The Kid

The western genre has reinvented itself through the decades mostly because of the change of our culture. We've gone from "How the West Was Won" '62 to "The Outlaw Josie Wales" '76 to "Unforgiven" '92 to "The Magnificent Seven" '16 to "The Kid" which is in the offing this time around. The only similarity between these films is that they are all westerns, otherwise they are extremely different.

Based on a true story, in this thrilling western, a young boy, Rio (Jake Schur), is forced to go on the lam across the American Southwest in a desperate attempt to save his sister, Sara (Leila George) from their abusive, villainous uncle, Grant Cutler (Chris Pratt). Along the way, he encounters Sheriff Pat Garrett (Ethan Hawke), on the hunt for the infamous outlaw Billy the Kid (Dane DeHaan). Rio finds himself increasingly entwined in the lives of these two legendary figures as the cat and mouse game of the Kid's final year of life plays out. Ultimately Rio is forced to choose which type of man he is going to become, the outlaw or the man of valor, and will use this self-realization in a final act to save his family.

Others to round out the cast are Vincent D'Onofrio as Sheriff Romero, Adam Baldwin as Bob Olinger, Keith Jardine as Pete, Tait Fletcher as Bill Cutler, Grant's brother, Jenny Gabrielle as Mirabel, Ben Dickey as Jim East and Stafford Douglas as John Poe.

This was intensely and grittily directed by veteran actor Vincent D'Onofrio ("Don't Go in the Woods" '10) plus a short. Considering this filmmaker only has one feature film in the director's chair to his credit, this was amazingly well staged and paced. He has made the transition along with fellow actors, Clint Eastwood, Penny Marshall, Bradley Cooper, etc. There are certainly amazing directors out there that have never acted, but the ones that are actors can definitely be incredibly effective so to be able to relate to their actors, as with D'Onofrio. Chris Pratt was reported saying that he'd never played a villain, however D'Onofrio  told him that he could make Pratt bad. And I must say, he was bad. Maybe I've been used to Pratt playing the 'good' role, because it seemed that at times you could see Pratt's light-hearted side, but this might be me not being used to seeing him play an evil part. It was effectively written by Andrew Lanham ("The Shack" '17, "The Glass Castle" '17). Again, Lanham is fairly new to the writing realm, however the films to his credit are well thought out and definitely original and quirky. There were a couple of places of the script being disjointed and somewhat choppy, but all in all, this storyline was interesting and fresh on the genre of the western. If you like his brand of writing his "Just Mercy" is in post-production for a 2020 release.

Certainly if you are into the western genre, you'll love this, but even if not, this is quirky and fresh enough to capture ones' attention and keep you riveted. It's got a great ensemble cast and is painstakingly well directed. It's definitely worthy of a viewing in the multiplex to simply enjoy the large screen experience.

Out of 4 Stars: 3.5                                       Rated: R                                       99mins.