The story of a young boy who witnesses Billy the Kid’s encounter with Sheriff Pat Garrett.
Vincent D’Onofrio has played some of the most iconic villains I have ever seen. When I got the Blu-Ray for “The Kid,” I was surprised to find out he directed it and that it was not his first stab in the director’s chair. Going into this, I was excited to see familiar names such as Ethan Hawke, Dane DeHaan, and Chris Pratt. I was a bit apprehensive considering the Western genre has not been the same for over two decades. Unfortunately, my worries were validated and “The Kid” fails to break the stigma of the modern day Western film.
“The Kid” tells the story of Rio and Sara Cutler (Jake Schur and Leila George) who are on the run from their uncle (Pratt). On their journey, they run into the infamous Billy “The Kid” Bonney (DeHaan) who is currently being hunted by Sheriff Pat Garrett (Hawke). Ethan Hawke is good as always but is mirrored by DeHaan who just plays an over-the-top rascal of a criminal who is not interesting whatsoever. Schur, George, and Pratt all look like they are in this for an acting credit and do not bring anything memorable to the movie whatsoever.
The narrative itself is lost and doesn’t know what story to tell. The film could genuinely be split up into two separate movies, the Cutlers running away from their uncle and Sheriff Pat run-in with “The Kid.” Instead, the movie tries to conflate the two and they end up hanging by a thin thread that makes no sense. Rio Cutler is completely useless to the story and is only there to serve as a device for some of the story plots to go from point A to point B. Pratt’s character is mentioned at the beginning of the film, pretty much forgotten through the middle and is forcefully reintroduced in the backend. Pat Garrett and Billy’s relationship is, I guess, the most interesting part of the film but I still found myself not engaged in that storyline by the end.
D’Onofrio is not terrible in the director’s chair but his overall presence is not really felt. The storytelling is bland and even the action scenes are kind of lackluster. All the technical elements are as basic as it gets, except for the production design and costumes. Even the Blu-ray Special Features only consist of the “making of the film” and nothing you honestly remember after a few days. I was not impressed overall from D’Onofrio and company.
To conclude, I may never remember “The Kid” in a few day’s time and while the overall cast is fine, they don’t seem even remotely interested in the film they are in. D’Onofrio fails to make a fan out of me and so does the movie.
Now available on Blu-ray™ (plus Digital), DVD, Digital, and On Demand
