Next of Kin (1989)

So much average

Powerful

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Great Film overall

The film is directed by Englishman John Irvin who has made a rather unsung career out of bringing a stronger-than-usual sense of characterization to genre films. Although Irvin's filming of the action scenes are a little pedestrian, he still has a strong visual sense and manages to vividly contrast the conflicting worlds of the country and the city. The film's supporting cast is well chosen and both the heroes and the villains all come to life with a surprising amount of dignity. At no point do any of the actors demean their roles by playing... typical hillbillies or, for that matter, typical mobsters and that shows an unusual and admirable amount of integrity for a film of this sort. Paxton isn't on screen long but remains, as always, a likable presence and Adam Baldwin makes a compellingly understandable and hissable villain. Michael J. Pollard shows up as a hillbilly and brings his trademark quirkiness to the proceedings while the role of the nerdy mob scion is played by Ben Stiller, of all people. It's a little jarring to see Stiller show up on screen (especially playing an essentially villainous role) yet he gives a strong performance without resorting to do any standard Stiller bits. Helen Hunt's role is... typical but she's probably far warmer in this role than she's been in any of her prestige pictures. Certainly, the best performance in the film is given by Liam Neeson who dominates the proceedings with the grim sincerity he brings to his quest for revenge. This Irish actor also manages to perfectly capture the unique accent of the Appalacian region. As an actor, Patrick Swayze has always been limited and he's always been better at projecting sincerity than complexity. Luckily, his role in Next of Kin has been designed to require little more of him than sincerity and, if Next of Kin doesn't represent his best performance, its certainly his most likable.The music was great in this movie, a little culture and a lot of country. Swayze again wrote a song especially for this movie "Brothers" sung by Swayze and Larry Gatlin. All in all, Great acting from Liam Neeson and Patrick Swayze.Overall rating: 7 out of 10.

Next of Kin has a rather unusual story about hillbillies fighting against mafia in Chicago. It all starts when an ordinary hillbilly named Gerald Briar who moved to town in order to become a truck driver gets killed by mobsters while doing his job. The main villain is Joey (played by Adam Baldwin), a very brutal and relentless member of the Isabela crime family, who has to work with his boss' harmless son Lawrence (Ben Stiller). What he did not know is that the trucker had a huge family of highlanders, and his brother Truman Gates (Patrick Swayze) lives in Chicago and works as a detective. After Gerald's funeral, Gerald's second brother Briar (Liam Neeson), who is just an ordinary unsuccessful hillbilly, decides to travel to Chicago in order to investigate his brother's death. He occupies a room in a cheap motel, prepares some bullets, and starts beating or threatening anybody who gets in his way. Meanwhile, Truman, who has a beautiful violinist wife Jessie (Helen Hunt), also starts his own investigation but through peaceful means and more subtle threats.The movie is quite slow-paced and the Briar brothers actually try to get the full picture of the 3rd brother's death before killing anybody. However, the movie's finale is just a dumb shootout scene where mobsters get brutally slaughtered with weapons including shotguns, bows, crossbows, throwing axes and even snakes! One must wonder why the movie is so long when in the end everything comes down to fighting and Truman's plan of lawful arrest fails, but that is probably due to "movie magic". The rest of the movie is forgettable, with several events that do not make any sense. There is one exciting scene where Briar is being chased by mobsters and has to jump on moving trains which is worth watching. The scenes showing the Gates family in the hills are also well-made and successfully capture the spirit of a big highlander clan.All in all, Next of Kin does have some famous actors, most notably Liam Neeson and Patrick Swayze, but it's just an average crime action movie with several flaws.

This is just a good old eye for an eye, you kill one of mine I will kill anyone involved movie. Patrick Swayse is a Chicago cop whose brother is killed by the mob. Liam Neeson, a hillbilly brother, comes to Chicago to try and find the killer. The two end up collaborating and go after the bad guys. Guess what, it turns out to be a very visceral blood bath. I do call bull s**t on the scene where Liam Neeson is reloading. You can not reliably reload ammo without a press. Ben Stiller as a bad guy??? He tries to carry it off but is a little short. Adam Baldwin plays a very impetuous but high level mob member. He gives no respect to the country folk and ends up paying for it. What the bad guys started the hillbillys finish.

From the score here I see that this movie is not enjoyed by all and is a universally well liked movie, but I thought it was rather good. The plot for me was much better than "Roadhouse" and you had an array of stars in this one to really make the movie good. Not only do you have Swazye, you get Liam Neeson too. Heck, you even have a young Ben Stiller in a small, but important role. The story has a guy from the south in the hills someplace as a cop in a big city. His brother is killed and while on a trip back in the hills his other brother wants revenge so he comes back to the city to seek out his revenge. About all there is to it with the plot though there is a surprise near the end of the film. The plot takes us to a couple of distinctly different locals on the way too as you have the city and you have the mountains too. The bad guys in this one are rather good too and the action is not super shoot em up or anything, but it is fairly exciting to watch. I liked the scene where Liam Neeson's character evaded capture by using trains to get away. In the end it is a bit different and while nothing spectacular it did entertain me.