Probably never heard of this movie, have you? Don’t worry, I’ll tell ya about it.

Kin.

This is a movie that I had interest in seeing after hearing the premise. A family drama crime thriller, but with a sci-fi twist. It sounds like a neat, fresh idea. So I decided to give this film a shot and… it’s interesting.

I honestly feel like this movie would be better without the sci-fi elements. Lemme talk about it.

Family on the run:

Now, if anyone tells you about a movie involving a broken family that comes together thanks to something from space, the first thing you’d probably think of is the animated Disney movie, Lilo and Stitch. This movie, while having its differences, I can’t help but think of that movie when viewing this one. We have the Lilo, Eli, a kid from a broken home who recently lost his mother and has only his father left, resorting to finding scraps to make a bit of money. We have the Nani, Jimmy, a rebellious thief with attitude and Eli’s brother who just wants to be there for his sibling. We have the David of the movie, who is a friend who helps them through their journey… who in this movie’s case, a stripper named Milly.

Now, who’s our Stitch in this movie? Well, it isn’t an endearing alien… but one thing these two intergalactic entities have in common is that they both were made to destroy. In this case, a bulky space ray gun that Eli finds.

After a series of tragic events causes Jimmy to take Eli across the country to escape from a crime lord’s crew led by James Franco, with Eli not knowing the tragedies behind the scenes that led to this trip, it’s a race to not get caught while the two brothers bond despite their differing morals. Meanwhile, intergalactic hunters are also after the family, searching for the stolen gun… kinda like Jumba and Pleakely trying to find Stitch.

While the movie has a really lame, generic opening, that feels boring and done before, the moment the plot kicks into gear, you’re instantly invested in the fate of those two brothers when before, you cared… but not too much since their character types have been seen a thousand times before. It just goes to show the importance of circumstances in a story, and how the directions and tone changed catches you off-guard. Because of the dire scenario these two are in, and the secrets withheld by Jimmy that are central to everything, you are hooked in seeing how they get out of this. If they get out of this.

The movie plays into our emotions, specifically, empathy to make up for the cliche character archetypes. Even if someone isn’t a person you particularly like too much, you still feel sad and worried if anything happens to anyone you know, and it’s not like nobody in this movie is by any means hatable. Because of this, the movie gets you to care for their well-being and hope their relationship grows and all will be mended. It’s clever how the filmmakers were able to step aside the poor establishment yet molds a compelling story regardless.

Now, does this mean I should excuse the archetypes of these characters? No, not really. There could be more meat to some and it would make the story infinitely more engaging, but as it is, it could’ve been a lot worse.

In regards to character development, though, that’s where the archetypes do add to the story, not gonna lie. A big part of the movie involves around emotional impression. How one can be influenced to do bad for an ulterior motive, even if it’s good. Just how far should you go before something is too far? What will separate the heroes from the villains, and Eli’s impressionability and Jimmy’s “do at all costs” attitude aid to that theme very well because they are so blatantly emphasized as a specific personality trait.

James Franco as a villain, while over the top at times, also deserves some praise for still being intimidating and actually having quite a bit more meat than your average cigarete smoking, booze drinking, money obsessed bad guy. If anything, money isn’t even much of his motivation but rather his own connection to his family, providing a thematic parallel as to what happens to someone without a family to go to.





Ohana doesn’t need a big freakin’ gun:

…Now, you noticed how after all this, I never talked about the main gimmick of this film? The space gun? Yeah, that’s where we delve into the movie’s more negative standpoints… and I can’t believe I’m saying that since I love seeing sci-fi elements in everything but the execution of the implementation of the alien sub-plot is poorly done.

Not enough of the movie revolves around the gun. It feels too disconnected and not irrelevant for the most part, and once you get to the halfway point, the gun is finally used to aid to the story’s progression but by that point, it’s too little too late. Now it feels out of place, and still isn’t that important aside from moments where something needs to be blown up to provide an exit or getaway, nothing more and does little to aid in the bonding Eli and Jimmy form because… well, it came into the film too late.

It’s not like the sci-fi couldn’t be done well. For example, let’s bring back Lilo and Stitch for comparison. Lilo and Nani were two people that didn’t get along. Lilo couldn’t understand Nani well while Nani was trying to do the best she could as a mother figure because Lilo had nothing else. Then, Stitch came into their life, and thanks to his endearingly curious albeit destructive personality, and the circumstances his appearance led to, it only got Lilo and Nani closer in the end. Stitch as a character, as well as the intergalactic aspect as a whole, was written with the goal of aiding to the theme of the story which is getting it back together.

I mean, look at the title, even the title for Lilo and Stitch was tailor made to convey this theme. It was never just a cheeky and obvious naming convention because yes, the movie’s about Lilo and Stitch. If you look deeper, though, it was telling you the story in three letters. Lilo in Hawaiian means “lost”, which is the state of Lilo and Nani’s relationship and Stitch, as the literal term suggests is a means of putting something back together.

So Lilo and Stitch means “lost and put back together”.

The ray gun never embodies that message, nor is a metaphor for one. It was just a gimmick to lure sci-fi lovers into the theater and nothing else, which is a shame. Because it never amounts to much in the main theme, the scenes which focus on the gun grinds the film’s pacing to a halt to either see these needless hunters on their search for the gun, to see the gun perform cool noises and actions or to blow something up. Nothing more, nothing less.

Actually, it does less and hurts the movie more than you expect.





A gunned down resolution:

With this story of a team comprising of a thief, a stripper and a kid with a gun on the run from the Green Goblin’s gang and a couple of Halo knockoffs, you expect quite an epic climax, right? Well, you do get an intense climax, which is pretty much the movie in general where the suspense of impending doom looms over any sort of levity the movie gives, leaving you on the edge of your seat… this doesn’t mean the film gave a good resolution.

If anything, more problems arise from it. At least for us.

We learn barely anything about the gun, about these aliens, Eli’s connection to the gun, the overall mystery is still a mystery aside from a sequence of what are literally teases. Teases for what? Well, we’re in the age of cinematic universes where nothing can be standalone, right? Might as well tease a sequel promising to reveal all the mysteries we really should have from movie 1.

Because I don’t think we’re getting a sequel.

It goes to show just how meaningless the gun is. Not only does it pause the movie to uphold a mandatory gimmick, not only does it not aid all that much into the theme, but it just leaves you with more questions than answers for the sake of hoping you’d shell out more bucks just for a simple answer. While the family drama aspect is wrapped up, lots of elements are still left out in the open and the movie knows it.

Movie studios shouldn’t be this confident in their build-ups. They are totally free to leave it open to continuation, but the movie, particularly the first installment should work standalone. Because now, this movie can’t stand on its own. It can’t. Now it’s just an hour and fifty minute long teaser for a film we might not even get, ruining the impact this movie leaves on you.

This, most of all breaks the movie. We go into it expecting a solid beginning, middle and an end. I argue, we never even got an end, making the story practically incomplete.





Final thoughts:

I appreciate Kin for what it tried to do. It tried to be a compelling family drama with a clever twist from an entirely different genre in an attempt to make an new concoction of storytelling. It tries to prove there truly are no limits to the power of imagination and I do agree with that statement. Such a mixture is possible, Disney got that down in 2002.

But Kin suffers from a slow, uninteresting beginning and a non-existent end where it makes you wonder if the middle is even worth it. Not to mention the stunning cinematography, which uses the shaky, unkempt camera style of a drama with the techno music of sci-fi. Has those negative aspects dragged the great parts down with it? Maybe. You wonder if all of this was even worth it.

If you’re looking for a movie to eat up your time and don’t mind too many open questions that may never get answered, all for the sake of a good second act? Kin will do just fine for you, then.

Anyone else? You’re better off watching Lilo and Stitch.﻿