Kick-Ass (2010)

Movie Info

That’s right…I’m a super-hero!

Dave Lizewski (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) decides he wants to be a superhero.  With a first outing ends in hospitalization, Dave wonders if Kick-Ass is doomed for failure.  Back on the street, Dave finds Kick-Ass is gaining popularity but also building enemies.  Making himself a target by a crime boss named Frank D’Amico (Mark Strong), Kick-Ass also finds unwanted allies in a kid assassin named Hit-Girl (Chloë Grace Moretz) and her psychopathic father Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage).  When D’Amico’s son Chris (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) takes the guise of Red Mist, Red Mist could be the downfall for Kick-Ass, Big Daddy, and Hit-Girl.

Directed by Matthew Vaughn, Kick-Ass adapts the comic book by Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr. which premiered in February 2008.  The film’s ultra-violent approach led to complaints from some groups, but the film was mostly well reviewed by critics.  The movie was a financial success.

This is how we ride!

Kick-Ass was a tough movie.  There are things I really liked about it, and there were things I really hated about it.  With an unbalanced but stylish film, I enjoyed the movie, but didn’t have much of a desire to revisit it.

The story of Kick-Ass is an interesting concept that feels old.  The idea of real world superheroes has been thrown around often, but here it takes a big change that doesn’t feel like it sticks with the theme.  Kick-Ass is supposed to be a normal guy, with little skills, that is out to stop real crime…aka drug deals, robberies, etc.  Instead, we get him dealing with very superhero characters like Red Mist, Big Daddy, and Hit-Girl…it seems to change the ideas of the movie which is supposed to feel very real world.  When bazookas and jet packs are added, the “real world hero” isn’t real world at all.

I’m Hit-Girl, bitch!

Another problem lies within Kick-Ass himself.  He’s a pretty boring character.  He’s obviously supposed to be a Peter Parker type character, but he and his friends are dull, dull, dull.  For the first part of the film, we’re treated to an “ironic” Spider-Man telling…it ends however once Hit-Girl arrives.

Despite the controversy, Hit-Girl and Big Daddy are the best part of the film…even if it changes the point of the movie.  I am not the biggest Nicolas Cage fan but his spot-on Adam West imitation is fun (supposedly it was in reaction to the gruff voice of Christian Bales as Batman).  Hit-Girl’s vulgar killing is awesome.  It might be un-P.C. but that is the fun of it.  There were complaints of a young character being so vulgar, but the movie was Rated-R.  It isn’t for kids, and kids shouldn’t be seeing it.

Kick-Ass is a movie for adults but because of the uneven balance cannot maintain the film.  The movie’s fun doesn’t coincide with the actual themes…a real world hero.  Despite this, Kick-Ass inspired even more “real” superheroes (they existed before this film, but the film brought more attention to it).  Kick-Ass was followed by Kick-Ass 2 in 2013.