The Kid (2019)

**_Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett seen through the eyes of an adolescent runaway_** Fugitive teen siblings (Jake Schur and Leila George) hook up with Billy the Kid (Dane DeHaan) and his gang as he’s on the run from Pat Garrett (Ethan Hawke) in New Mexico, 1881. Chris Pratt has a side part as the dubious uncle of the teens. “The Kid” (2019) was helmed by Vincent D'Onofrio (whom you might remember as the mentally troubled recruit at boot camp in “Full Metal Jacket”). It comes in the tradition of “One-Eyed Jacks,” which was originally a Billy the Kid yarn by Sam Peckinpah (with Stanley Kubrick set to direct) until Brando took over the project and changed the story. Peckinpah eventually got his script made into a movie a dozen years later, “Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid.” This isn’t quite as notable as “One-Eyed Jack,” but it’s superior to Peckinpah’s lyrical film. The main characters are all effectively fleshed out and there’s a good scene where Garrett succinctly explains the Lincoln County War to the boy. It ranks with the better Billy the Kid tales, although I prefer “Young Guns,” and “Old Henry.” It’s at least on par with “Young Guns II.” It runs 1 hour, 40 minutes, and was shot at movie ranches in the Sante Fe area of north-central New Mexico. GRADE: B

There are a LOT of ways that this has been handled by Hollywood over the years. Pat the good guy, Pat the friend of Billy, Billy the good guy, Billy really lived. Most of the time, not matter what path it takes, there is an element of fun and a really decent story behind it. This one a great cast, it takes a great story and it kind of sucks all the drama out of it. It makes it all a bit flat and, honestly, it should be thrilling. I'm not sure what went wrong here. It's watchable...but it's not good. It's a flat an unambitious telling of the Billy the Kid story and done with all the creativity as a paint by numbers.

I thought this was a fairly entertaining western. Hardly a classic, but better than many I have seen. It seems like they accurately followed some of the sequence of interactions between Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett, from what I have read. I mean, it is a feature film, not a documentary. I will say that I think they tried to shoehorn the kid (the child, =as opposed to The Kid) a bit too much into the orbit of William Bonney. And some of his actions seem too old for the age he is portrayed as being. Maybe they should have made him a teenager and be done with it. Also, a few people referred to the young co-star as the Kid, so we had two "the kid"s. And I think his two voiceovers were unnecessary distractions. I can't see myself watching this again anytime soon, but there was enough depth to it so I don't regret the time spent watching it.