Son of a Gun

JR's a young man sent prison for something. While there, he's protected by Brendan Lynch, an older criminal (Ewan McGregor). Once JR's out, he's stuck helping Brendan, first by getting him out of prison, then by helping him rob a literal gold mine.

JR's perhaps not really cut out for a criminal life, as he seems largely incapable of following basic orders like "don't fight with the mob boss' incompetent son," and "don't fool around with one of said mob boss' ladies." So JR finds himself torn between trying to follow Brendan's orders and his attraction to Tasha (Alicia Vikander), who is encouraging him to be his own man. By doing what she says. Which mostly serves to make JR look like a dumb kid, which is mostly what he is.

It's not exactly a heist movie, although they do spend a little time on setting things up for the gold robbery. Scouting the target, assigning tasks, hiring a driver, stuff like that. But for at least part of that planning, JR is off fooling around with Tasha. There are the requisite double-crosses, and a few of the kind of oddball minor characters you expect to see in these kinds of movies. A weirdo guy who sells Ecstasy and firearms. The driver is a race car driver who must have worked with Brendan before. But we don't spend enough time with them to learn much of anything about them.  Might be nice to know why a guy who is probably a fairly successful race car driver risks imprisonment being the getaway driver for a major criminal. The thrill, I presume, but a little fleshing out wouldn't hurt.

But the movie mostly about JR deciding who he's going to be, a chimp or a bonobo, as Brendan puts it. I'm not sure it quite pulls it off, because JR mostly seems sulky and cowed, pushed around by everyone, throughout the entire movie. It's kind of hard to buy him making any decisions on his own.