I've always liked Patrick Swayze. After becoming a sex symbol and winning over female fans with Dirty Dancing he made a concentrated effort to win over the men to the tune of Road House and the hillbilly action of Next of Kin. However, unlike the former flick, this just seems to be lacking in Swayze kicking some ass and not once does a baddie threaten to have sex with him in prison. However, he does sport the ponytail it seemed was a required accessory for every action hero of the time to lovingly wear (here's looking at you Jean-Claude Van Damme in Hard Target).

Appalachian born cop Truman Gates (Swayze) is transplanted to Chicago and takes time between fighting criminals to treat his pregnant wife to a shirtless fiddle playing seduction. Hearing of hard times back home after the coal mine closes, he convinces his brother Gerald (Bill Paxton) to come to the big city to find work. Gerard scores a job as a truck driver but ends up being killed when some gangsters, led by Joey Rosellini (Adam Baldwin) the nephew of a local mob boss, hijack the cargo.

Upon returning to Kentucky for the funeral, Truman has to deal with other brother Briar (Liam Neeson) who is determined to get revenge on their sibling's murderers. It's this somewhat bloated mid-section that takes time to establish backwoods life and their honour system which loosely plays into Michael Jenning's script when the action returns to Chicago as Truman tries to use his gentlemanly charm and by-the-book procedures to solve the murder while Briar heads out for good, old fashioned vengeance. This sounds all fine and dandy until you realize just how goddamn long it takes for the actual action part of the flick to start - and when it does we're treated to a subway car chase that's oddly unexciting and an equally mediocre final showdown set in a graveyard.

Whereas Road House has gone on to a deserved cult classic status, I could barely remember Next of Kin going in. I think a lot of this has to do with Swayze. In Road House he was super cool as bar bouncer Dalton and got to take part in lots of "what the?!" over-the-top action scenes and here he just seems to be playing second fiddle (ha!) to Neeson's crazy determination to make people pay. I get they were trying to have a sensitive hero but I'd barely classify him as one. On the other hand, Neeson, who had yet to star in Darkman and become the modern day Charles Bronson in flicks like Taken and A Walk Among the Tombstones; is actually pretty good here even getting to trap a mobster in a bus filled with snakes. Baldwin (My Bodyguard) does his best evil grimaces and this marks an early role for Ben Stiller as the son of our crime boss. Everyone generally does their jobs okay with only Paul Greco doing some bad comic relief as inept hit man, Leo.

1989 was an odd time for action movies. Guys like Steven Seagal and Van Damme were able to draw decent box-office but those times were fleeting. So, I guess in that way, Next of Kin is almost a relic of the pre-DTV plague of the mid 90's. The problem is, though, that it's just not very good. At 108 minutes it's overlong and doesn't get to the action quickly enough. Also, I was expecting better since director John Irvin made the entertaining Arnold Schwarzenegger flick Raw Deal and the underrated Vietnam War effort Hamburger Hill before this. It's really no surprise that Swayze would return to wooing the ladies a year later with Ghost but, if you must see him dishing out some beatdowns while rocking a world class mullet, you'd be better off with Road House than this. (Chris Hartley, 3/13/15)

Directed By: John Irvin.
Written By: Michael Jenning.

Starring: Patrick Swayze, Adam Baldwin, Helen Hunt, Andreas Katsulas.