Vincent D’Onofrio is perhaps best known these days for playing Wilson Fisk/Kingpin in the Marvel television series “Daredevil” and “Daredevil: Born Again”,but the actor has played several memorable roles throughout his career. D’Onofrio’s breakthrough came in Stanley Kubrick’s “Full Metal Jacket”. after which he starred in films like “Men In Black”, “The Magnificent Seven”, “Strange Days” and “Jurassic World”. He also dabbled in directing with the 2005 short film “Five Minutes, Mr. Welles”, itself a follow-up to his appearance as Orson Welles in Tim Burton’s “Ed Wood”. Then, after directing the musical slasher (!) “Don’t Go in the Woods” in 2010, D’Onofrio directed (and appeared in) “The Kid”, the 2019 Western with Ethan Hawke, Chris Pratt, Dane DeHaan and Adam Baldwin.
So, what is “The Kid” about? The film follows the story of Wild West outlaw and gunman Billy the Kid, himself the inspiration for older Western films like Sam Peckinpah’s visceral “Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid” and Howard Hughes’ disappointing “The Outlaw.” D’Onofrio, however, dramatizes the legendary confrontation between Billy the Kid (DeHaan) and Sheriff Pat Garrett (Hawke) with distinctly different themes in mind. Its picture centers on Rio (Jake Schur), a 14-year-old whose traumatic childhood adds an unsavory quality to his coming-of-age journey. As Rio decides to flee for freedom, his cruel Uncle Grant (Pratt) steps in to make sure that doesn’t happen.
Although “The Kid” does its best to approach the Billy Kid myth from the perspective of a child whose life has been affected by the violent men in his life, it has nothing particularly new to say. Despite this, it’s a valiant directorial effort from D’Onofrio that’s worth seeing, assuming you’re a fan of westerns of a fairly meditative nature.
The Kid by Vincent D’Onofrio relies heavily on implausible plots
Every work of fiction is motivated by creative devices, but the difference between a plausible and implausible story comes down to the suspension of disbelief. “The Kid” gets a lot of mileage out of its grounded premise, which involves Rio having to take matters into his own hands to escape his abusive home. It is entirely believable that a child faced with violence will end up committing it at some point and that their morality will be tested as they meet new people. Unfortunately, this promising plot thread is abandoned in the film’s clunky and shoddy third act, which focuses on a shootout that seems hastily put together.
Vincent D’Onofrio discussed this unrealistic element in a 2019 interview with Geek denexplaining why he believes it is part of Rio’s history:
“The thing about making a Western is, especially from a young man’s point of view, you can romanticize it a little bit to be able to get away with things that aren’t totally realistic. Whether it’s the way they talk and the scenarios that happen with the young boy, at the end of the day it’s a movie, and you can get away with a lot of things in a movie.”
While this logic is sound, Andrew Lanham’s screenplay isn’t taut or subtle enough to achieve it. “The Kid” also makes the puzzling decision to flatten its female characters, which inadvertently undermines its pointed critique of patriarchal abuse and violence. Sara (Leila George), Rio’s sister, has well-established motivations, but her goals are sidelined to address male characters. Yet those flaws aside, “The Kid” is kept on track thanks to compelling performances from Ethan Hawke and Dane DeHaan, who keep this unconventional western from going completely off the rails.
