Movie · 2025 · Action, Thriller, Crime · 2h · R · English
Curator score: 4.8/10 (34.5K ratings)
All a father needs is a fighting chance.
Overview
Newly released from prison and marked for death by unrelenting enemies, Nate must now protect his estranged 9-year-old daughter, Polly, at all costs. With scant resources and no one to trust, Nate and Polly forge a bond under fire as he shows her how to fight and survive—and she teaches him the true meaning of unconditional love.
Ratings
Curator score: 4.8/10
IMDb: 6.5/10
Letterboxd: 3.40/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 88%
Metacritic: 74
TMDB: 7.0/10
Director
Nick Rowland
Production
Fifth Season, Makeready, Super Frog, Waypoint Entertainment, Black Bear Pictures
Cast
Taron Egerton, Ana Sophia Heger, Rob Yang, Odessa A'zion, David Lyons, John Carroll Lynch, Keith Jardine, Jamie Bernadette, Goldie Tom, Kiko Sanchez, Loren Anthony, Travis Hammer, Rebecca Hill Casey, Conrad R. Padilla, Edgar Damatian, Matt Roszak, Santiago Segura, Ryan de Quintal, Andy Kastelic, Freddy Martinez
Where to watch
fuboTV, MGM Plus, Philo
Curator Review
Verdict
A tense, bruised crime-thriller that works best as a father-daughter survival story, with strong performances and a grim but sincere emotional core. It sounds especially effective when it keeps the violence pragmatic and the sentiment earned rather than sentimental.
Best for
Viewers who like gritty crime thrillers with emotional stakes
Fans of father-daughter survival stories
People who enjoy lean, propulsive action with a tragic edge
Audiences looking for a strong child performance
Viewers who appreciate fatalistic neo-noir tone
Skip if
You want light entertainment or a hopeful ending
You dislike violence involving children
You prefer twisty procedural crime plots over character-driven survival stories
You need a cleanly uplifting emotional payoff
Overview
She Rides Shotgun is built on a familiar engine, but it runs on feeling rather than novelty. The setup is classic hard-edged crime melodrama: an ex-con on the run with his estranged daughter, enemies closing in, and nowhere safe to land. What gives it force is the way it treats the bond between them as something hard-won, not sentimentalized.
Worth noting
The film seems to understand that the best version of this story is one where survival and tenderness are inseparable. The violence is blunt, the mood is bleak, and the emotional turns are allowed to sting. That balance appears to be the movie’s main strength, along with a standout child performance and a lead turn that plays against easy charm.
Bottom line
It may not fully escape the shadow of earlier outlaw-and-child stories, but it sounds like a sharply made, emotionally punishing thriller that earns its final blow. If you like your action with grief in it, this is very much worth the ride.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Cameron Kozak (4★) · 655 likes
One of the best child performances I’ve scene in a while.
Adam (3.5★) · 502 likes
Final shot is so good it kind of ruined my night!
matt lynch (3.5★) · 338 likes
Really admirably avoids saccharine pitfalls, remaining very pragmatic about its violence without sacrificing sentiment or humor, and crucially never denies its intrinsic, inevtiable fatalism. Egerton has maybe never been better but the kid is fucking terrific. Last beat is a real killer.
Rafael "Mister Movie" Jovine (3★) · 285 likes
Taron Egerton has been building an impressive resume since he broke through the scene with Matthew Vaughn’s “Kingsman”—one of those movies that seemed to come out of nowhere and wowed many of us with its riff on the spy genre and gifted us with some pretty memorable scenes. Now, the film wasn’t exactly the best showcase of his acting chops, though he still brought a good amount of charm. But there was the danger that he could have easily become… more Taron Egerton has been building an impressive resume since he broke through the scene with Matthew Vaughn’s “Kingsman”—one of those movies that seemed to come out of nowhere and wowed many of us with its riff on the spy genre and gifted us with some pretty memorable scenes. Now, the film wasn’t exactly the best showcase of his acting chops, though he still brought a good amount of charm. But there was the danger that he could have easily become… more
hallie 🐅 (4.5★) · 282 likes
Taron Egerton as a girl dad is the greatest thing to ever happen to me
2007 · Crime, Thriller, Western · 2h 2m · R · Curator 9.6/10 (3.1M ratings) · Where to watch: fuboTV, Paramount Plus Premium, Paramount Plus Essential, MGM Plus, Philo
Unforgiving pursuit thriller with a cold, fatalistic atmosphere and relentless tension.