Kicks

For starry-eyed teenager Brandon (Jahking Guillory), his new pair of Air Jordans are his key to popularity. So much so that when they are stolen, he leads his friends on a mission of revenge. The pain of adolescence, poverty, and the hunt for social status collides in this whimsical dramedy. In Brandon, we see a young man standing on the edge of childhood, and his first steps into the dark world that awaits him are both fascinating and, at times, sad. Young star Guillory fills his character with pathos, to the point where you may feel protective of him. This isn't a story of good versus evil, however, as life is a lot more complicated than that. While some trippy moments feel slightly out of sync with the rest of the action, Kicks is an engrossing, strongly scripted story about the dangers inherent in trying to prove oneself.