Kin - Movie Review

Great science fiction is elusive. Good science fiction is rare. I go in to most science fiction films just hoping for something palatable. Even then, I often find myself disappointed at missed opportunities. Kin gave me modest expectations, although I wasn't expecting a lot. I was hoping that it would at least be entertaining science fiction. In reality, the film is a muddled mess.

Elijah Solinski (Myles Truitt) is an adopted fourteen-year-old growing up in my hometown of Detroit. His father Hal (Dennis Quaid) is a hard working man who teaches his son hard lessons. His mother is deceased. His brother Jimmy (Jack Reynor) is soon to be released from jail. Elijah, known as Eli, hunts for scrap metals at abandoned buildings near his home. During his scrapping missions, Eli comes across a strange weapon left behind by mysterious soldiers that appear to have an alien origin. After bonding with the electronic pulse weapon, Eli ends up finding himself bailing his brother out of trouble. Trouble seems to follow Jimmy. Literally. Jimmy's attempts to protect Eli always seem to end up the other way around. The pair team up with a stripper, Milly (Zoe Kravitz) as they engage in a road trip that is not destined to end well.

Kin is based on a short film called Bag Man by directors Josh and Jonathan Baker. The short film was turned into a screenplay by Daniel Casey who has written screenplays for a couple of obscure films. This story was poorly conceived in almost every aspect. The story itself might have worked if the entire script had been overhauled. The characters are flat, the story is poorly executed and the themes make no sense. I think it is the theme that bothered me most. We have a young man who was raised in a strict home instilled with a strong moral compass. He is led astray by his older brother who does just about everything he can to undo the good lessons their father taught, and everything turns out okay. I was unable to reconcile the conflicting messages in the film, which seemed to meander aimlessly toward a big finale. The story was choppy, weak and didn't make sense.

Myles Truitt is a relative newcomer to Hollywood. He has done a bit of television, but appears to be breaking into film as well. For a kid who just hit the radar in 2017, he seems to be getting a lot of work. He seems like a solid young actor. I can't lay the blame for this script at his feet. His performance was good within the framework of a poorly conceived story. Dennis Quaid was Dennis Quaid. Solid. Unfortunately, he doesn't get much screen time here. Not that he could have salvaged this story, either. Reynor and Kravitz were okay. It is really hard to gauge their performances when the characters were so flat and the story so muddled. The casting was not this film's short coming.

Kin was rated PG-13 by the MPAA. They avoided a worse rating by steering clear of nudity, which isn't the easiest thing to do with an extended scene filmed in a strip club. The material was suggestive, if not blatantly adult in nature. The film includes plenty of alcohol consumption, thematic material, violence and some tense situations. The material makes it solidly a PG-13 film. Meaning, I would probably start at thirteen for my own age recommendation. Mostly because a kid around that age spends quite a bit of time in a strip club with is brother. It seemed gratuitous and pointless.

Kin starts with a mildly interesting science fiction premise. However, it is delivered as a shallow story with flat characters and conflicting themes. I wanted to like this film, mostly because good science fiction is so rare these days. Instead, I didn't even like this film enough to make a mild recommendation. It just wasn't good. The film felt like it wandered aimlessly as it attempted to set up a thrilling finale. The pacing was slow and the finale disappointing. Had the ending been delivered differently, it may have made more sense. But it just felt forced, contrived and tepid. Not good. 4.5/10.

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