this and it’s minor, doesn’t fully give anything away.
MINOR SPOILER ALERT
Throughout the whole movie, you can never be exactly sure where Jacob’s true loyalties lie. Is he fully immersed in PEN1? Is he only going along with it to protect his family, knowing that if he were leave the gang, his wife and son would likely be killed? Is it a combination of both? I’m of the opinion that it’s more of a mixture of loyalty to the gang and looking out for his family. He’s accepted his lot in life and does what he thinks will keep his family safe. But I love that it’s never made explicitly clear. Obviously the love he has for his family plays a part. Gang members care about their families too, so that doesn’t mean he isn’t fully invested in PEN1.
Really I only have one gripe worth mentioning. When Jacob is released, he’s greeted as some sort of PEN1 legend. But I simply don’t see how that would be possible. He didn’t join the gang until he went to prison. Sure he earned his stripes while incarcerated but his circumstances meant he never had a chance to prove himself on the streets, in real life. He wasn’t someone who had gone to jail for gang activities, or even for any crime that he intentionally committed. This is really more of an annoyance than anything else, but it was something that I just couldn’t get out of my head the entire time I was watching it.
Movie: Shot Caller
Starring: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Jon Bernthal, Holt McCallany, Omari Hardwick
Genre: Crime drama, thriller
My rating: 7/10
Should you watch it?: Simple answer is yes. While certainly not an uplifting or happy movie, a great feature on how people choose to adjust to extreme changes of circumstance in their life. Probably not a movie I will watch again any time soon, but definitely worth a watch.
