Kick-Ass

It has been a long time since I have left a screening with endorphins pumping through my body and the strong urge to learn a martial art but Kick-Ass did exactly that; I felt like I could take on the world! An explosive ride that covers insane action sequences, intelligent superhero parodies and intense dramatic turns, Kick-Ass is a welcome addition to the realm of the comic-book movie.

I was initially sceptical about the prospect of watching another superhero spoof movie, most recent attempts at the genre have been abysmal, but Kick-Ass completely transcends its predecessors through the use of intelligent pastiche which drives the story forward as well as providing laughs. The brilliantly choreographed action scenes would not feel out of place in a Spiderman film, or even a Tarantino script, in fact it feels like Spiderman and Kill Bill were put into a blender and Kick-Ass was the end result.

The story focuses on Dave Lizewski, your average teenage nerd, whose obsession with comic books inspires him to create his very own superhero, Kick-Ass, despite his discernible lack of superpowers. Dave's attempts to become a vigilante crime fighter initially end in disaster but in the process of rescuing a cat his luck changes, propelling him into the public limelight and establishing him as a figure to be reckoned with.

It is not long before other vigilantes surface, some desperate for the fame and attention, others out for revenge, and when Kick-Ass becomes embroiled in a crime lords devious plans, we are treated to a number of intense melees that gradually escalate in size and repercussions for those involved. There has been some controversy over the graphic violence depicted in these scenes, especially as the trailer is intended to appeal to a fairly young audience, and that comes as no surprise when a pre-teen girl decapitates villains on screen and uses the c*** word. Controversy aside, I cannot deny that this was very entertaining.

Chloe Moretz easily steals the show as Hit Girl - the incredibly volatile young superhero with a penchant for explicit language, which will surely propel her into the realms of stardom. Nicolas Cage is surprisingly effective as her doting father, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse is ever watchable as Red Mist. However it is Aaron Johnson who shows the most promise as Kick-Ass, with his convincing turn from a bumbling student to a brave and reckless crime fighter marking him as a talent to watch out for.

An essential part of the film is its eclectic soundtrack, with choice tracks taken from excellent films such as 28 Days Later and For a few dollars more. Usually I would be concerned at such a prospect but the Kick-Ass soundtrack adapts the tracks brilliantly, making them feel like its own, alongside great songs from The Prodigy and Sparks to name a few. The choice of music fits perfectly with the high-octane action sequences and even adds emotional depth to key scenes - not bad for a superhero comedy movie!

Kick-Ass is that rarest of films, a successful hybrid of two genres that delivers an almost perfect cinematic experience. My only criticism would be that some sequences near the end were slightly far-fetched but in a film where suspension of belief is required, maybe I'm being a little harsh. This is an essential film for all cinema-goers, catch it on the big screen and I guarantee you will be completely immersed in the explosive yet entertaining world of Kick-Ass

9/10

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Special, Spiderman, The Dark Knight and Superbad

This is an unusually interesting comic book adaptation movie. It's got action but it's actually part comedy romance and part teen movie. It's quite story driven too with interesting amusing dialog and voice overs. IT doesn't take itself too seriously which is good. The violence is there but it's not as bad as some of the new movies.

The leads are appealing Aaron Johnson has an expressive face and suits the role. Lyndsy Fonseca is quite a charming love interest. Chloe Moretz makes a rather controversial role quite cute as the violent kid. Nicholas Cage is in a supporting role.

Quite watchable and different.

"Why hasn't anyone become a superhero?"

That question is at the heart of Matthew Vaughn's "Kick-Ass", a deconstructionist superhero movie that sees awkward teenager Dave (Aaron Johnson) actually don the spandex and venture out onto the rooftops ... who then proceeds to promptly gets his ass kicked on more than one occasion.

But the question gets away from Vaughn, as the movie introduces a larger narrative and centers on a violent pre-teen girl (Chloe Moretz) who, as the sidekick to the Batman-esque Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage), eschews a normal childhood in favor of ACTUALLY kicking ass.

For the most part, it's a fun ride. Cage gleefully chews the scenery in his gun-wielding Batman ripoff role (complete with Adam West dialogue impersonation). "Kick-Ass" features more bloody fight scenes than you can shake a stick at, with Moretz doing most of the anatomical damage. And unless you're Roger Ebert, there's some deliciously twisted humor to be found in those ass-kickings. And Mark Strong shines as the big bad guy crime boss (unexpectedly hilarious).

There are moments of adolescent angst, the "hero" actually does get the girl (not really a spoiler, here) and the words, "With no power comes no responsibility" are actually uttered. What better time for this movie's release than at the height (I hope) of Hollywood's superhero fetish.

7/10

Daze Lizewski (Aaron-Taylor Johnson) is an average high schooler in New York City who by his own words has nothing special about him. Dave has a crush on his classmate Katie Deauxma (Lyndsy Fonseca) but lacking the confidence to engage her spends time with his two friends Marty (Clarke Duke) and Todd (Evan Peters) reading and discussing the minutia of comics. Dave wonders why no-one becomes a superhero in real life and decides to purchase a green wetsuit with yellow piping and matching mask to become a masked crime fighter. When his first attempt fails leaving him stabbed and injured, his injuries give him the benefit of deadening his nerve endings allowing him heightened tolerance to pain. Kick-Ass becomes a viral sensation while Dave gets the attention of his crush Katie only to find out she thinks he's gay. Meanwhile, Kick-Ass is not the only superhero vigilante as former cop Damon Macready (Nicolas Cage) and his daughter Mindy (Chloe Grace Moretz) also do vigilante activities as Big Daddy and Hit-Girl respectively intent on taking down crime boss Frank D'Amico (Mark Strong) who framed Damon and caused a string of events that led to his wife's suicide. As Dave continues to fight as Kick-Ass and other heroes like Red Mist (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) appear in the scene, Dave finds his world spiraling out of control with escalating violence and chaos.

Kick-Ass is an adaptation of the creator owned comic written by Mark Millar and illustrated by John Romita Jr. Of the same name. The rights to the film were sold before a single issue of the comic was published as a chance encounter between Millar and director Matthew Vaughn at the premiere of Vaughn's sophomore feature Stardust lead to the two discussing Millar's concept which lead to Millar writing the comic and Vaughn and his writing partner Jane Goldman writing the script for the film. While studios were interested in the property, they wanted to either age up the characters (particularly Hit-Girl) or tone down the violence both of which Vaughn refused. This meant that financing was done independently with no studio set to distribute the film until Lionsgate finally acquired the film for a wide-release. The movie received terrific reviews from critics (with exceptions from some who decried the film's violence as "morally reprehensible"). While Box Office for the film was okay, Lionsgate had expected due to the amount of internet traffic surrounding the film it would be on the level of something like Zombieland but ended more on a level similar to Kill Bill or one of the Punisher movies. The movie did however score some solid home media sales. Kick-Ass is an influential film that may not have been given its deserve audience recognition, but it's a daring an influential movie that laid the foundation for other challenging comic book adaptations like Kingsman and Deadpool.

Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughn have done a great job translating Mark Millar's work to film. I actually didn't like the Kick-Ass comic and despite it being one of Mark Millar's best known works, it's probably the one I least like (maybe Marvel's Civil War at a close second). The Kick-Ass comic is a very nasty mean spirited piece of work and it's not because of its violence (that I have no problem with), but because it's got a very nihilistic and misanthropic core to it that actively revels in a lot of elements that feel bitter, dark, and sometimes downright hateful (especially a twist involving Big Daddy that's thankfully been excised from the film). The comic also gave me the sense that it hated its main character with Dave often portrayed as kind of a weaselly and pathetic character who at one point stands around a location for three hours to talk to his dream girl and not to spoil anything but that dream girl, imagine the exact opposite of every mainstream love story you've seen then multiply it by a schadenfreude factor of five. Goldman and Vaughn's take on the character makes Dave a more relatable character and the movie feels like it believes in him and wants him to win in a way the comic never gave us. While Goldman and Vaughn do a good job of translating most of the core elements from the comic, they do struggle with one, the character of Red Mist. In both the comic and movie, Chris aka Red Mist, is the son of the main gangster bad guy who becomes instrumental Frank D'Amico's war against the costumed crimefighters. While Chris wasn't all that interesting or developed in the comics, his character did at least make sense within the story. Chris in the movie is very odd because he wants to be like his father Frank, but he also is shown to respect Kick-Ass (to a degree anyway) and at one point even tries to help Kick-Ass which puts the character in an odd place as he's got redeeming points to him while also still serving as an antagonist. The movie also keeps the "gay misunderstanding" subplot from the comic and I suppose it's handled a little better here than when it was in the comic, but there are still elements that are cringe inducing in hindsight such as the "spray on tan" scene. With that said I do prefer Goldman and Vaughn's take on the subplot over Mark Millar's so it's still a net improvement overall.

Despite some hiccups in translating the material, the movie's cast does great with it. Nicolas Cage is amazing as Big Daddy with his trademark intensity coming through in all the best ways (especially in narrating a 3D rendered comic-book style original story of how he and his daughter became Big Daddy and Hit-Girl). Aaron-Taylor Johnson is a likable lead in the role of Dave/Kick-Ass and he shows a natural charm and charisma in his performance here. Mark Strong is also a lot of fun as our main antagonist Frank D'Amico who takes the very basic gangster archetype and plays up the humor from the frustration he feels at having costumed nuts ruining his business. But stealing every scene she's in is Chloe Grace Moretz as Mindy aka Hit-Girl whose action scenes are the highlight of the film as she unleashes bullets and foul language aplenty in sequences that are both darkly humorous and also quite thrilling.

Kick-Ass is a strong and stylish superhero film that plays its concept of "real world" superheroes quite well both for dark as black humor as well as for action-noir. Matthew Vaughn stylishly directs the film with his and Jane Goldman's screenplay filing down the rougher edges of Mark Millar's source work while keeping the core appeal and the cast do a great job of bringing their characters to life. Kick-Ass is entertainingly violent and darkly humorous and if those are what you expect, you'll get them with a heaping helping of style and craft.

A great adaptation of the source material makes for a very entertaining and violent ride. Begs the question, what would a superhero be like in real life? If you dig violent action and can handle a lot of profanity, this movie could be for you. Chloe Grace Moretz without question steals the show in this one.