Literally the only reason that I saw Kin was because I couldn’t get my act together to see The Darkest Minds, and this film seemed like it had less funding for production and marketing. I wasn’t going to let down another black kid protagonist in a sci-fi movie! I didn’t know anything about the movie before going in so I blame myself for going in blindly and not enjoying the majority of the film, but I did enjoy elements of the film so I didn’t leave mad, and if there was a sequel, I would probably go to the theater for a matinee.
Kin was based on a short fifteen-minute film, Bag Man, which can be found on YouTube, and I watched after the movie. Jonathan and Josh Baker directed and wrote both. An excellent short film does not automatically equal a good feature. Actually it can often mean the opposite because after seeing Alive in Joburg, I eagerly awaited District 9 and was utterly disappointed.
Kin is set in Detroit and focuses on the sons in a blue collar family, Eli, an adopted teenager, and his older brother, Jimmy, who just got out of jail. Their father is trying to get them to follow the straight and narrow in life, but Jimmy literally couldn’t stay out of trouble to save his life, and Eli prefers scrapping to going to school. While playing hooky, he stumbles on the aftermath of a mysterious fight and recovers a gun of unknown origin and abilities. As Eli and Jimmy spend more time together, they must decide what kind of men will they be as they face mounting challenges that culminate in a third act that will either strain audience’s credulity or will be your favorite part of the movie.
I am probably one of the few audience members who would have preferred if we just dropped this Lifetime for men drama crap, cut the majority of the film and with no explanation, started with Eli confronting his brother then everything going bananas in the best way possible for the entire film. It is utterly unrealistic and ridiculous, but I loved how the third act of Kin tied most of the threads together that pays homage to the Terminator franchise and John Carpenter’s Assault on Precinct 13. I bought my movie ticket for these moments, not to cringe at a series of increasingly bad life decisions that inadvertently create an argument against interracial adoption and for gun control. The third act also has an unexpected cameo unless you really pay attention to the credits on who helped make the film then it makes complete sense. I totally didn’t see it coming, but when it did, I realized that no matter how bad the majority of the film was, I would be back for me if there were a next time.
The real problem with Kin is that in their excitement to finally make a feature film, the Baker brothers want to do too much as if they will never get a second bite at the apple. It is a family drama, a crime film, a road trip movie and a sci-fi film. It never coalesces into a cohesive story that interested me, especially since I did not come for Jack Reynor, who does a great job being likeable in spite of being the biggest frack up ever. Imagine Seth Rogan but a little hotter and with a drier sense of humor. Because I did not come for Jimmy and understood that he was never going to amount to anything, I was not invested in him, and half the movie is about rooting for him to overcome the obstacles that he put in his own path. No, thank you. Also I spent the majority of the film thinking that he was going to get his little brother shot and placed in the jail for his messes. They shoot black kids for less in the real world. I don’t need that kind of stress in my life. Sure, Jimmy, you can surrender to the cops and live, but Eli may not. They’ll think that Eli was the criminal mastermind. Fortunately it is a movie and unrealistic so the cops treat Eli like a kid and a victim so phew. I know that I spoiled the movie a bit, but you don’t need that kind of burden on your spirit, especially if you want to enjoy the movie.
Also because Kin is PG-13, it wants to go hard, but has to restrain itself because kids are in the audience. There are scenes set in a strip club, but no nudity or sex scenes. For me, the strip club is another excuse to create tension that the kid must alleviate and give more action scenes to the audience, but if this movie were rated R, the trip to the casino would have resulted in a sex scene and some crazy, impromptu relationship between Jimmy and a stripper. Instead the whole thing is innocent, which is fine with me, but then why do we even have to go to a strip club? It feels like filler and is a lame excuse to inject some feminine energy into the movie so a dose of responsibility and caution can come into play. When a woman is introduced at the eleventh hour, it feels as if she could have fulfilled that assignment, but because she isn’t hot or a sex object, and guys need to have a hot chick around, most of her role probably ended up on the cutting room floor.
If I had known that James Franco was in Kin as the villain, I would not have seen this movie. It isn’t that he doesn’t do a good job. He does, and every time that he is on screen, I knew that he would do something crazy, but with Franco, I can see the gears moving as he creates a character and always expect him to break character and start laughing. Franco is always still too visible and recognizable in his roles. He does not disappear into his character, but seems to be playing and have a formula that he revisits when he takes on certain roles as if he has a recipe card that he yanks out when it is time. I enjoyed his storyline, but he does not feel organic.
Should you see Kin? Probably not, but the last third made me so happy that maybe you should rent it and fast forward or buy a matinee ticket and have someone wake you up when it gets to the point that I referenced earlier. Kin is very different from the short and seems to be cynically constructed to appeal to a broader audience, which I think is unfortunate. We came for the gun. We didn’t need anything else than a black kid saving people under extreme circumstances.