Despite some good performances, mainly by Ethan Hawke and Chris Pratt, "The Kid" never gets too far past its opening shock scene where a woman is beaten to death by her husband. The brutal husband is quickly dispatched by his young son who subsequently stabs his uncle in the face to make a chaotic getaway along with his frightened sister. This initial orgy of violence hangs over the film throughout. The "Kid" of the title is not Billy the Kid, but the young boy ("Rio") who has killed his father and is played by Jake Schur. Rio and his sister Sara (Leila George) soon bump into Billy the Kid (Dane DeHaan) and his gang who are also on the run. In a strange way, Billy sees a lot of himself in the young and impressionable Rio and quickly befriends him. DeHaan plays Billy as a cross between a juvenile delinquent and a world-weary philosopher and he is quite sympathetic. But before the two new pals can really get to know each other, Sheriff Pat Garrett arrives on the scene and Billy is soon in irons and heading back to Lincoln County to face murder charges, and most likely, a rope around his neck. On the way there, Garrett questions both Rio and Sara about how they arrived at their present messy state, but receives no satisfactory answer. Now incarcerated and awaiting trial, Billy playfully banters back-and-forth with his jailer, a mean-spirited psycho played by Adam Baldwin. "It'll be tough to see me hang when you're already dead," Billy tells him with a smirk on his face. He proves to be very prophetic in that regard. As history does record, Billy escaped from jail and killed two deputies in the process. Later, he gets shot down by Garrett under some murky circumstances. As for Rio and Sara, their evil uncle (Chris Pratt looking like a depraved madman) finally tracks them down, taking her hostage and then forcing her into prostitution. Poor Rio is thrown into the street to fend for himself. The rest of the film involves Rio's attempt to rescue her and eventually he is aided by Sheriff Garrett after explaining to him the whole sordid story. "The whole sordid story" pretty much sums up this film in a nutshell. Director Vincent D'Onofrio does a semi-competent job with a thinly-written script, but the local scenery should at least keep some viewers happy. Unfortunately, Rio's story and the Billy the Kid plotline mainly got in each other's way. You might say that the film had one "Kid" too many. I noticed some complaints from female reviewers mentioning that the women depicted were used as punching bags and not much else. Well, since the movie's action takes place in 1881, and long before Political Correctness was invented, what did they expect? The gals weren't voting yet either. As for this film, western fans will note that it covers some very familiar ground. Let's face it, the Pat Garrett/Billy the Kid story has already been done to death. "The Kid" doesn't add a lot to the tale except for some over-the-top violence and a few unfortunate ladies getting their heads bashed in. Pat Garrett himself was murdered in 1908. The exact circumstances of his demise are nearly as muddled as this movie.
Review of The Kid
