"Shot Caller" is a tense, mostly terrifying story of a high ranking, prison gang member (played by Nikolaj Coaster-Waldau) out on parole. On orders from his boss to spearhead a major score of illegal guns, Waldau has no choice but to see it through. To refuse would mean his execution, as well as his family's. Omari Hardwick plays a cop who is also Waldau's parole officer. Somehow, Hardwick is tipped off to the illegal guns; and he puts Waldau on surveillance, gleaning as much information as he can in order to prevent hundreds of fully automatic rifles going out into the streets. Two men on opposite sides of the law, and only one winner will emerge.

"Shot Caller" is told from two timelines: the present, and the past which reveals how Waldau became the ruthless gangster that he is. It is the past timeline that is the most gripping, showing us a drastically different man who made a mistake that led to a devastating, downward spiral of his life. But years in prison has not fully transformed Waldau…carefully hidden deep within the monster, there is a bit of humanity left.

My most memorable, movie moment of "Shot Caller" is the scene when Waldau butchers a fellow gangster in the man's home. No fancy choreography, just someone getting stabbed multiple times until his life ends.

"Shot Caller" would have received a higher grade but for the shenanigans near the end of the movie. **SPOILER ALERT**Waldau hides a weapon in his anus, and from the time he is captured to the time he is sent back to his old prison, the weapon is still there? No law enforcement personnel ever looked up his butt to see if there were anything hidden there? Also, when Waldau attacked his boss because Waldau's family were threatened with execution, how does Waldau know that the hit wasn't already in place? These are big shenanigans, but the rest of the movie is so good that they didn't damage the movie much. For those who enjoy a good drama/suspense/prison movie, this one is definitely for you.

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• This for me feels like a hidden gem, as i remember once seeing trailers and teasers for it but never actually saw it. I feel like i have never experienced a movie that both demonstrates anger and violence paired with the sentiment displayed in Money's story.
• One of this movies greatest accomplishments to me is the pacing and timeline, as the constant back and fourth of the past and present is done is a way that you never lose track of the main story, while still learning about how Money adapted to the gang that he joined. Seeing him transition from a regular business man with a family to a gang member, doing things he never imagined having to do really emphasizes the struggles of trying to survive in a prison such as this. We even see early on what happens if you don't get affiliated with the right people, seeing a new prisoner silenced and stabbed on his first night in.
• Seeing Money forced between the 2 realities of his life outside of prison is really taxing, especially the scene of his son trying to help him escape this gang life, but him knowing that there is no true way out, but to become the leader.
• The end of this movie is done so well. In a way i thought we were gonna get a cliche ending of some sorts, but seeing Money adapt to this life and manipulate his way into getting to the leader just to kill him is amazing.
• The last note i wanted to speak on is how the fights and deaths were played out. One thing i always fear going into a more violent movie is that the fights feel so out of hand and wacky, but the way Ric Roman Waugh handled the deaths, especially shotguns are almost beautiful. Money never wanted to kill him, but in this world, everyone knows that if you distrust your group you will pay. I guess in Money's case, you can lie and throw them under the bus, but then just respond with taking a razor to Beasts neck.

• Please go see this movie, its so incredible!

Well I can safely say I did not expect that film to be that good. It's absolutely outstanding. Amazing acting, brilliant storyline and the characters are so good. It's genuinely got the whole package.

First 20 minutes or so I was a bit 50/50 on what was happening. There was 2 storylines and no real direction for either. Then it slowly starts falling into place and it gets better and better and better. And that's the only real negative I have to offer on this film. Maybe another negative is that I personally would have liked a little more depth on the 2 police officers. You are offered very little on them and it doesn't particularly take anything away from this movie, just would have liked to have known more. Like why is he so hellbent on wanting to catch these etc

But that's honestly nit picking because this really is a great film. The idea of the past/present storylines then merging was done absolutely brilliantly and best of all his character arc was simply superb. And to top it off it gives off a great message about people being institutionalised and what can happen to low offenders.

For a film I genuinely never heard of before, this genuinely blew me away. The only reason I haven't gone higher on ratings is that I have given films like the the departed and shutter island 9/10 and I don't think it's on that sort of level. But I'd go 8.5/10 on this. Please give this a watch if you haven't already.