In 1987, Patrick Swayze scored a sleeper smash with "Dirty Dancing," catapulting the actor to bigger and better roles in Hollywood, offering a shot at starring vehicles after years of supporting work. In 1990, Swayze hit the jackpot with "Ghost," a bona fide blockbuster that made him a household name, using sensual pottery and a resolute commitment to emoting to turn his last name into legend. Yet, there was an odd year in between the hits, with 1989 providing an especially double-fisted year for Swayze, testing out his newfound bankability with two actioners of disparate temperaments, both met with cult approval and middling box office. "Road House" is the more infamous of the pair, with its golden leading ladies, throat-tearings, and Jeff Healy-backed bluesy mischief, extending the concept of a barroom brawl to feature-length proportions. It was undeniably silly yet utterly irresistible, turning Swayze into an action figure with outstanding catchphrases ("Pain don't hurt.") and a coolness about him that solidified his unique screen presence. The lesser of the '89 releases was "Next of Kin," which once again called upon the star to utilize his physicality, this time in a cop drama with an unexpected southern twist. Less volatile than "Road House," "Next of Kin" certainly has its appealing moments, but the sheer Swayze-ness of the production feels unnecessarily muted.
Raised in the hills of Kentucky, Truman Gates (Patrick Swayze) has a special way of dealing with suspects while making his rounds as a detective in Chicago. Married to violinist Jessie (Helen Hunt) and about to become a father for the first time, Truman finds the strain of family consuming his thoughts. Hoping to convince his little brother, Gerald (Bill Paxton), to leave the big city and return home to a simpler life in Kentucky, to the protection of sibling Briar (Liam Neeson), Truman's pleas are met with resistance. When tragedy strikes and Gerald is murdered by reckless mob enforcer Joey Rossellini (Adam Baldwin), Truman is faced with the inevitable, soon confronted with Briar's vengeance-fueled presence in Chicago. With his mob family, including boss Papajohn Isabella (Andreas Katsulas) and his son Lawrence (Ben Stiller, who looks like he just graduated from junior high here), encroaching on his plans for underworld rule, Joey looks to assert control with blunt force, eventually coming up against Truman's investigation and Briar's plans for revenge. Caught between backwater justice and his own duties as a cop, Truman greets an impossible situation of familial duty while commencing a blood feud with the mafia, eschewing the law to escalate the situation in his own inimitable manner.
In his only feature film credit, screenwriter Michael Jenning deserves some praise for elevating "Next of Kin" with mild characterizations, approaching the clichés with an interest in developing strife before the inevitability of formula crashes down on the picture. While flatly played by Baldwin (completely unbelievable as a Italian goon), Joey makes an impression due to the authenticity of his frustration, watching Papajohn groom his educated son for control of the family, reducing the killer's role in the arrangement of Isabella's legit business, selling vending and gaming machines. While the subplot isn't fluffed to satisfaction, it's the thought that counts, providing motivation to a typical villain role, capturing Joey's irritation with Lawrence and his need to make himself felt in the organization, a carelessness that's easily understood. The story also scores with its cultural foundation, using the People of the Earth gimmick to infuse "Next of Kin" with personality and tradition, keeping Truman a complex figure of doubt as a stymied Chicago cop with a clear understanding that Kentucky vengeance is more apt to get the job done. There's not enough torment in the character to fully flesh out the conflict dividing the two worlds, but director John Irvin dutifully creates a contrast between the bitter, suffocating city streets and Briar's countrified kingdom, where the Gates family collects to greet their estranged brother and plan their revenge, even requesting a fiddlin' session with Jessie.
Caricatures are threatened, yet the broad Kentucky strokes are gracefully handled by Neeson and Swayze, generating an authentic brotherly dynamic that's peppered with tilted accents and idioms. The men are entertaining to watch, with Neeson the unshowered, backwoods Batman, swooping into Chicago on a quest to weed out Gerald's killer, tormenting the Isabella family until they surrender. Successfully swallowing his natural Irish lilt, Neeson carries enough stoicism and brute force to make an impression. Being the star of the show, Swayze has more to do, and he executes the role with expected verve, strumming the family honor chord with conviction. "Next of Kin" doesn't boil over as an actioner, keeping the picture focused more on plans of punishment over any extraordinary stunt sequences, leaving Swayze to outwardly emote like a champ. However, a few punch-happy moments remain, including a barroom family therapy session between Truman and Briar, who pound each other as a method of communication, reinforcing the feral nature of the brothers as they work out their differences. Irvin is much more confident with physical action than gunplay, which comes off pedestrian, making little use of the game cast.
The AVC encoded image (1.78:1 aspect ratio) presentation shows some difficulty with black levels, which lean toward clotted in evening and low-lit encounters, snuffing out backgrounds and costume particulars. However, for a catalog title, fine detail is satisfactory, with comfortable reads on facial reactions, weapon brandishing, and production design achievements, with the Kentucky sequences retaining their alien appearance (thanks to Irvin's addiction to smoke machines). Grain is in good shape without an overt presence, gifting the image a subtle cinematic life, and the print is largely clean. The color palette looks on the muted side, but far from smothered, with hearty primary hues popping off city street lighting and vending machine warehouse items. Skintones appear a little bloodless but workable.
The 2.0 DTS-HD MA sound mix carries a shrillness that's uncomfortable at times, especially with pronounced soundtrack selections that lack a balancing bass element. Without dimensionality, the mix carries a heavy frontal workload, though voices, while thin, are easily followed, making accents and performance speeds easily understood. Sync is iffy at certain moments, though this could be the result of extensive ADR work, which is surprisingly sloppy. Scoring is animated without encroaching on the dialogue exchanges, and atmospherics register strongly. Unfortunately, it's a strident track requiring a little volume riding to endure.
While it makes an effort to feel substantial, "Next of Kin" can be quite stupid. The mafia characters alone are cringe-worthy, revealing a cartoonish quality that makes Briar and Truman's inability to nail Joey for his crimes quite baffling. The climatic showdown inside a cemetery also lacks imagination, reducing the blood feud to a tame declaration of war between the hillbillies (armed with arrows, snakes, and a secret code of animal noises) and the mob (who bring Uzis and a lack of common sense). "Next of Kin" only works when it refuses the routine, showing life with rural touches, emotional internalization, and country justice, not cruddy violence with dopey Italian caricatures. As he's done on many occasions, Swayze's fiery commitment saves the film, making the investigative moments and domestic interplay more interesting than the payoffs, which is truly a backwards equation when dealing with an actioner. "Next of Kin" isn't a dazzling picture, but there's personality about it that eases the blow of idiocy, keeping the adventure of Truman Gates, redneck cop, alive and well.
This summer, Warner Home Entertainment will continue transferring its library catalog onto the HD format. The studio will release Blu-rays for sixteen popular thrillers, including The Butterfly Effect, Coma, Hard to Kill, Next of Kin, Outland, and the Blu-ray ...
