This is going under O because of the director Vincent D’Onofrio, clutching at straws again here.
Writer: Andrew Lanham (Screenplay)
Starring: Ethan Hawke, Dane DeHaan, Jake Schur, Chris Pratt, Leila George, Adam Baldwin,
Plot: The story of a young boy who witnesses Billy the Kid’s encounter with Sheriff Pat Garrett.
Tagline – An Outlaw. A Lawmen. A Boy Caught In The Crossfire.
Runtime: 1 Hour 40 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Typical Western
Story: The Kid starts when Rio (Schur) and Leila Cutler (George) must go on the run after killing an abusive parent, with Grant (Pratt) the brother of the victim chasing them down, the pair meet Billy The Kid (DeHaan), while he is getting chased down by Pat Garrett (Hawke), finding themselves caught in the middle of their battle.
Once Grant catches up with the siblings, Rio must look to break Billy out to learn where his sister has been taken, showing that he has learnt a lot from his limited time with the famous outlaw.
Thoughts on The Kid
Characters – Rio Cutler is a young teenage boy that defended his sister, forcing them to go on the run from their Uncle. He learns a lot from Billy The Kid, wanting to be like him, fighting for the people who get walked over. He must learn to break the law to save his sister, joining forces with the most notorious outlaw in America. Billy The Kid is the outlaw we know, he will always look to escape from Garrett and isn’t afraid to kill, he isn’t as friendly as the other films portray him. Pat Garrett is the Sheriff that has been hunting down Billy and his men, he wants to claim the rewards, which does make him enemies on both sides of the law, he is just as heartless as any bounty hunter. Grant Cutler is the Uncle that wants his Rio and Sara to pay for the death of his brother, he will do horrible things to them if he catches them, forcing Rio to new limits to stop him.
Performances – Ethan Hawke and Dane DeHaan are both strong with the iconic names from history, being the cold heart figures. Jake Schur is great in his role for such a young actor, while Chris Pratt surprises us all with his truly disturbing performance.
Story – The story here follows a couple of siblings that get caught up in the middle of the battle between Billy The Kid and Pat Garrett, with their own battle, putting them in a position of not knowing which one they could trust to help them. This does bring a slightly new twist to the Billy The Kid story, where this one stands out more is by showing both the positives and negatives in both Billy and Pat, with a young teenage boy needing to decide which would be able to help him through his own struggles. By doing this we get to see how the people could saw the two men, how they would have been judge while the chases were on. How everything plays out though, is nothing fresh, we have been seeing this style of story for years and you know exactly what is going to happen before we get to the end.
Western – The western themes are here and strong throughout, using two iconic names from the history does help, with the stand offs, towns and mentalities all being shown through here.
Settings – The film does keep the settings making us feel like we are part of the old west, the small towns with dust running through, it all works for the film.
Scene of the Movie – Showdown with Grant.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – We could have spent more time with the Grant, Rio story, instead of just following how Billy and Pat are doing.
Final Thoughts – This is a typical western that doesn’t do too much to break the genre trends, the performances are strong throughout, which is the highlight of the film.
Overall: Strong Performances.