Next Of Kin Movie Review 325

Next Of Kin is an action movie from 1989 starring Patrick Swayze, Liam Neeson, Helen Hunt, Bill Paxton and Adam Baldwin. It's directed by John Irvin who also directed Hamburger Hill.

The movie revolves around a Chicago cop called Truman Gates(Swayze). He's from a hillbilly town and he is adjusting to life in the big city. He is married to Jessie(Hunt) and they are expecting a baby.
His brother, Gerald(Paxton) is also in the city and he is working for a vending machine company. They have another brother called Briar(Neeson) who still lives in the small town. Gerald gets into trouble when the truck he is driving is hijacked by mob guys led by Joey Rosellini(Baldwin) and his posse. Joey is the nephew of crime boss  Poppa John Isabella(Andreas Katsulas). He is a hothead and he murders Gerald. This leads to the start of a war between Truman and his family and Joey and his guys.

Ben Stiller turns up in this movie as Poppa John's son but he is a bit of a weenie and he hasn't the evil streak that Joey has. Briar comes up to Chicago with revenge on his mind. Truman wants him to leave it to the cops, but that isn't going to happen. The mob guys are confronted by Briar and they retaliate.
Briar and Truman go after them,but Briar gets shot dead. Truman has to face them alone. He is not alone for long because his hillbilly friends come up and serve up some justice to the mob crowd. Poppa John ends it all when he discovers that Joey killed his son. He shoots him and tells Truman that it is all over between them now. They are even. Truman and Jessie are reunited and the movie ends.

This was a good solid action movie. There is a great cast and it is what you would expect from an 80's movie. I liked it and I would recommend it if you like any of the main stars. Neeson is very good as the hillbilly Briar and Swayze is good too. An enjoyable actioner with some good scenes. I will give it a 7/10.