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38 reviews in total

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12 out of 13 people found the following review useful:
It Is All About Kin and Clan, 10 December 2007

Author: webmouse from United States

What makes this action drama particularly moving is the comparison between the extended family of a Sicilian crime boss and the clannishness of the hillbillies. While Joey Rosellini insults the mountain folks as people "who farm rocks" his boss John Isabella sees the link -- "that is what they said about our people back in the old country." It is not a matter of who wears the nicer suit; it is a matter of blood, of kinship, and of ensuring that the one with the greater grievance has justice is done for his family. This is a very old tradition, both in the Sicilian families and in those Celtic clans that moved into the hills of Appalachia. In this aspect "Next of Kin" reaches a level of art not usually found in action films. The scene of the women packing sandwiches for the big hunt shows a level of clan community not well understood by us city-folk.

Watch this film and enjoy.

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10 out of 10 people found the following review useful:
Love Chicago, love Patrick, love this movie!, 11 June 1999

Author: Patricia Fulton from Chicago, Illinois

I have lived in Chicago all my long life, and I really appreciated the authenticity of the location scenes. The area around Wilson and Broadway is exactly where the "hillbillies" (forgive the term), especially the single men, generally migrate. The characters in the flophouse and bars must have been taken right from the street. The "project" was recognizably Cabrini-Green, and Truman and Jesse's restored three-story house could almost be pinpointed to Lincoln Park (except that the "bad guys", and Truman, would never have found such open parking - they'd still be circling the block).

The cemetery where the final showdown occurred is Graceland on Clark Street, as everyone who has toured or visited this landmark would know. It was an agony to watch these historic monuments being blown to bits - I had to keep chanting "it's only a movie, it's only a movie".

But the readiness of the Kentucky family to jump into the fray was very real. That wonderful scene of the pickup truck on its northbound trek up Lake Shore Drive has its counterpart in everyday life, so I've been told.

Liam Neeson is a revelation. It's hard to believe that the same actor who plays to perfection this tight lipped, lean and mean mountain man, will later be nominated for an Oscar for his heart-rending portrayal of a sophisticated German industrialist.

Truman Gates may be my favorite Patrick Swayze character. There's plenty of blood-and-guts action, but it's easy to believe that a concert violinist would fall madly in love with this exciting, unusual cop. Helen Hunt, as his wife, and Michael J. Pollard as a benighted flophouse manager, are excellent in their roles.

See this movie for a good story, authentic characterizations, and non-stop interest.

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11 out of 13 people found the following review useful:
Crazy Swayze's second action film from 89 is just as good, 16 June 2003
Author: DunnDeeDaGreat from Woodbridge, VA

When his brother is murdered, a policeman is caught between his devotion to the law and his family's desire for revenge in this action drama. Patrick Swayze plays Truman Gates, who left his backwoods Appalachian home for life as a Chicago police officer. When his brother is killed by a gangster, Truman is determined to seek legal retribution. His older brother Briar (Liam Neeson) has different ideas, however, and travels to the city to seek old-fashioned vigilante justice. Truman must now choose between his family's belief in mountain justice and the duties of his job. Though the film is not particularly action-packed, director John Irvin does provide the expected gunplay and macho confrontations. However, despite a surprisingly distinguished cast (also including Helen Hunt and Michael J. Pollard), little distinguishes the film from numerous other revenge stories with a similar outline. Next of Kin is the second action film that Patrick Swayze starred in from 1989. The film is full of action and has some great fight scenes. Daniel Baldwin is great as the bad guy and look for a young Ben Stiller before he hit his prime.

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10 out of 14 people found the following review useful:
A Surprisingly Affecting Movie About Family, 2 January 2000

Author: Joseph Finn from Chicago

Worth watching as both a vigilante movie and as a meditation on the meaning of family, this movie surprised me with the level of it's performances. Liam Neeson contributed his usual fine job, as did a nicely creepy David Baldwin, and a nice mob boss performance by Andreas Katsulas (better known as the One Armed Man from the Harrison Ford movie of "The Fugitive"). Good little wussy role by Ben Stiller; nice supporting job by Helen Hunt. Patrick Swayze does a good dependable job in this movie, but is outshone by the finely understated performances of the men playing his relatives from backwoods Kentucky. Great use of Chicago locations, though the "L" trains running past my house don't appear to have the conveniently flat roofs to jump on. (Alright, a minor quibble). All in all, quite worth watching.

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8 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
Blood Feud, 16 March 2005

Author: sol1218 from brooklyn NY

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

***SPOILERS*** The murder of young Gerald Gates, Bill Paxton, by the up and coming rookie Mafioso, Joey Rosselini, Adam Baldwin, for not stopping the truck that he was driving, for a rival vendor company when ordered set off deadly repercussions that went from the city of Chicago to the hills and coal mines of rural Kentucky.

Geralds murder by a member of the Mafia's powerful Isabella family started a violent "blood feud" between the Gates' and Isabell's that even dwarfed the legendary feud between the Hatfield's and McCoy's. Gerald's older brother Truman, Patrick Swayze, who's an undercover cop in the Chicago PD knew what was coming with the Gates family back in Kentucky up in arms and wanting revenge for their brothers murder.

Showing up, unannounced, in the big city is Briar, Liam Neeson, Gerald's other brother looks to track down his killer, or killers, but Truman talks him out of taking the law into his own hands and letting the police and courts bring Geralds killer to justice. When there's nothing happening in getting Gerald's killers by "the law" Briar goes into action and tears up the Isabella mobsters only to later get shot down and killed by them.

Even Truman begins to realize that only him and his kin will have to be the judges juries and executioners of Gerald's killer and leave the Chicago justice department and police alone on their coffee break, which seems to last the entire movie, that their on.

The Kentucky Hillbillies turn out to be more then a match for the Chicago mobsters taking the fight to them in a final and bloody shootout at a local cemetery. Not even the dead are speared in this film, with the mobsters being shot with shotguns and bows and arrows as well as chased by dogs. In one horrifying one of the scene one of the mobsters is trapped in a trailer with dozens of dangerous snakes, poisonous as well as deadly constrictors, who go on to do a job on the poor smuck who's hopelessly trapped there.

The head of the Isabella mob family Big, or Big PaPa, John Isabella, Andreas Katsulas,ends the bloodbath by blasting young Joey who's incredible and brainless arrogance and stupidity started this whole mess by murdering Gerald. It was the mob-hillbilly conflict that lead to the death of Big PaPa John's one and only son Larry, Ben Stiller, who was blown to bits by the outraged Bariar Gates.

Patrick Swayze comes across as his usual pleasant and nice guy self as Truman Gates and at first tries everything to stop the impending war between his people, the Hillbillies, and the Chicago mobsters. Later Truman sees that the only way to settle things is with guns not with do-nothing lawyers DA's and police investigations and gets with "the program" set by his brother Briar and his fellow mountain men. Truman is also not as unsophisticated as his fellow home boys being married to Jessie, Helen Hunt, a concert violinist and well educated young woman.

Loseing both his brothers, Gerald and Briar, in the war with the mob Truman can now look forward to his wife giving birth to a future Gates and go back in peace, as a Chicago policeman, to raise his family. The movie "Next of Kin" is a bit unusual with the mob getting the hell beat out of them by a group of people who they never had any contact with and always looked down on, like the vicious and ignorant Joey, and never really took seriously until now.

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4 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
predictable but enjoyable, 16 May 2003

Author: shakey_jake53 from Toronto, Ontario

Patrick Swayze stars in this action crime drama as a Chicago cop from the south avenging the death of his brother. So the plot is pretty basic, so what, it is still an enjoyable action/crime-drama. The cast was very good in this film, which includes Liam Neeson, Bill Paxton, Helen Hunt, Adam Baldwin, and even Ben Stiller in a smaller role. The action was pretty good too, especially the chase on top of the train. The film also used its Chicago locations very well, which is something I like in movies. The film has a few faults, including an extremely predictable ending. But aside from that its a fun film for action fans. 3.5/5

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6 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
Good Movie, Liam Neeson is GREAT in this movie., 2 March 2003

Author: tim from NC

I chose this movie for a report in my Communications class. I have seen it several times but looking at it from a different angle this time, I saw the development of Swayze's character or his return to his family roots. However you want to look at it. The first time I saw this movie I was blown away by Liam Neeson's portrayal of Briar Gates, he brings his character to life as much as any actor as ever brought a character to life in any movie. Years later when I discovered that Liam was british my opinion of his acting abilities skyrocketed. My favorite quote in the movie was by Liam, "My name is Briar Gates and I want the man that kilt my brother." In print it doesn't sound like much but when he delivers it, this quote is truly amazing.

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2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Cultues Of Vendetta, 10 January 2010

Author: bkoganbing from Buffalo, New York

Shot on location in Chicago, Next Of Kin is about a culture clash between two groups that are known for longstanding vendettas. They would be the Sicilian Mafia and the hillbillies of the Appalachians.

Patrick Swayze is one of three brothers of whom the youngest, Bill Paxton, is killed after organized crime takes over a trucking firm he was a driver for. They killed the wrong guy because in addition to being Paxton's brother, Swayze is also a Chicago police detective.

Of course Swayze has to operate within the parameters of the law. That's not the case for the oldest brother Lian Neeson. He comes to Chicago just looking for them that did the deed.

Andreas Katsulas is the Mafia crime family head and he's got an idiot son played by Ben Stiller whom he turns over to enforcer Adam Baldwin to learn the business. Stiller goes right to the top of the criminal food chain with Baldwin when he and Baldwin kill Paxton. But Baldwin is a survivor and he'll do whatever it takes to survive.

The showdown between hillbillies and Mafioso takes place with a cemetery at night serving as the OK Corral. It's quite a battle and justice is served if not the law.

Next Of Kin is your routine action film, but it does have one thing going for it that I have to praise. The hillbillies are real people here, they're not the Clampetts of Beverly Hills nor the mouth breathers from Deliverance. I'm glad that the producers avoided stereotyping them which would have been easy. Swayze is a good action hero and his leading lady is Helen Hunt who as Mrs. Swayze in the film is not given all that much to do.

Fans of the late Patrick Swayze will be very happy with Next Of Kin.

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3 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
A howler and well worth a look -- when you're dead drunk, 15 March 2009

Author: ctomvelu-1 from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

It's Kain-tuck hillbillies versus the Chicago mob in a typical John Irvin bad classic, NEXT OF KIN. A wooden but beautiful Patrick Swayze stars as a Chi-town cop originally from Kain-tuck whose brother (a young Bill Paxton) is murdered by a psychotic mobster (FIREFLY's Adam Baldwin). Another brother, straight out of the Kain-tuck hills (a bearded Liam Neeson doing a perfectly dreadful hillbilly accent) shows up to avenge Paxton's death, and all hell breaks loose. It's the Hatfields versus McCoys, downtown style. A young, somewhat awkward Ben Stiller plays the son of the mob boss. The final showdown is a comedy classic, as an army of hillbillies who come to the rescue, armed with bows and arrows among other things, takes on the gun-slinging mob in a graveyard. NEXT OF KIN is no ROAD HOUSE, although Swayze races around a lot in an old Camaro. And he wears a funny hat. Plus he has a mullet, which he sometimes twists into a fetching ponytail. In fact, depending on the scene, his hair out-acts him. I sometimes wonder how John Irvin kept getting jobs, but I suspect the studios loved him for his "one-take and let's move on" attitude.

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2 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
* *1/2 OUT OF FIVE, 13 July 2003

Author: bronsonskull72 from United States

Patrick Swayze stars as Truman Gates a police officer who is torn between justice and loyalty to his brother Briar (Liam Neeson) who is provoking a war with a mobster(Adam Baldwin) who killed their younger brother Gerald (Bill Paxton) in this surprisingly engaging action flick. Patrick Swayze makes for an appealing hero and the actionscenes are tight and spectacular however Next Of Kin doesn't quite meet it's potentional.

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