View source for Kin (film)

{{short description|2018 American science-fiction action film by Jonathan and Josh Baker}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Kin
| image          = Kin poster.png
| border         = no
| caption        = Theatrical release poster
| director       = {{Plainlist|
* Jonathan Baker
* Josh Baker
}}
| producer       = {{Plainlist|
* [[Shawn Levy]]
* Dan Cohen
* Jeff Arkuss
* [[David Gross (producer)|David Gross]]
* Jesse Shapira
}}
| screenplay     = {{Plainlist|
* [[Daniel Casey (screenwriter)|Daniel Casey]]
}}
| based on       = {{based on|''Bag Man''|Jonathan Baker|Josh Baker}}
| starring       = {{ubl|Myles Truitt|[[Jack Reynor]]|[[Zoë Kravitz]]|[[Carrie Coon]]|[[Dennis Quaid]]|[[James Franco]]}}
| music          = [[Mogwai]]
| cinematography = [[Larkin Seiple]]
| editing        = [[Mark Day (editor)|Mark Day]]
| studio         = {{Plainlist|
* [[Summit Entertainment]]
* [[No Trace Camping]]
* [[21 Laps Entertainment]]
}}
| distributor    = [[Lionsgate Films|Lionsgate]]
| released       = {{film date|2018|8|31|United States}}
| runtime        = 102 minutes<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.amctheatres.com/movies/kin-55679|title=Kin|website=[[AMC Theatres]]|accessdate=June 20, 2018}}</ref>
| country        = United States
| language       = English
| budget         = $30 million<ref>{{cite web|url=https://deadline.com/2016/09/lionsgate-jack-reynor-james-franco-drama-kin-toronto-pre-buy-deal-1201816107/|title=Lionsgate Lands Jack Reynor-James Franco Drama ‘Kin’ In Big Toronto Pre-Buy Deal |website=[[Deadline Hollywood]] |publisher=[[Penske Business Media]] |date=September 9, 2016 |first=Mike |last=Fleming Jr. |accessdate=September 6, 2018}}</ref>
| gross          = $10.3 million<ref name="BOM">{{cite web |title=Kin (2018)|url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=kin.htm |website=[[Box Office Mojo]] |accessdate=October 30, 2019}}</ref>
}}
'''''Kin''''' is a 2018 American [[Science fiction film|science fiction]] [[crime]] [[drama]] film directed by Jonathan and Josh Baker and written by [[Daniel Casey (screenwriter)|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 Films|Lionsgate]] and was met with both critical and commercial failure.

== Plot ==
14-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 [[Chain of custody|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.

==Cast==
* [[Myles Truitt]]<ref name="BadPun">{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2016/film/news/james-franco-zoe-kravitz-jack-reynor-sci-fi-movie-kin-1201847814/amp/|title=James Franco, Zoe Kravitz, Jack Reynor to Star in Sci-Fi Film ‘Kin’|website=Variety Magazine|last1=McNary|first1=Dave|date=August 30, 2016|accessdate=March 1, 2018}}</ref> as Elijah Solinski, Jimmy's adopted younger brother and Hal's adopted son. 
* [[Jack Reynor]]<ref name="BadPun" /> as Jimmy Solinski, Eli's brother, Hal's son, and an ex-con.
* [[Zoë Kravitz]]<ref name="BadPun" /> as Milly, a stripper looking for an out.
* [[Carrie Coon]] as Morgan Hunter, an FBI agent.
* [[Dennis Quaid]]<ref name="BadPun" /> as Hal Solinski, Jimmy and Eli's father.
* [[James Franco]]<ref name="BadPun" /> as Taylor Balik, a crime lord.
* [[Michael B. Jordan]] as the male Cleaner.
* Carleigh Beverly as Audrey

==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.<ref name="BadPun" /><ref name="Kindling">{{cite web|url=http://deadline.com/2016/08/jack-reynor-james-franco-zoe-kravitz-dennis-quaid-kin-movie-1201810789/|title=Jack Reynor, James Franco, Zoe Kravitz, Dennis Quaid Topline Sci-Fi ‘Kin’|website=Deadline|last1=Fleming Jr.|first1=Mike|date=August 30, 2016|accessdate=March 1, 2018}}</ref>

In September 2016, [[Lionsgate Films|Lionsgate]] bought the rights to ''Kin'' for about $30 million at the [[Toronto Film Festival]]. Filming began on October 24, 2016 in [[Toronto]].<ref name=RoaringLion>{{cite web|url=http://deadline.com/2016/09/lionsgate-jack-reynor-james-franco-drama-kin-toronto-pre-buy-deal-1201816107/|title=Lionsgate Lands Jack Reynor-James Franco Drama ‘Kin’ In Big Toronto Pre-Buy Deal|website=Deadline|last1=Fleming Jr.|first1=Mike|date=September 9, 2016|accessdate=March 1, 2018}}</ref>

==Music==
[[Mogwai]] composed the score for the film.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nme.com/news/music/mogwai-talk-returning-latitude-festival-glasgow-music-next-soundtrack-2240550 |title=Mogwai talk returning to Latitude festival, Bowie, Glasgow music and their next soundtrack |last=Trendell |first=Andrew |date=February 12, 2018 |website=[[NME]] |access-date=April 27, 2018}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Sodomsky |first1=Sam |title=Mogwai Detail New KIN Soundtrack Album, Share Song |url=https://pitchfork.com/news/mogwai-detail-new-kin-soundtrack-album-share-song-listen/ |accessdate=28 July 2018 |publisher=Pitchfork |date=22 June 2018}}</ref>

==Release==
The film was released in the United States by Lionsgate on August 31, 2018.<ref name="KinReleaseDate">{{cite web|url=http://www.comingsoon.net/movie/kin-2018|title=Kin|work=ComingSoon.net|accessdate=March 1, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thewrap.com/summits-hellboy-set-2019-kin-set-next-august/|title=Summit’s ‘Hellboy’ Set for 2019, ‘Kin’ to Open Next August|website=The Wrap|last1=Pressberg|first1=Matt|date= November 30, 2017|accessdate=March 1, 2018}}</ref>

===Box office===
{{As of|2019|10|30|df=US}}, ''Kin'' has 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.<ref name=BOM/>

In the United States and Canada, ''Kin'' was projected to gross $5–7 million from 2,141 theaters in its four-day opening weekend.<ref name=preview>{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2018/film/box-office/labor-day-weekend-box-office-crazy-rich-asians-1202918172/|title=Box Office: ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ Looks to Lead Slow Labor Day Weekend|work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|first=Rebecca |last=Rubin|date=August 28, 2018|accessdate=August 28, 2018}}/</ref> 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.<ref name=opening>{{cite web|url=https://deadline.com/2018/08/crazy-rich-asians-operation-finale-the-meg-labor-day-weekend-box-office-1202454590/|title=Crazy Rich Asians’ Accumulates Wealth Over Labor Day With $116M+ Total; Bigger Than ‘The Help’ & ‘The Butler’|website=[[Deadline Hollywood]] |publisher=[[Penske Business Media]] |date=September 2, 2018 |first=Anthony |last= D'Alessandro |accessdate=September 2, 2018}}</ref> The film dropped 73.5% in its second weekend to $804,401, one of the largest sophomore declines ever, and finished in 17th place.<ref>https://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?view=&yr=2018&wknd=36&p=.htm</ref>

===Critical response===
On the review aggregation website [[Rotten Tomatoes]], the film holds an approval rating of 32%, based on 88 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."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/kin_2018|title=Kin (2018)|publisher=[[Fandango Media]]|work=[[Rotten Tomatoes]]|accessdate=October 27, 2019}}</ref> On [[Metacritic]], the film has a weighted average score of 35 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.metacritic.com/movie/kin| title=Kin Reviews| publisher=[[CBS Interactive]]|work=[[Metacritic]] | accessdate=August 31, 2018 }}</ref> 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.<ref name=opening/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|6017942}}

[[Category:Summit Entertainment films]]
[[Category:2018 films]]
[[Category:2010s science fiction thriller films]]
[[Category:2010s crime drama films]]
[[Category:American films]]
[[Category:American science fiction films]]
[[Category:American science fiction thriller films]]
[[Category:American crime films]]
[[Category:English-language films]]
[[Category:Lions Gate Entertainment films]]
[[Category:Features based on short films]]
[[Category:21 Laps Entertainment films]]
[[Category:Films set in Detroit]]
[[Category:Films shot in Toronto]]