Taron Egerton's New Crime Movie Recalls One Of The Best Movies Ever Made

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Stop me if you've heard this one before. A drifter or outlaw is on a perilous journey with a young partner, who is either his literal or spiritual son/daughter. It's a common formula not tied to any specific genre. You can see it in gangster movies ("Road to Perdition"), Westerns ("True Grit"), science-fiction (from "Prospect" to "The Last of Us," Pedro Pascal has the market on it cornered), superhero stories ("Logan") and more.

The best version of it isn't an action story but a road trip black comedy: Peter Bogdanovich's "Paper Moon," about con artist Moze Pray and his maybe daughter Addie (Ryan and Tatum O'Neal) driving through Great Depression-era Kansas. The legacy of "Paper Moon" lives on to this day. It has inspired recent stories including a key episode of "Andor," and the new Neo-Western crime thriller, "She Rides Shotgun."

Based on Jordan Harper's page-turning, bite-sized novel, "She Rides Shotgun" begins with Nate McClusky (Taron Egerton), a career criminal and recent ex-con. For killing an Aryan Brotherhood gang member in prison, he's gotten a "green light" (meaning the go-ahead to kill him). The order applies not just to Nate himself, but to his whole family.  He's too late to save his ex-wife and her husband from being murdered, so he grabs his daughter Polly (Ana Sophia Heger) and drives like hell. Nate's past and actions may kick off the story, but its heart is Polly; she's caught in the storm of consequences catching up to her father — the same storm he's trying to protect her from. 

I've read two of Harper's books: this picture's source material and "Everybody Knows," a thriller set in the cutthroat world of Hollywood PR. I've yet to pick up his latest novel "The Last King of California" or his story collection "Love & Other Wounds," but watching "She Rides Shotgun" reminded me why I need to cross them off the reading list. If Hollywood's green light on Jordan Harper movies continues after this one, I hope his other books will be adapted with the same grit and warmth that "She Rides Shotgun" has been.

Spoilers for "She Rides Shotgun" follow.

The characters and themes of "She Rides Shotgun" aren't going to win prizes for originality, but this movie demonstrates that execution is key. There's a reason writers keep telling stories like this: they offer an easy heart to the "man on the run" narrative, and the stakes are higher if the lead has a kid to protect.

Harper has been upfront about "Paper Moon" influencing "She Rides Shotgun" — he's called his book "'Paper Moon' with a body count." I'd argue there's a key difference in the central father-daughter relationship, though. Moze doesn't want Addie when they first begin their quest; he even denies she's his daughter despite everyone seeing the resemblance. Though "She Rides Shotgun" is much more violent than "Paper Moon," Nate/Polly's bond is more loving and supportive. Nate hasn't been there for Polly, but he wants to protect her. At first he thinks that means teaching her to bash in kneecaps with a baseball bat (normal dad/daughter things!) but as their pursuers catch up, he realizes he needs to shield her from violence. Polly is sometimes a bit too eager to watch his back during fights and Nate refuses to let her carry the sins he does. Another movie Harper cites as an influence is David Cronenberg's "A History of Violence," which is also about a parent's violent past catching up to, and even infecting, their children. 

Egerton, who broke out as teen super-spy Eggsy in "Kingsman: The Secret Service," has aged into a convincing hardened con (see also: Egerton's role in Dennis Lehane's prison drama mini-series "Black Bird"). Nate in the "She Rides Shotgun" book has a frame "so big and sharply drawn it was like he was missing his skin, like the tattoos were inked right into the muscle." Egerton does justice to that description, but his bodybuilder arms and shaved head can only hide his naturally boyish face so well. Nate's appearance tells a story of a young man in a rough environment who had to grow up fast, just like Polly now has to as well.

As for Heger, she's a complete natural. Polly is too wounded to be precocious, but she's good at thinking on her feet. That's not just how she's written, it's how Heger carries herself onscreen. For her performance in "Paper Moon," Tatum O'Neal was the youngest person to win an Oscar. The muted marketing and genre for "She Rides Shotgun" means Heger is unlikely to get a golden statue, but I'm as excited to see her next work as much as critics back then must've been for Tatum O'Neal's next movie.

There's a small supporting cast in "She Rides Shotgun," including Rob Yang as John Park (a wannabe hero detective who thinks Nate is the Trojan horse he needs to take down the local Neo-Nazis) and a surprise John Carroll Lynch as the local meth kingpin who greenlit Nate. The third act of the movie kicks into an explosive action sequence with many players on the board, but in the first hour it's Nate and Polly together, always running. Director Nick Rowland knows just how to shoot the two of them to underline their uneasy love; note how they look away from each other, like when Nate is driving off and looking forward, but we can see Polly chasing after him through the rearview mirror.

Harper co-wrote the script for "She Rides Shotgun" with Ben Collins & Luke Piotrowski, but the movie makes many changes. (As for which he prefers, Harper said "You're asking who's more handsome; this kid that I have some relationship with or my first son.") A crucial difference happens from the very beginning. The book (which has an alternating POV structure) features an early chapter of Nate finding the body of Polly's mother. The movie smartly keeps the focus on Polly, letting the atmosphere and sense of danger build around her putting the pieces together.

The movie keeps going down different paths as it continues, mostly to simplify the narrative. The movie's ending especially is neater than the book's, but thanks to Heger, it's still haunting. The movie wraps on a close-up of Polly, trying to keep a strong face and blend in with other kids but still not quite achieving it. She rode shotgun with her dad and the experience left its mark.

"She Rides Shotgun" is playing in theaters.