Two heads are better than one, so the old adage goes. Sadly, this doesn’t apply either to the Baker
brothers or their directorial debut, “Kin” (1/2 OUT OF ****), that juggles a
sci-fi thriller about a lost space gun, a dysfunctional family crisis with a
juvenile-in-jeopardy, a cross-country chase, and a revenge melodrama. Basically, Australian brothers Jonathan and
Josh Baker developed “Kin” from their own fifteen-minute short “Bag Man” (2014). In “Bag Man,” an African-American youngster stashes
an exotic space carbine under his bed at home without informing his stern single
mom. Sneaking it out in a duffel bag for
target practice, he winds up in a remote clearing, but rescues a man with a bag
over his head from three murderous ruffians.
They were armed and abusive to the bag man and had bound his wrists behind
his back. At one point, one of the three
wields a shovel and knocks the bag man off his knees onto his head. The black kid disrupts their orgy of violence,
and the shooting commences. The bizarre alien
weapon dissolves the three assailants into atoms when the kid lets them have
it! Lean, mean, and electrifying, “Bag
Man” doesn’t squander a second. Indeed,
the Bakers left a lot to the imagination, but most people could probably fill
in the gaps. Not only did I enjoy “Bag
Man” (*** OUT OF ****), but I could watch it again.
Unfortunately, this doesn’t apply to “Kin.” First, the Baker brothers bite off more than
they can chew. Scenarist Daniel Casey of “The Passage” has helped to expand the
plot far beyond “Bag Man” with too many stock characters. Second, the only character who deserves our
sympathy is gunned down too early.
Third, the rest of the characters—except for the African-American teen
who salvaged the weapon—are worthless specimens of humanity with little
dimension. Fourth, the filmmakers could
have told us a little about this otherworldly firearm and its apparently infinite
ammo capacity. We never learn if it
contains a battery that keeps it charged up and ready to blast. Fifth, the mysterious weapon that the youth found
isn’t deployed until halfway through the road trip. Furthermore, our juvenile protagonist doesn’t
have a chance to display its heavy-duty firepower until an explosive finale in
a besieged Nevada police station.
“Kin” opens in modern-day Detroit, where a strange firefight occurs
in a derelict factory building. As noisy
as it sounds, this activity doesn’t attract the attention of the police. Later, a 14-year old African-American, Eli
Solinski (Myles Truitt of “Dragged Across Concrete”), who rides his bike around
to these forsaken edifices, scours them for anything of value. Although he is black, Eli is the adopted son
of a hard-working contractor, Hal Solinski (Dennis Quaid of “The Long Riders”),
but the Solinskis have fallen on hard times.
Hal’s wife has died, and his oldest biological son, Jimmy (Jack Reynor
of “Free Fire”), has just been released from prison after a six-year
sentence. Hal and Jimmy don’t get along,
but Hal is letting Jimmy sack out at the house until he can land a job. When Jimmy asks his father for a job, but Hal
refuses to hire him because he is an ex-con.
Jimmy looks up an old friend, Taylor Balik (James Franco of “Future
World”), who deals in contraband firearms, and reassures him, he hasn’t
forgotten about the $60-thousand that he owes him. Taylor demands his dough pronto, and he lacks
patience. Jimmy approaches Hal about a
loan, but Hal rules it out, too. One
evening, when Hal returns to his office with Eli riding with him, he confronts
Jimmy, Taylor, and Taylor’s brother.
They have broken into his office and are ransacking his safe. Hal brandishes a crowbar, and a deadly fight
ensues. Hal dies from a gunshot wound, but
Taylor’s brother bites the dust, too. Managing
to escape, Jimmy flees in Hal’s truck with Eli.
Repeatedly, Jimmy concocts one lie after another to dupe Eli into
believing that Hal has dispatched them off on a cross-country trip to Lake
Tahoe where they will all reunite. Eli
packs a few things, including the duffel bag with the futuristic weapon.
Earlier, while combing through a deserted factory building,
Eli discovers two space soldiers in a sinister black outfits. One of them had lost his head during the
firefight. Eli handles a strange-looking
weapon that resembles a high-tech military assault rifle. When he is toying with the weapon, he
activates it, and a laser sighting system illuminates the weapon with several gauges
and numbers. Eli says nothing about his
discovery. Later, Hal learns about Eli’s
behavior troubles and school suspension. Later, he chews him out for stealing things
from deserted buildings. All of this
leads up to Hal taking Eli along with him to his office where he discovers
Jimmy and Taylor ransacking the company safe.
Meanwhile, a vindictive, grief-stricken Taylor loads up an arsenal of
firepower along with his homicidal henchmen, and they pursue Jimmy and
Eli. Later, two space soldiers
materialize out of nowhere in the building where the gun was lost. They activate a locator device to track the
weapon. Essentially, it’s road trip time,
and everybody is lined-up in hot pursuit of our heroes.
Whereas “Bag Man” delivers simple and straightforward action,
“Kin” struggles with too many characters and too many clichés. The Bakers provide little background about
the aliens, who appeared after the loss of the weapon and then reappeared for
the lively finale. The last-minute
revelation not only about the weapon, but also Eli’s identity seems like a last-minute
addition to generate a sequel. During
the final scene, when the aliens expose their humanoid faces, actor &
producer Michael B. Jordan of “Black Panther” fame makes a cameo appearance as
one. Ultimately, “Kin” amounts to little
more than a remake of the cheapjack 1978 sci-fi thriller “Laserblast” about a
youth on a rampage with an alien weapon.
