Jimmy has been released from prison after doing a six year sentence, but he’s not out of the woods yet because he still has a debt to pay with this crime boss, Taylor Balik. Jimmy’s adoptive brother, Eli, has found a weapon that is not from Earth. He uses it on anyone trying to hurt or kill him or Jimmy. Meanwhile, aliens are tracking down the weapon in order to get it back.
Blaine: “KIN” is based on a short film from 2014 called “Bag Man”, done by the Baker twins, Jonathan and Josh. The Baker twins had been directing a lot of advertisements in New York through their careers, but they wanted to do something else that was about 15 minutes long like a short film. Then the idea for “Bag Man” came to mind and they enjoyed making something that was more than a minute long. While “Bag Man” was being cut together, the Baker twins had a feeling that there should be a full length feature version of it and people who saw the short thought the plot and idea was so brilliant that they asked the Baker twins if they were going to transform “Bag Man” into a full length feature. After that the Baker twins were convinced that “Bag Man” should be a full length feature. What was challenging for the Baker twins was how to expand this short story. They had ideas, but they didn’t have any experience in writing a script or knew how they were done. The Baker twins met screenwriter Daniel Casey a year later and trusted him enough to write a 150 page script for what was now going to be called “KIN”. The Baker twins put ideas together for “KIN” while they were on a beach in Costa Rica and then later they told Daniel what they came up with. The Baker twins knew they wanted to tell a story about brothers who are misfits. The Baker brothers also wanted “KIN” to be a movie more focussed on the characters than the sci-fi.
A lot of studios wanted to make “KIN” because they loved “Bag Man” and the idea sounded smart, but the Baker twins decided to go with 21 Laps Entertainment after meeting Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen because they felt like they were all on the same page. The Baker twins got a huge learning experiencing in making “KIN”. For one there was the budget they were given to make the movie. They had so much money that it was hard for them to spend it on the stuff “KIN” required. Another thing was scheduling. 21 Laps Entertainment gave the Baker twins 47 days to shoot “KIN”, which they were ok with because they felt it was enough. “Bag Man” started off in Harlem, New York before the kid ventures upstate. The Baker twins wanted a new location for “KIN” because with the budget they were given they could shoot anywhere and they went with Toronto and Detroit.
The Baker twins knew they wanted Jack Reynor and Zoe Kravitz to play the characters, Jimmy and Milly because they were big fans of their work and another thing the Baker twins learned was that it can be easy sometimes to get an actor you have in mind for your project. The Baker twins felt that actors would be nervous working with first time directors who haven’t had much experience in making movies. Zoe Kravitz already told the Baker twins that she wanted to be in “KIN” when she first met them because she had seen “Bag Man” and was a big fan of it. The Baker twins were surprised about how easy that was. Finding a young African American boy to play Eli Solinski was another thing. The Baker twins saw 250 kids who auditioned for the part of Eli and they liked only three of them. What they liked about Myles Truitt was that he was an introspective, a smart kid and he is very observing, so that is why they gave him the part. The main character of “Bag Man” was an 12 year old African American boy with no name. The Baker twins had to give him more of a backstory and give him more dialog for “KIN” because he hardly said a word in “Bag Man”.
Eli is the loner type at first because he hardly connects with anyone, until he and Jimmy go on this road trip and they both bond as brothers for the first time in their lives. They are both misfits. At the beginning, Jimmy is trying to make a new start for himself and get a job, but it’s not easy when he has a criminal record. Jimmy's father, Hal Solinski, tries to explain that to him that you have to do some things that don’t interest you first like a job you wouldn’t want. Jimmy is also under a lot of pressure because he needs to raise money in order to pay back this crime boss, Taylor Balik, or else both Jimmy and his family will be killed. Hal Solinski is very disappointed with his son once he tells him he owes a lot of money to a crime boss. Hal wants nothing to do with Jimmy and so he throws him out of the house. Hal doesn’t want Eli to become like Jimmy. Eli is a little trouble maker, but Hal is doing everything he can to raise Eli to become a better person. Eli acts like he doesn’t care, but he listens because he loves Hal.
Hal gets killed after catching Jimmy and the gang stealing from his safe. Jimmy flees and takes Eli with him because he can’t leave him now that Hal is gone. Eli goes with it because he is easily fooled when Jimmy tells him that they are going on a road trip and Hal will catch up and join them later. Jimmy feels guilty and his guilt causes him to drink and act like a fool. Jimmy knows he can’t lie to Eli forever. He wants to tell Eli the truth, but it’s very hard for him to just spit it out that he got Hal killed. Jimmy is also turning Eli into a criminal by helping him steal money they need in order to survive. Jimmy hates himself for everything he has done. While Jimmy and Eli are on the road they meet this dancer, Milly, who’s life isn’t perfect as well and the three of them become a team. Milly knows Jimmy is hiding something from Eli even though she doesn’t know what it is, but she knows the truth is going to come out some time. Eli is very curious why Hal hasn’t called and eventually he learns the truth about Hal through a news report on T.V. Eli is very upset with Jimmy and they both get arrested. Milly goes her separate ways from the boys because Eli feels it is best not to get her involved.
The crime boss, Taylor Balik, is taking his situation with Jimmy personal now because Jimmy killed Taylor’s brother the night Hal was killed. Taylor will stop at nothing until he finds Jimmy and murders him, even if he has to shoot his way through a police station. He’s like the Terminator, which was one of the Baker twins’ favorite movies growing up and became one of the inspirations for “KIN”. The weapon was inspired by “The Sword in the Stone” because not everyone can use the weapon in the film. It works with Eli just fine, but it won’t work if anyone else tries to use it. The Baker twins were good friends with these concept artists and they asked them if they could design the weapon for “KIN”. The concept artists have had a lot of experience in drawing a lot of monsters, locations and other sci-fi stuff, so they knew they could design a weapon from another planet. “KIN” didn’t require too much from the visual effects and art department because again it’s a story more focussed on these characters than the sci-fi. Cutting down a movie can be hard for directors and the Baker twins had originally planned to make “KIN” a two hour and ten minute movie, but it became an hour and forty minute movie in the end.
The ending has a few surprises and also explains why the weapon works so good with Eli. Things are going crazy at the police station with Taylor trying to kill Jimmy and Eli protecting Jimmy by using the weapon. The place is being torn apart. Then the aliens who are looking for the weapon show up at the police station and put a stop to everything that is going on by stopping time. The aliens reveal their faces and they are human, but I was expecting them to look like creatures instead. Michael B. Jordan makes a surprise cameo as the brother Eli never knew he had. Eli has no effect on the device that stopped time and that’s when you realize he is not of Earth. Eli is someone who was sent to Earth for protection because his people are at war with another species. It’s another “Superman" thing where a boy gets left on Earth to survive, only the planet Eli came from is still around. Milly finds her way back into Eli’s life because they are like family. And with Jimmy going back to prison and the alien brother, Male Cleaner, busy fighting in a war someone has to look after Eli.
The ending makes it look like there could be a sequel. The word franchise wasn’t on the Baker twins’ minds when they decided to make “Bag Man” into a full length feature, but as they were working on “KIN”, the idea for a sequel came to mind and they felt strong about it. The Baker twins know the sequel will have to be bigger, however they’ll only make a sequel to “KIN” if people want to see it.
My rating on “KIN” is four and a half out of five stars
