Oh no, here we go with another comic book movie. Wait a minute, it’s not about any established Marvel or DC character and it is not a remake (about the first no-remake this year); maybe this one has hope. In fact, it has way more than hope—Kick-Ass does exactly what its title suggests. The premise is beyond simple: just about every kid pretended to be a superhero as a kid and plenty of adults wish they could do something about the things they see on the news and in the streets. Kick-Ass is about an ordinary high school kid who has no special powers and has no money for cool Batman gadgets who decides to make a difference. By himself he is not going to accomplish much and he realized that: enter Red Mist, Big Daddy and Hit Girl, who round out our cast of vigilantes. Obviously I am going to tell you why, but you need to see this flick. You shouldn’t even be reading this…you should be out watching this movie—go…NOW!
I have seen a lot of action movies and it’s crazy how in a way, Kick-Ass just mocks them all. Apparently you do not need a bunch of special effects and bullet time slowdown and flying across the screen. All you need is a cast of actors that can properly fill your roles, a little wirework and some good old ultra-violence. Kick-Ass delivers in spades on all fronts. Aaron Johnson brings to life the character of Dave Lizewski (Kick-Ass) like no one else I could think of. He’s tall and goofy but not so goofy that you could not imagine him beating the snot out of someone. Nicholas Cage is Damon Macready (Big Daddy) and this was an impressive role for him. He really played thee people here: he was a loving father who has a lot of mental issues, an antihero who has a viciousness that looked like a cross between Batman and Wolverine in berserker rage and a man on a mission (not gonna spoil). Even though the mission is what makes him into the antihero, i found there to be a distinct difference between the two. Enter Chloe Moretz who plays Mindy Macready (better known as Hit Girl). She kinda steals the movie as she does more than anyone else in the movie. . . and damn, does she do it well. She is so excellent because she does not even have to snap like some of the other characters. She can smile in your face and be this sweet and innocent looking girl and hand you your ass all in the same breath; easily she was my favorite character in the movie. Last but not least we have Christopher Mintz-Plasse, who plays Chris D’Amico (aka McLov….I meant Red Mist). I do not want to say much about him at all because he is pretty integral to the plot. All I can say is that he has come a long way since Superbad. The fact that you are still reading this, you better tell me that you have seen the movie already.
The basis of the story is that simple and like I said, I do not want to spoil for anyone who has ot seen it so I’m done with the convincing. Here I am going to add a little bit of news which I find disturbing. Right before I wrote this review I was out having dinner with Akuma and some friends and I said “I hope with this movie being rated R it does not have the issues that Watchmen did.” No sooner do I come home than I find an article on IMDB titled “’Kick-Ass’ underwhelms;” as the movie grossed only about 8 million on it’s opening day. The majority of the characters portrayed are under 18 years old and so it might “look” like a kids’ movie. Then there are the few people that pay attention and see a little girl twirling a butterfly knife and shooting people and they don’t take their kids to see this. Despite these problems, I believe this movie will make and surpass its budget.
Before opening day there were already talks of a sequel to Kick-Ass; apparently the early screenings were very well received. I hope said sequel will not get watered down to make the movie ‘more viewable.’ It was definitely weird to go see a movie the day after it opened and be in a theatre that was almost empty. I have conversed with many who have seen the movie and so far only one person did not like it, his main gripe being it did not exactly follow the source material. The truth is that Kick-Ass was not a brilliantly written story and with the exception of Red Mist, every other character, costumed or not, was pretty single minded. The bottom line is the movie was fun and it did not drag. It did what it had to and boom; it’s over. Considering the abysmal films that have been coming out lately, more movies should follow this model.