Despite the sometimes exhilarating fluidity of Gonzales's camerawork, Shot Caller is helmed with a sure and steady hand as it resists revelling in Jacob's transgressions in favour of maintaining an overriding sense of what has been lost.
Director Waugh knows how to stage a brawl or a close quarter stabbing. Where he struggles is in constructing a coherent plot.
The plot can feel a little muddled and over-ambitious in places and there is a distinct overload of testosterone on the screen but if you like your thrillers grim and violent, then Shot Caller certainly delivers the goods.
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is terrific as a blameless family man transformed into a tattooed hard case by his time in jail following a fatal road accident.
If nothing else it’s a convincing advert for US penal system reform.
General release. Check local listings for show times.
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