The Kid

Starring: Ethan Hawke, Dane DeHaan, Jake Schur, Chris Pratt, Leila George, Vincent D'Onofrio, Adam Baldwin

Director: Vincent D'Onofrio

After killing their abusive father, Sara (Leila George) and Rio (Jordan Schur) find themselves on the run from their psychotic Uncle Grant (Chris Pratt), who is hellbent on getting justice. On the way to family in Santa Fe, their paths cross Billy the Kid (Dane DeHaan), who is on the run from Pat Garrett (Ethan Hawke). After Billy is arrested and set to hang, Pat agrees to drop the siblings off in Santa Fe. Along the way, Sara is kidnapped by Grant, leaving Rio to seek the help of Billy to get her back.

This movie is kind of a mess and doesn’t know which story it wants to tell. It either needs to choose to be about Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid or be about Rio and Sara’s relationship as they are forced on the lam from their violent and unstable uncle. Because of the story structure it uses, with Uncle Grant and Sara out of the picture for most of the run time, many characters and their motivations are unclear. Billy the Kid is especially confusing, as he turns from cold blooded killer to sympathetic, depending on the scene. Rio’s idolization of him is also unclear.

The only actor who comes out unscathed is Ethan Hawke, who despite playing a fictionalized version of Pat Garrett, does everything he can to save the movie, by turning in a competent performance that makes the film almost watchable. Chris Pratt, though barely in the film, is saddled with a very fake beard that distracted me every time he was on screen. Many of his scenes also felt as if the first take was the one used and he must have been on set maybe a day or two. Dane Dehaan is woefully miscast, never finding the right tone for Billy and often resorting to overacting.

The action, when it happens, is pretty violent but is edited poorly with a quick and jarring cut being added for a blood effect. D'Onofrio must have not liked what he saw in the editing room and tried to cover it up.

Despite a solid performance by Ethan Hawke, this probably could have gone to VOD.