Condemnation should be the prominent, central component in your neo-noir.  And  “She rides Shotgun” is loaded with it. An abandonment of all hope that the situation will improve, and the characters are, at times, aware of that. There is nothing new going on in this latest of the style, nor are any challenges to tropes of a neo-noir. It’s a straight-forward, fast-pace sludging to the ghastly end.  A bunch of bad guys are after a man, named Nate, and his family after pissing off the Aryan Steel gang while he was in prison. Nate grabs his daughter, Polly right after school in a stolen car. The gang has killed Polly’s mom and she is next. They try to elude danger, but find it impossible.

 The story has a setting and tone of a rural, modern west southern neo-noir that can’t shake its obvious heavy influence of Cormac McCarthy. No good is to come and the sense of trapped is constant.  What works best in this is when the camera is placed to give the audience Polly’s perspective on the events happening. There is a great scene from the chair where Polly is sitting as she observes the interactions of her dad Nate, played by Taron Egerton and his ex-girlfriend,  played by Odessa A’zion, a character that isn’t given a name. Polly watches and slowly realizes that adults are massively flawed and you see her heart sink. It would have been compelling to maintain that lens throughout, a child’s angle at what is transpiring without much of a vote or choice in the matter. To show the whirlwind that Polly has been thrown in. Instead the story stubbornly thinks it will win by focusing on the violence and politics more and it subtracts to where I feel the story is winning is Polly, who is being played marvelously by Ana Sophia Heger. 

Four writers are credited with the film version and that might be why there is an unbalance to it. The main theme is still prevalent though, that kids always pay the price for adults’ mistakes, even if they truly do love them and are doing things to protect them. “She Rides Shotgun” had the potential of a phenomenal film, the scenes just with Nate and his daughter are masterly crafted and feel palatable and genuine, but the violence and villainy seem banal, and mundane even in a modern neo-noir. 6/10