Every once in a while, a thriller comes along that feels familiar in shape but unforgettable in execution. She Rides Shotgun, now streaming on Prime Video, is exactly that kind of film, a gritty, bruised, emotionally charged story that sneaks up on you not through plot twists, but through the raw humanity at its core.
At first glance, it may look like a standard crime-on-the-run movie: an ex-con father, a child pulled into danger, a gang hunting them down. But director Nick Rowland isn’t interested in making another stylised chase film. What he builds instead is a painfully intimate drama about a fractured father-daughter relationship forced to rebuild itself under impossible circumstances.
Taron Egerton gives one of his most tightly wound performances as Nate, a man trying to protect the daughter he barely knows from the violent consequences of his past. But the film’s heartbeat is Ana Sophia Heger as Polly. She doesn’t just match Egerton scene for scene, she often outshines him. Watching Polly transform from a frightened, confused child into someone resourceful and frighteningly grown is the kind of arc you don’t forget soon.
Yes, the film has narrative leaps and some conventional action beats, but they’re easy to forgive because Rowland never loses sight of what matters: the emotional stakes. Even when the bullets fly, the film keeps circling back to a single question, can two people build trust while running for their lives?
She Rides Shotgun may wear the clothing of a violent crime thriller, but what stays with you is its tenderness, its vulnerability, and its bruised hope. If your Sunday demands a gripping watch with real heart beneath the grit, this is the film to pick.