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'Kin' Review

A Huge Story Limited by Its Runtime

By Aaron CarlingPublished 6 years ago 4 min read
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With the producers of Stranger Things and Arrival, plus the acting talents of Dennis Quaid and James Franco, you would think Kin would at least fulfill some desires of seeing a modern setting get mixed up in sci-fi hullabaloo. As the movie runs on, however, it becomes quite clear that the trailer drags you in for something that the movie will not quite deliver on in the final cut.

Kin shows a bit of promise, but no amount of familiar faces, familiar producers, or an interesting plot make the trip worthwhile.

There's a few drawbacks, but also a few bonus points that help one get through the movie. Hopefully as we go through them together, you can decide if you'd like to see it yourself.

The Cons

Contrary to what the poster wants you to believe, no one gets abducted.

Firstly, we have our protagonist's brother, Jimmy Solinski. Played by Jack Reynor, Jimmy is an ex-con that is just always in the wrong place at the wrong time. Reynor himself does as well as he can to bring the character to life and to be believable, but the writing for Jimmy is so bad that you can't help but detest him through the movie's run time.

Sure, that could be the point by the end of the film, but when every choice he makes doesn't actually make any sense (like bringing your 14 year old brother to a strip club somehow) you can't help but throw up your hands in disbelief. A couple tweaks to his actual character in the script would've made some of his decisions make more sense, but with what we were given, there's simply not enough context to make his decisions seem like a good idea.

Many questions arise as the plot continues to thicken throughout the film, but by the time the final act starts, it becomes clear that not many of those questions will be answered by the end.

On top of that, even more questions are thrown at you with minutes to spare that either force you to be intrigued by this new layer of mystery or to just not even care.

With that in mind, the whole movie feels more like an introduction to something more than a standalone film, which makes for another drawback for the movie. Without a sequel, the film crumbles underneath the weight of all it hints at.

Kin's story and character problems would be alleviated drastically if it was in a television format. More time spent with the characters would help us understand their decisions better and more time spent with some of the more sci-fi elements of the film would help get some more context to the questions we're left with. However, due to its format as a movie, some of those things have to be cut and edited out to help with the run time, or to be answered in future installments, if there are any.

Unfortunately, the movie tries to tackle so much, that it would've worked better to tackle it as a TV show instead.

The Pros

Overall, the acting in Kin works. The writing for the characters sometimes falters, but the actors do their best to bring them to life. James Franco is the star of the show and does great at being the antagonist of the film, and even has a few genuine scenes that strike some fear into you.

Dennis Quaid has some great scenes as well and overall, the actors do have a bit of chemistry together. Miles Truitt holds his own for the most part, although he never has a lot of scenes where he shines through.

The score by Mowgli also isn't too bad. It lends a lot to the film's overall feel. The film itself still looks really good and the sound design for some of the sci-fi elements is very well done, although sparsely used.

The Verdict

Kin has a lot of promise overall. There's enough star power in it to help liven up the film and the premise is interesting enough, but the execution and scope of the film only leads to disappointment.

It fails as a standalone film and largely depends on a sequel to help wrap up the questions it leaves for the audience, which is just bad filmmaking, plain and simple.

But, if you go in with low expectations and with a couple of friends, you might be casually entertained over the weekend.

If it was a TV show that spent the time correcting some of the previous setbacks we discussed, I would binge the crap out of it.

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About the Creator

Aaron Carling

Aaron loves Music, Movies, TV, Video Games, and pretty much anything Pop Culture. He should spend more time outside.

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