Chris Pratt And Ethan Hawke Starred In A Forgotten Western Directed By A Daredevil Actor

Vincent D'Onofrio might be best known these days for playing Wilson Fisk/Kingpin in the Marvel TV shows "Daredevil" and "Daredevil: Born Again,", but the actor has played several memorable roles across his career. D'Onofrio broke through with his turn in Stanley Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket," after which he went on to star in films like "Men In Black," "The Magnificent Seven," "Strange Days," and "Jurassic World." He also branched out into directing with the 2005 short "Five Minutes, Mr. Welles," itself a follow-up to his cameo as Orson Welles in Tim Burton's "Ed Wood." Then, after helming the musical slasher (!) "Don't Go in the Woods" in 2010, D'Onofrio directed (and appeared in) "The Kid," the 2019 Western starring the likes of Ethan Hawke, Chris Pratt, Dane DeHaan, and Adam Baldwin.

So, what's "The Kid" about? The film tackles the story of Old West outlaw and gunfighter Billy the Kid, himself having inspired older Western movies like Sam Peckinpah's visceral "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid" and Howard Hughes' underwhelming "The Outlaw." D'Onofrio, however, dramatizes the legendary showdown between Billy the Kid (DeHaan) and Sheriff Pat Garrett (Hawke) with distinctly different themes in mind. His picture centers on Rio (Jake Schur), a 14-year-old whose traumatic childhood adds an unsavory quality to his coming-of-age journey. Just as Rio decides to make a run for freedom, though, his cruel Uncle Grant (Pratt) steps in to ensure that doesn't happen.

While "The Kid" does its best to approach the Billy Kid mythos from the perspective of a child whose life has been afflicted by the violent men in his life, it doesn't have anything particularly new to say. Even so, it's a valiant directorial effort by D'Onofrio that's worth checking out, assuming you're a fan of Westerns that are fairly meditative in nature.

Any work of fiction is driven by creative contrivances, but the difference between a plausible and implausible story comes down to suspension of disbelief. "The Kid" gets a lot of mileage from its grounded premise, which involves Rio having to take matters into his own hands to escape his abusive household. It's entirely believable that a child flanked by violence is going to enact it at some point and that his morality will be tested as he meets new people. Unfortunately, this promising thread is abandoned in the film's shoddy, impractical third act, which focuses on a shootout that feels hastily put-together.

Vincent D'Onofrio discussed this unrealistic element in a 2019 interview with Den of Geek, explaining why, in his view, it works as a part of Rio's story:

"The thing about the idea of making a Western is that, especially from the point of view of a young man, you can romanticize it a little bit so you can get away with some stuff that's not totally realistic. Whether in the way that they speak and scenarios that happen with the young boy, in the end, it's a movie, and you can get away with a lot in a movie."

While this logic is sound, Andrew Lanham's screenplay isn't taut or subtle enough to pull this off. "The Kid" also makes the baffling decision to flatten its female characters, which inadvertently detracts from its pointed criticism of patriarchal abuse/violence. Sara (Leila George), Rio's sister, has fleshed-out motivations, but her goals are sidelined to cater to male characters. Still, these flaws aside, "The Kid" is kept on-course by Ethan Hawke and Dane DeHaan's compelling performances, which prevent this would-be unconventional Western from flying off the rails entirely.