Kin (film)

Kin is a 2018 American science fiction action film directed by Jonathan and Josh Baker and written by Daniel Casey, based on the 2014 short film "Bag Man". The film stars Myles Truitt, Jack Reynor, Zoë Kravitz, Carrie Coon, Dennis Quaid, James Franco, and Michael B. Jordan. The story follows a young boy who finds a strange weapon and his newly paroled brother. The film was released in the United States on August 31, 2018, by Lionsgate and was met with both critical and commercial failure.
Plot.
Fourteen-year-old Elijah "Eli" Solinski lives in Detroit with his stern adoptive father Hal, a widower. While scavenging an abandoned building for copper wiring to sell, Eli discovers the aftermath of a skirmish, with armored corpses and high-tech weaponry strewn about. He picks up a strange weapon, but drops it and flees after it mechanically activates. That evening, Eli's newly paroled older brother Jimmy, Hal's biological son, returns home to Hal's chagrin. Eli dreams of the weapon and sneaks out to retrieve it. Sneaking back in, he overhears Hal and Jimmy arguing. Jimmy owes $60,000 in protection money to Taylor, a local crime lord, and asks Hal to help him steal the money from Hal's employer. Hal refuses and kicks Jimmy out. The next night, Hal catches Jimmy and Taylor breaking into his office's safe. Hal is unwilling to walk away, so Taylor shoots and kills him. Jimmy kills Taylor's brother in the ensuing scuffle and flees with the money. Jimmy convinces Eli that Hal is stuck at a work emergency and wants to meet them at Lake Tahoe. Eli secretly packs the weapon, and they leave moments before Taylor and his gang arrive to ransack the house. Taylor vows to kill Jimmy, as well as Eli to avenge his own brother's death.
The two bond as brothers during the road trip. Jimmy takes Eli into a strip club, where both befriend one of the strippers, Milly. When a drunk Jimmy tries to dance on stage with Milly, the owner, Lee, leads his men to beat Jimmy until Eli brandishes the weapon. Startled, Eli reflexively fires, destroying a pool table. The brothers flee and Milly spontaneously joins them. Two masked, armored figures detect the weapon's use and follow on motorcycles. Jimmy realizes he left the bag of money at the strip club. Milly leads the brothers to Lee's card game, where they retrieve the money from him at gunpoint. The trio get a room in a Nevada casino. Milly discusses her past with Eli throughout the journey; she left her abusive parents as a teen and has failed to establish lasting personal relationships. Hal's murder is reported nationally, which Eli sees. Police identify Eli and Jimmy as suspects and apprehend them. Milly watches from a crowd, and Eli signals his approval that she leave them. Jimmy is jailed and Eli rebukes him.
Taylor and his gang overwhelm the county police station, massacring the officers. Before being executed, a wounded officer helps Eli retrieve the weapon from evidence lockup. Eli kills most of Taylor's men, saving Jimmy. As Eli and Jimmy prepare to surrender to the FBI, Taylor appears and shoots at Jimmy. The two armored pursuers arrive and freeze time for everyone but Eli and themselves. The figures unmask to reveal that they are a man and woman. The man explains that Eli is actually from their world, which is at war. Eli was hidden on this world for his safety until he is old enough to help. The man tells Eli to stay with his brother and calls Eli his own brother. The woman redirects Taylor's bullet and the two leave with the weapon. Time resumes and Taylor is killed by his own bullet. The brothers are taken into custody. Agent Morgan Hunter tells Eli that Jimmy will go to prison, but maybe not for very long if he is cooperative. She tacitly accepts that Jimmy has covered for Eli, who will not discuss the weapon. Milly arrives and waves at Eli.
Production.
On August 30, 2016, it was reported that Myles Truitt, Jack Reynor, James Franco, Zoë Kravitz and Dennis Quaid would star in the feature film.
In September 2016, Lionsgate bought the rights to "Kin" for about $30 million at the Toronto Film Festival. Filming began on October 24, 2016 in Toronto.
Music.
Mogwai composed the score for the film. The soundtrack was released on August 31 by Temporary Residence Limited in the United States and Rock Action Records in the United Kingdom and Europe. Two tracks, "Donuts" and "We're Not Done (End Title)", were released ahead of the album.
Release.
The film was released in the United States by Lionsgate on August 31, 2018.
Box office.
"Kin" grossed $5.7 million in the United States and Canada, and $4.6 million in other territories, for a total worldwide gross of $10.3 million.
In the United States and Canada, "Kin" was projected to gross $5–7 million from 2,141 theaters in its four-day opening weekend. It ended up debuting to just $3.1 million, including a four-day Labor Day weekend total of $3.9 million, and finished 11th at the box office. The film dropped 73.5% in its second weekend to $804,401, one of the largest sophomore declines ever, and finished in 17th place.
Critical response.
On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 33%, based on 90 reviews, with an average rating of 4.9/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Part family drama, part sci-fi adventure, "Kin" struggles to balance its narrative until a late twist that suggests it all might have worked better as the first episode of a TV series." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 35 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported filmgoers gave it a 63% overall positive score.