A gritty and emotional road thriller that will keep surprising you.
She Rides Shotgun is the kind of movie that will sparks debates, where it’s rough in spots, powerful in others, but undeniably full of life.
Plot Summary of She Rides Shotgun (Spoiler-Free)
She Rides Shotgun opens with Nate (Taron Egerton), stepping out of prison after serving time for crimes that we only understand in fragments, and he’s barely adjusted to freedom before he learns he’s marked for death by a violent gang, where his enemies are willing to target the one person who means anything to him – his 11-year-old daughter Polly.
Nate hasn’t been around for most of Polly’s life, so she’s basically a stranger to him, and he’s a stranger to her, but the moment he realizes she’s in danger, he moves fast, pulling her into a road-trip escape that neither of them are emotionally ready for.
On the run, the two hop from rundown motels to empty desert highways, crossing paths with friends, strangers, and threats, as Nate tries teaching Polly how to defend herself and survive long enough for them to figure out a real plan.
Their journey is filled with robberies, chases, narrow escapes, and moments where you’re not sure who to trust, but beneath everything, is a fragile, evolving connection between a father who doesn’t know how to be one and a daughter who isn’t sure she wants him to be.
She Rides Shotgun : Is It Worth Watching?
She Rides Shotgun is a film that sweeps you up fast and drags you into a messy emotional ride, and despite all the parts that frustrated me, it’s absolutely worth watching.
The relationship between Nate and Polly is the film’s anchor, so whenever the story shifted away from them to deal with secondary characters or side threads, I did finf myself wishing the camera would hurry back, because that bond, messy as it is, is the beating heart of everything good going on here.
The story itself hurls you pretty much straight into the danger, and for a while it feels like you maybe have missed a chapter, and you’re scrambling to keep up because you don’t really know why the gang is after Nate, who exactly they are, or how big the world of this conflict is, before eventually the pieces start fitting, but the film does expect you to accept a lot very quickly.
Egerton is fantastic here, as he delivers one of the strongest performances of his career, where he plays Nate like a man holding himself together with duct tape and stubbornness. He looks tired, scared, and worn down – exactly how someone in his situation would be – and we get no slick hero act here, and no choreographed swagger either.
And Ana Sophia Heger’s performance is also really good, and she brings an incredible amount of depth for someone so young, and it’s really interesting watching her character develop, from the fear to the confusion to the slow, shaky acceptance that her father isn’t the monster she was led to believe.
And if you’re a fan of action sequences, She Rides Shotgun has you covered, as there are sequences, including a gas station scene that ramps up from tense to chaotic in seconds, that will have you gripped, where the violence feels like the kind of violence real people resort to when they’re cornered, scared, and armed with more adrenaline than sense.
The film can feel long though, even at two hours, where the pacing dips in certain sections, especially when the story shifts attention to the broader criminal world or introduces side characters who don’t quite feel developed, and while these parts aren’t bad, compared to the electricity between Nate and Polly, they feel like detours.
And then we have the ending, which is going to going to divide people, that is for sure, and at first I did feel kind of annoyed about it, but after reflection, I found myself respecting the decision more and more, as its bold, it’s painful, and it’s the kind of ending that leaves you staring at your ceiling later that night thinking about what the filmmakers were trying to say.
She Rides Shotgun overall though is a powerful, flawed, emotional, and gritty film that earns its place in Taron Egerton’s filmography, where its best moments are more than strong enough to outweigh the weaker ones.
A recommended watch!
What I Liked (And What I Didn’t Like)
Pros
Taron Egerton
He doesn’t try to make Nate look cool, as he plays him like a man barely holding himself together, and it works beautifully.
Ana Sophia Heger
She really does help elevate the entire film, andher character was really interesting to watch.
The Emotional Father-Daughter Core
Their awkwardness, tension, and small breakthroughs feel incredibly honest, and never forced..
Intense Action
You feel the danger in every sloppy punch and frantic escape.
The Road Trip Atmosphere
The film uses the road setting to help build the tension and isolation, which makes every stop feel like a potential threat or turning point.
Moments of Real Warmth
We get to see a few small moments of connection that feel incredibly rewarding when they happen.
The Ending
I didn’t like it at first as said, but the more thought about it, the more I admired the bravery behind it.
The Direction and Tone
Nick Rowland keeps the film gritty without making it too bleak, and emotional without being too sentimental.
Cons
Pacing Issues
Some sections drag too much at times, especially when the plot wanders away from Nate and Polly.
Side Characters
Some of the supporting characters feel like they belong in a bigger story that didn’t make it to the screen.
A Villain Who Feels Tonally Off
John Carroll Lynch does his best, but his character occasionally shifts into something too exaggerated for the film’s grounded style.
The Story Sometimes Feels Split in Two
The father-daughter film is excellent. and the crime-gang story is fine, but together, they sometimes clash.
Moments That Needed More Explanation
I’m not someone who needs things spoon fed to me, but I did think certain plot points felt like they needed more setup or context.
Who Might Like She Rides Shotgun
- Fans of gritty thrillers
- People who enjoy character driven stories
- Taron Egerton fans
- Those who enjoy tense road trip films
- Anyone who wants a thriller with real emotional weight
Who Might Dislike She Rides Shotgun
- Anyone who dislikes sad or heavy endings
- Those who want clean, fully explained world-building
- If you prefer traditional hero arcs
- Anyone sensitive to realistic violence
- Audiences who want a straightforward, happy resolution
Final Verdict: Did I Enjoy Watching She Rides Shotgun?
A film is doing something right when even the parts that annoy me gave me something to think about.
The performances alone make the film worth seeing though, and I’m genuinely glad I watched it, and I hope more people get the chance to see it, because it deserves more attention.
She Rides Shotgun Trailer
Simon Leasher
A lover of cinema for over 35 years, I have watched many films from around the world in many different genres, yet I still normally always come back to trashy slasher horror films when in doubt. More
And yes, The Godfather 2 is better than The Godfather.
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