Ewan McGregor is without a doubt a favorite of Star Wars fans. Thanks to his role as Obi-Wan Kenobi in both the Star Was prequel trilogy and the more recent 2022 series Obi-Wan Kenobi, he’s firmly become a household name in geek culture. But his career is bigger than a galaxy far far away, with films like Birds of Prey and Moulin Rouge and many, many more. Now, his forgotten 2014 crime thriller is available to stream on Tubi, but you’ll want to act fast as it’s leaving the platform soon.
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Currently streaming on Tubi is Son of a Gun. Directed by Julius Avery, the film stars McGregor along with Brenton Thwaites, Alicia Vikander, and Jacek Koman and follows JR (Thwaites), a small-time teen criminal who gets locked up for a minor crime and is forced to deal with and adapt to the hard realities of prison life. While inside, Australia’s most notorious criminal Brendan Lynch (McGregor) offers protection for JR, but it comes at a price and, when JR is released, he has to stage a prison break to secure Lynch’s freedom.
Son of a Gun Is a Solid Genre Movie (And Change of Pace for McGregor)
To say that Son of a Gun underperformed would be a little bit of an understatement. The film made less than a million dollars on a $12 million budget. The film also received somewhat mixed reviews from critics, but that doesn’t mean that Son of a Gun was a bad film. While it doesn’t really add anything new or innovative to the crime thriller genre, it’s a well-crafted film. The way it’s structured helps build the intensity and while the movie moves slowly in some places, it actually works for its overall storytelling. This is, after all, a movie that has layers to it, between JR’s experiences and the plot to get Lynch out of prison. All that builds on what happens once they’re out of prison — yes, this movie turns into a heist film — where things end up going very awry. It’s not just a crime story, but one about relationships and trust as well.
Despite the film and the characters being fairly average, what really makes Son of a Gun a good watch is the performances. Thwaites’ JR is fantastic, portrayed brilliantly as someone who is angry, paranoid and deeply unsure of himself. McGregor, however, is at his best as the violent and oddly merciful Lynch. His criminal character isn’t just a straight up “bad guy” type. He kills only when it’s required, he’s careful and measured, but he also is explosive enough that you don’t want to cross him. It’s a character unlike any we’ve seen from McGregor before and speaks to his range as an actor.
While the film was never very big when it was released in theaters 12 years ago, now is a great time to give it a watch on Tubi. However, if you want to catch what might be McGregor’s best film performance, you’ll likely have just a few more days to do so. The film is showing up on Tubi’s “Leaving Soon” page, usually an indicator that the movie will be leaving the platform at the end of the month.
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