My Son

My Son is an improvised child abduction thriller. It is a remake of a French movie called Mon Garçon.

Edmond Murray (James McAvoy) frequently works abroad a consultant for an oil company. His ex wife Joan (Claire Foy) calls him back to Scotland when Ethan his 7 year old son is snatched from a campsite.

Edmond suspects Joan's new boyfriend to be behind the abduction as he behave strangely. In fact Edmond beats him up and the police arrest him.

The man in charge of the investigation Inspector Roy (Gary Lewis) cannot find a substantial lead and is soon taken off the case. Edmond though does find a trail through some mobile phone footage. One that leads to a child abduction ring.

The movie has the scuzzy feel of 8MM with elements of Taken as Edmond is out to get revenge with whatever he can lay his hands on. A blowtorch in one scene.

The main selling point of My Son is that McAvoy had to improvise his script. He was only given a basic outline of his character and the plot. Although I presume he took a sneaky peak at the French version.

It does give the movie an underwritten feeling. Like the story is not fully developed and it shows in the final product.