The Kid

I watched a screening of this movie at a film festival, and had no expectations prior to watching the movie. At first, i was stunned by the incredible soundtrack which really adds to the movie. "The Kid" is beautifully shot, and the story is compelling and full of emotion. I was lucky to see this movie early on, and I recommend it to most people. Especially the cast is very well casted. The characters are believable, and you grow to love them (and in some cases hate them), and to me, this is what great acting is about. You start to care for the character, especially knowing that it's based on a true story

Amazing movie with great actors, Worth seeing even if you are not a big fan of the genre

In contrast to the other reviews I must say that this film was surprisingly bad. I am not sure where it went so wrong really, but it is probably the casting. I just could not see one person that was actually believable in his/her role. The mother of the boy was just so badly acted I felt actually embarrassed in the cinema. Also I think they could have done much better with the casting of the lead. I am not from UK, but the poor people from the council estates where the characters came from do NOT sound like some posh Chelsea public school prick. He was much better in the Pride and Prejudice. Only character that was even slightly OK was the guy that played the Kid in his early teens. I actually could see that kid being abused at home. All in all the film fell flat on many occasions, too many stereotypes, too many things we have seen already.After an hour I felt so board I started playing with my phone.I know I may sound like a overly negative person, but I go to movies 2 times a week and don't remember the last time I walked out on the movie before the end. Unfortunately The Kid was the case... 3 points for the effort though as obviously someone worked on this film, but I would never recommend this to anyone....

We saw the pre-release showing of THE KID and we were also treated to a pre-film introduction and an after film Q & A session with the films director NICK MORAN (Director - TELSTAR, Actor - Lock, Stock and two smoking barrels, and Harry Potter - The Deathly Hallows parts 1 & 2).

THE KID, is the true story of the despair to riches tale of KEVIN LEWIS who grew up in a violently dysfunctional family on a badly deprived South London council estate, who eventually managed to drag himself out of the quagmire … and up, and out into the sunshine of a decent life for himself … finally getting credit for an internationally acclaimed best-selling inspirational novel "THE KID" based upon his own life story …

The director of the movie NICK MORAN, had a close association with Kevin Lewis (who the film is based on) during the making of the film – and this paid great dividends in the directors ability to capture and portray on film the anguish and torment that occurred through Kevin's life and his struggles to barely survive.

After being removed from his own family for his own safety … then moving through a succession of failed placements with Foster parents and care home institutions … Kevin finally finds a decent environment where he starts to prosper … until the untimely death of one of the foster parents that puts him back into a downward spiral of commitments and debts

Kevin then finds a "pseudo-family" in the form of some undesirable characters from the underworld that offer to help him … but in reality they are just using his naivety to exploit him for their own gain … at much cost to himself … in the shape of some very violent "street-fighting" matches … with no rules and no-holds barred ... appearing under the pseudonym of "The Kid"

Against the odds Kevin manages from the very depths of despair, to finally turn his life around for the better …

The music for the film is inspiring, along with the casting … the three actors who play Kevin through early childhood – through his school years to his later years are very good (especially the parts played by Augustus Prew and Rupert Friend as the middle and later Kevins).

There are strong support roles played by Edward Fox and Shirley-Anne Field as the "good" foster parents and Bernard Hill as "Uncle David" – but the star of the show without doubt is the casting of Natascha McElhone (Californication, Solaris) – just how they can transform such a beauty into such a ugly, murderous, psychopath of a deranged Mother is something to see … she steals every scene she is in … much akin to Charlize Theron's performance in MONSTER … who knows … perhaps Natascha may well follow a similar (deserved) path down the awards trail …

The Director mentioned in the Q&A session that the film was shot on 16mm film – and when this is blown up to full screen size you can sometimes detect a slight graininess with some shots – however I don't think this detracted at all from the ambiance of the film

This isn't meant to be a "pleasant" movie, it is quite hard-hitting (sometimmes literally) … and the violence will not be to all tastes – as it is based on a true story and therefore keeps closely to the narrative of the book … but, I do believe that it is worth seeing … and hopefully you'll get the pay-off of a feel-good factor at the end …

THE KID is 111mins long, comes out on general release on FRI 17th Sept 2010, and it should be noted that the film contains some violence that would not be suitable for all ages

I absolutely hated the time when i was in my early to mid teens. I lived in a dreadful part of London and I went to a school that I absolutely hated. In fact most aspects of my life were not very good. The Kid is a film that charts the life of a lad who was brought up as a teenager at the same time as I was ( the early eighties) and who also had it rough.

This is a gritty, some would say dark , movie that pulls no punches. I loved this film simply because it reminded me a lot of the period it is set in and of small aspects of my own situation. I found this film moving extremely moving and it's a shame it seems to have been released under the radar of most people.

If you can get hold of The Kid I recommend you do. Your in for a rough ride!

I bought this movie from SKY Box Office, and it was £4 VERY WELL SPENT.

I'd heard nothing about it, just these 6 reviews on here and was pleasantly surprised how good this film was.

Great acting on all parts from kids to adults, Rupert friend was perfect for this part, so all in all GOOD CASTING.

This film is very powerful and has it's fair share of violence and bad language. However It is not over the top, and quite apt considering the story.

Also knowing this was based on a true story really puts the cherry on the cake.

I will be recommending this film to all my friends, and to people that love a 'good' Brit flick.

All in all I would give this a strong 8 out of 10, but because another reviewer (who obviously got out the wrong side of bed that day) gave it such a low score, I gave it a 10!