Kid
(1991)
Director: John Mark
Robinson
Cast: C. Thomas Howell, Sarah Trigger, Brian Austin Green
It can be tough, trying to find new movies that are not
only real movies, but are also well made enough to be
pleasing. Of course, if you are a regular reader of The Unknown Movies,
you know where you can learn about such movies on a regular basis. But
what happens once I pass on? What will you do when one night, Andy
Sidaris (or Albert Pyun... or Cynthia Rothrock... or any of a number of
other people I've thoroughly insulted on this web site) breaks into my
room and murders me in my sleep? How will you, or anyone else for that
matter, be able to find the kind of movies I was talking about in the
first sentence of this paragraph? It is incredibly hard. In fact, it's
much more easier to come up with general rules as to what kind of
movies should be avoided. For example, any movies involving those three
individuals I mentioned a few sentences ago. Or movies made by certain
companies, like Le Monde, Phoenician Entertainment, or Franchise
Pictures. There are occasional exceptions to such rules (for example
Franchise Pictures was behind Boondock
Saints), just like there are exceptions to the few rules
that do exist in helping movie fans find worthy movies. Though in the
past I've helped to point out that you typically can't go wrong with a
western, The Stalking Moon
showed that even a seemingly perfect genre can stumble once in a while.
The remaining rules don't as frequently strike gold as
westerns, but they do help in at least considerably increasing your
odds of success. Some of these rules can apply to a particular actor
appearing in the movie in question. For
example, if you see a direct-to-video movie starring C. Thomas Howell,
it is a strong possibility the movie will be at the very least above
average for this particular genre. Serious. I can understand why you
may find that hard to believe; after all, even today Howell is perhaps
best known for the often cheesy teen movies in the early part of his
career, like Soul Man or A Tiger's Tale.
And those movies probably explain why he ended up in the straight to
video market. But one he was there, Howell didn't do what most faded
stars do once in that position, that being to accept just about any
role for a paycheck regardless of quality. First of all, it seems he
decided to give his image a complete makeover, so he wouldn't be stuck
and restricted with a teeny-bopper image. He switched primarily to
making action movies, playing hardened and often violent characters
unlike what he'd played before, giving moviegoers something new to see.
Second, he developed what seems to be a canny skill in choosing
projects that had more of a chance of success. A number of these
projected did end up being successful (The
Sweeper), and even the ones that may not have ended up
excellent or good (Hot Boyz)
usually still have substantial merit. Howell has made the occasional
utter bomb (Dilemma), but even factoring those mishaps,
his batting average is still very good.
Kid marked Howell's first effort into the
made-for-video genre, and proves to be another example of that rule.
While the movie can't be considered excellent or good because of a
fatal miscalculation during its conception, it can't be completely
discounted because the remaining aspects are all accomplished with
exceeding professionalism. As misguided as it may be at times, it still
proves in the end to be better than many other made-for-video movies.
It's a tale that takes place in one of those small desert towns that
has seen better days, that is, if it had any in the first place. Where
dust flies around due to a strong wind that beats around any movable
wooden object with loud thumps, just before in the shimmering distance
we see something moving towards to the town. Even if you haven't read
the back of the video box, (or the description in your cable TV guide)
you almost certainly at this point know what kind of movie this is
going to be. It's going to be a revenge movie, the kind where a
mysterious stranger comes to town and soon starts making trouble for
all the citizens that deserve it. If the object moving towards town in
the particular rendition of this formula you are watching isn't
reflecting light, then you are watching a true western. If it is
reflecting light, you know you'll be seeing a modern update of one.
It's what we saw in The Stranger
all over again, though here the stranger is male, and apparently
doesn't have enough money to buy a motorbike, since he was riding on a
bus that drops him off once in town.
We've seen this story many times before. But to that I
say: So what? I personally enjoy this formula, and I am confident a lot
of people would agree with me. I certainly can't speak for
everyone when it comes to explaining why this familiar plot is so
enjoyable, but I am pretty sure that many people would share my
viewpoint that it is very satisfying to see someone not only stand up
and vanquish scum in the worst way, but get away with it. Though there
is certainly some advantage in making the punisher more of an ordinary
figure - the audience would be able to better identify with that
individual - at the same time it can't be denied that it's also
enjoyable (though in a different sense) for that person to be shown as
greatly skilled and confident. (If I could only be like him!) This
movie's mysterious stranger doesn't get to show off many great skills,
save for an ingenious way of combining a tennis ball with bug spray,
but he does have the extreme cool common for his kind of persona. In
his first real tough-guy role, Howell tackles it with as much
confidence as his character has. Walking into rooms, his strut has the
air of someone who doesn't seem to feel he needs to keep a close eye on
anything happening around him. His eyes also have that detached feel,
but at the same time you sense a strength behind them that could easily
be let out. He doesn't raise his voice much, but somehow you can always
tell by listening to it when he is losing his patience.
While Howell gives the "Kid" the tough guy air we
welcome in characters like his, at the same time he and the screenplay
give his character a few little twists so he doesn't become as
interchangeable as admittedly many of these characters are. The Kid
lets out a good and warm-hearted laugh at one point, showing a sense of
humor. Though he's reserved and a little reluctant for companionship,
the relationship he strikes up with the strong-minded woman (played by Turks'
Trigger) that typically appears in movies like this does get him to
develop a closeness of sorts. He also seems more tolerable of the wild
behavior of her heavy metal-loving brother (Beverly Hills 90201's
Green) than she seems to be. As you probably guessed, the Kid soon
finds himself more or less a protector for the two siblings from a
rotten element in the town, that being in this case the two rotten
grown sons of the equally rotten town sheriff (R. Lee Ermey, Full
Metal Jacket). And this of course leads to several scenes where
the two brothers get into confrontations with the Kid, but quickly find
themselves running back to papa. Two of these scenes - all-out
fistfights - are very well done, not lengthy but deliver the daily
requirement of movie brutality. However, there are two other
confrontations that are real disappointments, ending almost as soon as
they begin, and simply refusing to fully exploit the art that can be
found in wielding a mop handle or a pitchfork.
That's not the only problem I found regarding those two
characters. Not too long into the movie, after the Kid has a couple or
so confrontations with them, it soon becomes clear that they are not in
any part in the Kid's plans. Neither do they
influence other characters or outside events in any way that gets the
Kid needing to think of new strategies. They are only in the movie in
the first place because the movie seems to feel there would be a
considerable lack in action sequences otherwise, which is made most
painfully clear when near the end of the movie they pop out of nowhere
to try and save a climax that would be best described as underwhelming.
Making things worse is that they are underwhelming characters
themselves, two chortling dolts who don't come across much more
threatening than a schoolyard bully, and get their asses whupped in
short notice each time they confront the Kid. They are not the only
disappointing characters of an antagonistic nature in the movie. Ermery
is appropriately mean and menacing as the sheriff, but he only appears
in the movie for about three short scenes, which isn't enough time to
make him a worthy threat. It's the same with the character played by
Dale Dye (Band Of Brothers), even though you would think that
the identity of his character would put a major complication on the
Kid's plan when he (eventually) appears. It's even worse with two other
characters on the Kid's hit list; in both cases, after their scene of
introduction ends, they are immediately killed off by the Kid in the
next scene.
Somewhat better character construction can be found with
the roles Trigger and Green play. While the strong-minded woman Trigger
plays really has nothing about her that we haven't seen before, all of
these familiar attributes are at least presented in a way that gives
you no doubts that such a character could exist in real life. Trigger
herself gives a natural and unforced performance, showing both a
sweetness and an assertiveness, though underplaying both sides just
enough so that they don't come across as forced. As her brother,
Green's appearance and voice creepily come across as effeminate at
times, but despite those two strikes he does give an energetic
performance that clearly shows he's having fun in his role. His
character's obsession with heavy metal gives the movie some very
welcome comic relief, including some absolutely hilarious one-liners.
I could go on longer into what works in Kid,
like how great it looks despite a low budget (nicely-lensed Arizona
locations.) But no matter how long the list is of good things is, it in no
way is able to compensate for a single, yet fatal, misstep the movie
makes. Though the movie may sounds like it's an intense and determined
revenge movie, it feels anything but. This is an incredibly slow movie;
minutes go by where the story comes to a complete halt and refuses to
advance. The Kid himself doesn't seem that interested in completing
things, and doesn't even seem to have any kind of real plan in mind
when he comes into town. In fact, he only remembers what he came into
town for in the first place whenever he just happens to bump into one
of those men who did him wrong all those years ago. The rest of the
time he mostly seems content to stay in his motel room, or hang around
with Trigger and Green. Which of course lead to the inclusion of those
two idiot brothers I previously mentioned, with their added shenanigans
not really improving things much. If the movie had dropped those two
idiots, then fully developed and extensively followed the chief
villains (which in turn would have almost certainly made the Kid having
a good reason to get up more and do more), we might have had
something here. Yes, we've seen this same story many times before.
That's not the problem - the problem is that we have already seen it
done a lot better than it's done here.
This is a tag team
review, pairing up with Kenner of Ziggy's Video Realm and Movies
In The Attic. To read Kenner's review, click
here!
Check
for availability on Amazon (VHS)
See also: Legacy Of Rage, Lone Hero, The Stranger
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