The Kid (2019)

Another thing that someone would notice reading my reviews is that I'm a huge Ethan Hawke fan. I've been working through his entire filmography. There's only a handful left that I haven't seen. This one was a no brainer.

Dane DeHaan is another actor I really like. He plays Billy the Kid. Hawke is Pat Garrett. Chris Pratt plays a sick bastard. The story picks up toward the end of Billy's story from the perspective of a young boy who was forced to kill his father when the man was beating his wife to death.

I will admit that the first hour of the movie proved to be fairly slow. It got to the point I'd say that even with the characters they were depicting, they found an interesting way to keep it from being at all exciting. The trailer shows something more 'action packed'.

Unfortunately, it's pretty much a drama until the end. Once I got the feel for what they were going for, I became invested. The actors carried it very well. Chris Pratt had a few strange moments and he really did seem to have to force it when he had to turn up the creepy.

The look and feel is pretty consistent with modern Westerns. They nail the grit, the dirt, the filth...it just seems uncomfortable. In A Valley of Violence does this as does Appaloosa.

Some problems with the movie really come from the fact that it feels truncated at the end. Stuff happens too fast. The trailer hosed it a bit too. The one I saw showed a LOT of action. There isn't. This is a drama first and foremost. Much as I hate to ding a movie because of the advertisement, it's important to note that we as viewers gain an expectation from them.

It really suffers the same problem Hart's War did (a courtroom drama that looked like a war epic). There are some silly historical inaccuracies as well, but westerns rarely care TOO much about that and I mean, we're not here for a history lesson.

Just turns out I knew enough about these particular people to catch the problems.

All in all, I think The Kid is worth seeing. I'd recommend it if you love westerns or any of the people involved. Go in knowing it is not an action packed thrill ride and you should find it enjoyable.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.