The Reel Review
A young girl marked for death is forced to grow up quickly after her father shows up immediately after his release from prison to protect her from a drug lord and his band of fellow corrupt cops near Albuquerque, New Mexico. Taron Egerton and Ana Sophia Heger star in this crime thriller adaptation of Jordan Harper’s 2017 award-winning novel.
She Rides Shotgun is a pretty entertaining father/daughter Thelma & Louise-type thrill ride, despite having a story that is both pretty farfetched and woefully lacking in detail. A lot of what transpires just doesn’t make sense, but even so, Heger is the glue that makes the film work, with an impressively believable performance as the little girl in peril. Her character isn’t unrealistically wise beyond her years – just a child trying to make the best of a bad situation. Some of the emotional moments are absolutely heartbreaking.
Egerton, who also helped bankroll the film, shows off an impressively chiseled physique, as the third act devolves into a contrived, pointlessly over-the-top shootout between the bad guys and New Mexico State troopers, the latter who apparently are all shockingly bad shots. The story’s message, however, about the unconditional love between a child and her deeply flawed father, resonates.
REEL FACTS
• California-born Ana Sophia Heger started her acting career at the age of three on the CBS sitcom Life in Pieces. Her first movie role was 2021’s Things Heard & Seen, co-starring Amanada Seyfried and James Norton.
• Jordan Harper, who grew up on a farm in the Ozarks of Missouri, won the Edgar Award for “She Rides Shotgun.”
• Taron Egerton will next appear in the 2026 action/thriller Apex, co-starring Charlize Theron and Eric Bana, about a rock climber being hunted in the wild.
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