{"id":49144,"date":"2025-08-07T00:01:57","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T04:01:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=49144"},"modified":"2025-08-06T23:17:22","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T03:17:22","slug":"she-rides-shotgun-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/07\/she-rides-shotgun-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"She Rides Shotgun (2025)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A young girl caught up in the deadly crossfire of her father’s criminal behavior must learn the tricks of the trade in order to stay alive as they attempt to evade the dangerous men on their tails.<\/p>\n

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Book to film adaptations are notoriously hit or miss. I think a lot of the disdain for some projects can stem from how beloved the source material is. With She Rides Shotgun, a film I didn’t even realize was based on a novel I had never heard of, it thankfully allowed me to welcome the film as it is without comparison. And while it’s not the greatest film ever made, nor is it the most memorable, it’s still a solid movie for several reasons, specifically the fantastic performances. The film itself is flawed, with some pacing issues and plotholes, but as a whole, it’s a good viewing experience all around.<\/p>\n

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Brought to the screen by Nick Rowland, She Rides Shotgun has issues from a script and production standpoint. The shaky cam stylization and some odd choices of framing are immersion breaking at times, and perfection at others, but overall it was bordering on the type of handheld look that’ll give some of us motion sickness. Myself included. Not to mention the lacking urgency or danger that’s needed to make a film of this style work long-term. While it does an okay job at keeping you hooked, the script, written in conjunction by Rowland alongside Ben Collins, Jordan Harper, and Luke Piotrowski, never quite elevates into nail biting or pulse pounding territory, despite how badly it feels like it wants to do so. Not to mention the random pacing that goes from too rushed to too slow. Yet it still works well enough to keep you watching.<\/p>\n

And the main reason for that is the performances. While Taron Egerton is always fantastic, and his role here is more greatness from him in every way, from his emotional depth dichotomized with his hulking violence, the real winner is Ana Sophia Heger. Her character of Polly is the absolute star of the show, with her expressive face and incredibly endearing tenderness being the biggest hook in your cheek. You absolutely must know what happens to her. From the very first frame, you’re attached to her, and there’s not a damn thing anyone can do to rip you away until you know how it ends. Joined by Rob Yang as a rather flat but somehow perfectly played detective, and John Carroll Lynch as the behemoth \u201cbig bad\u201d who probably should’ve shown up much sooner, the cast as a whole is really well constructed. And of course I adore Odessa A’zion. She’s always wonderful.<\/p>\n

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A real highlight in this film is the cinematography, too. The coloration is superb, with hues of pink and turquoise for the neon nights and yellow and orange for the desert days, and the film is truly beautiful to look at thanks to Wyatt Garfield. The score from Blanck Mass is spectacular, as well, adding just the perfect level of gut punch when needed, but also allowing the quieter moments to sing their own tune.<\/p>\n

While She Rides Shotgun feels like it’s being held back from true greatness by inconsistent pacing and directorial choices, it’s still an enjoyable and emotional ride through the life of a father just trying to do better, and the child who gets caught up in it. And it does a really good job of making you cry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A young girl caught up in the deadly crossfire of her father’s criminal behavior must learn the tricks of the trade in order to stay alive as they attempt to evade the dangerous men on their tails.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[302,738,1087],"class_list":["post-49144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-drama","tag-novel","tag-thriller"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49144"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49144\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49166,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49144\/revisions\/49166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}