The Kid

The Kid.

The kid is another one of those hopeful romantic ideals of overcoming adversity, helpful mentors,battling the misconceptions of youth and being accepted,tragedy,persecution, hope and eventual justice....which in terms of Hollywood are words which are seen in bold on any film poster are teh slow and gentle realisation that you must must only watch this film if the girl who is with you is an idiot....and pretty,obviously. The kid is all of these things and more but made with absolutely no originality, in any context,but its never dull, always engaging and seamlessly interacts the chapters of his life into a cohesive and driven storey.Following the life of Kevin Lewis a man raised by a brutal unflinching mother(the non ageing Natascha McEhlone) who beats and humiliates him remorselessly, played from infancy to adulthood and set in a 2009-alternative universe to made to look like 70's and 80's Britain by just playing the Cure alot,which is how the British Film industry does modern period dramas. Three actors play Kevin, William Finn Miller ,Augustus Prew and Rupert Friend,of which embody this unique character,and it is this character who is the vey pulse of the film.From his childhood,Kevin is imprisoned in his own room, scrawling cave style simple pictures on his wall,his mawkish brutal behaviour carries with him through care workers and foster homes till his eventual taming through "ye ole mentor" (Mr Miagi with a beard Bernard Hill)who has seen it all,another cliche but again told well,this film is bombarded with cliches but they peter out when you chose to enjoy the film and you will simply enjoy it,which comes about the time Mr Fantastic/Lancleot/Ioan Gruffod comes into play as the second hero of the boy's youth,Horray!......(Macgyver with a welsh hint),this again leads to another mentor(Obi Wan the accountant),who instils pride and something else cliche-y,and yes Boxing the films centre piece.All this does take a backseat to Kevin the character employing the camp girlish glee tones of Truman Capote intertwined with "Daneil Larusso" scare tactics and the charm of Eliza Dolittle.It is a dangerous performance,it could have so easily marred the film into treacherously bizarre camp undertones but the flow and confidence of director/pointer and instigator of le Cliche(NIck Moran,it must be said in an English accent MORE-an,not Irish,otherwise he will die) is charmingly simple,he an actor himslef,aka Sting's pretty boy son in "Lock,Stock..." and second time director/pointer is confidence in his abilities but aloof enough to let the actors enough room to breath and relax to create a simple wonderful film,if it weren’t for the little things,and there are quite a few little things,the accents set this in a Doctor Who world of odd intertwined British society where everyone comes and says the same thing in a different tone,it becomes annoying as it never sets the location.The violence is underwhelming as this is a violence fuelled film from its very beginning, we see Kevin being beaten but never real enough to make us feel for him,as a theme underlying the whole storey it never feels real,that it ever really affects his performance and is often treated as an afterthought.