Film
Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in Chicago, plus articles, trailers and more
- Home
- Box Office
- Listings
- Trailers
- Features
Bookmark this page- Edition:
Next of Kin (1989)
Director: John Irvin
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
When his brother is killed in a mob-style hit, Truman Gates (Swayze), an Appalachian hillbilly turned Chicago cop, is torn between his duty and family loyalty which requires that he opt for Old Testament revenge. But even if he can locate a black witness to the slaying, or prove that a smooth mobster's ambitious son (Baldwin) was implicated, can he do so before vengeful brother Briar (Neeson) takes the law into his own hands? On the loose with a shotgun and a belly full of hate, Briar is unwittingly setting the scene for a showdown between the urban mobsters, with their state-of-the-art firepower, and the good ol' country boys who favour crossbows, axes and snakes. Together with Hamburger Hill, this illustrates that Irvin probably couldn't stage an action scene if you held a gun to his head. Even more turgid and unconvincing are the quieter 'dramatic' scenes, which serve only to arrest the plot's minimal momentum and prolong the agony.Author: NF
Cast & crew
Director: John Irvin
Producer: Les Alexander, Don Enright
Cast: Patrick Swayze, Liam Neeson, Helen Hunt, Adam Baldwin, Andreas Katsulas, Bill Paxton, Michael J Pollard full cast
Genre(s): Thrillers
Duration: 108 mins
Features
Gray's anatomy
James Gray wants to push buttons—again.
The next big thing?
Gigantic Releasing tries to rethink indie distribution…without movie theaters.
Red Diva: Lyubov Orlova, First Lady of Soviet Cinema
So you think you can dance, comrade?
Puppet master
Coraline director Henry Selick takes stop-motion animation into 3-D.
Socratic method
Laurent Cantet's approach on the set matches the message of his film.
Wander woman
Kelly Reichardt's Wendy and Lucy puts a Bush-era spin on the road movie.
Oscars
Read our interviews with the nominees, our reviews of the nominated films and more.
What do you think?
Post your review now