Escape to the Movies: Kick-Ass

[Therumancer]

Could you please clue me in on to what big daddy is doing bob. I'm as old as you (well 27, almost as old), but admittedly terrible at seeing "deeper meaning" or "symbolism".

EDIT: upon reading further comments, yeah I probably would have got that. I haven't seen the movie yet but I figured you would be referring to something more "deep". Which I never get.

Yeah, there are a few spoilers here.

Was going to write a kick-ass user reveiw but never got arrround to it. I thought it was s very good film despite some of it's failings. The tone and overall violence reminds me somewhat on the best of what amine can do, put young people in a violent universe and make it awesome and dubious massacres by 11 year old girls really did invoke that.

I thought it's tone was sligly dark in places, it was fun but it did do at least a little exploration. Some of the funnier bits come from just shattering the conventions of the superhero movie like not killing the villans. In one of hit girl'd most memorable scenes she kills ALL the guys in an apartment, even just some random junkies, slices their limbs right off.

Might still write that reveiw, the film is essentially about a self gratifying ego fantasy decending into self gratifying ultraviolence so my take it it's essentially a film about masturbation. No really. There is like a 5 minute scene in which Dave explains how he wacks off over EVERYTHING. The undertone of tit gags also comes back in random places to great effect.

See, I'm not entirely sure about the latter bit when it comes to self gratifying ego fantasy. Understand that one of the points of the entire movie is that the central character, Kick Ass himself, never actually DOES get his hands on the power that he wanted. I mean in general he's more or less just a spectator to a couple of people who do what he wants to do. Granted he does have a bit of a moment (fighting another nerd, and using a rather over the top weapon) towards the end of the movie, but in the end it struck me more as one of those "stay true to your dreams" kind of messages (in a messed up way) because where the movie left off he could presumably be trained to do the things he wanted to, and the narration implies that this is what exactly happens. I think the point of the story is more or less summarized by his experiences during his first attempt to be a vigiltante (immortalized on that comic cover) and the fact that he gets up despite everything and heads right back out thre despite being totally outclassed and a complete joke.

As far as Hit Girl goes, I must say that it was pretty cool. A campy, upbeat, effective version of Natalie Portman's role from "The Professional", though I admit Nicolas Cage does steal the show in his bits even more.

As a final note (if anyone read this far), I will say that I think the biggest thing Hollywood needs to look at is Hit Girl's fight scenes. Not the ultra-violence, but the fact that they managed to make the insane idea of an 11 year old taking out numerous adults seem plausible enough to suspend disbelief.

Basically, if someone ever wants to bring Robin into a Batman movie again, this is pretty much what you want it to come accross like. The whole problem with Robin has always sort of been that he's the BOY wonder, and manages to kick butt alongside Batman despite being a little kid. While you'd want to drop the malevolence a bit, Big Daddy/Hit Girl pretty much defined the relationship (minus the code against killing), and showed exactly what a child super-hero should look like in action when watching a movie.

For that matter it really opened my eyes up to what could be done with child heroes in general. I mean heck, I never thought a "Runaways" or "Cloak and Dagger" movie could be done while remaining loyal to some of the characters/the basic concept, until I saw how they put this together.


Also Nicholas Cage's Adam West schtick was actually pretty brilliant,

 

[Turkey Braveheart]

I'm glad they went more upbeat with the movie version. The comic, from what I've heard, seems to leave Kick-Ass as much a loser as it found him: masturbating to a picture cruelly sent to him by a girl who had rejected him. That's just a little to sad and pathetic an ending for me to get anything out of it.

 

[0megaZer0]

just a quick note about Hit-girl... 1st of all, she's fucking bad ass.
2nd, The only way you're going to "catch" any hint of them portraying her as "sexy" or anything of the like is if you're looking for things like that intensively to begin with (aka, they're NOT attempting to portray her as such. movieBob's assertion of this rests on the assumption that "in general comicbook female superheros are milked for their sex appeal and hitgirl is no exception".)

Any perception of her as "sexy" is strictly due to the audience's interpretation, nd if you would choose to perceive her as such, then you have some pretty sick problems to begin with, and you do'nt need to go blaming them on the movie...

that's like blaming the Playboy for "making you whack it" -lol.

 

[TheodoreLuke]

Huh. Is this the worst marketing job ever, or what? I had no idea what the movie was about-- I thought it was a KIDDIE flick FFS.

I imagine that I'm not the only one: anyone who isn't familiar with the comic book probably has a mistaken impression about the movie if they go solely by the commercials... (I suppose a trailer might clarify things more.)

Did you not see that they only played the trailer at night and it said RATED R dude.

EDIT: I agree with your second point, there are many people who would be misled by the trailers
For instance, my dad brought my 9 year old brother to see Watchmen.

 

[DannibalG36]

Roger Ebert got it right. Kickass is a morally perverted film.

And, no, it is not as violent as Movie Bob would have us think. 300, Gladiator, and Gamer (another hopelessly twisted movie) were a bit more profligate with the gore. But... these are kids spilling buckets of blood and subsequently exulting in their apparent triumph. Now, I would be a hypocrite if I said that murder and death in entertainment media are horrible and should be immediately banned. Killing in the virtual realm is undeniably entertaining: witness God of War or Rambo.

But Kickass takes it too far. The characters are killing for their own amusement and killing in glorious, glamorous style, too. You might defend such extreme violence as parodic or cynical. Parodic of what? Cynical regarding what? Violence for the sake of violence? But Kickass carries none of the message that parodies or satires carry; it's a glut of violence that is present to cover up a (surprisingly) meager story. Yes, it's a comic book story, but who said that comic book stories are any good? Furthermore, the characters are all one-note: they are brillantly characterized, but not ONE of the cast has any particular development. They never become anything more than angsty (yet oddly funny) teenagers with a knack for slaughtering gangsters and hoodlums for reasons that are woefully explained, probably because the bad guys in question are never alive long enough to become more than one-note villains.

But you have probably already seen Kickass and love it for the same reason I hate it. Kids killing with utter abandonment is definitely badass. But it's the side of badass I hoped I'd never see.

And Chloe Moretz is an annoying *****.

 

[awsome117]

To the poster above me, the "good guys" are not killing for the sake of killing. they are vigilantes, and are taking the law into their own hands. Doing bad to do good.

And did you just say that comic book stories are all that good? Maybe you read a few bad ones, but comics (especially the ones I have read) have great stories.

And what do you mean? Kick ass transcends in this movie. He goes from being a nobody, to a hero, to just a regular person. You'll see the constant conflicts within himself seeing how being a super hero isn't anything like the comics.

But morally perverted? As if this the first time underage sex is used in a movie (hell, Juno was a movie based on underage sex) or you see a ton of gore and/or violence. Maybe it's just the inner anime fan in me, but it isn't the first time we've seen kids/teens get involved in conflicts/wars.

Morality is a point of view, so in reality, it could be entirely perverted to you, but not someone else.

Anyway, all-in-all, a great film. Maybe the best of the year. So sad about Red Mist and Big Daddy though, they were my favorite characters

 

[WilliamRLBaker]

It was okay, Id much rather have seen a movie about Big daddy and hitgirl then kickass or redmist or such.

Just didn't feel those parts, but big daddy and hitgirl actually had a worthwhile story.

 

[antigodoflife]

Huh. Is this the worst marketing job ever, or what? I had no idea what the movie was about-- I thought it was a KIDDIE flick FFS.

I imagine that I'm not the only one: anyone who isn't familiar with the comic book probably has a mistaken impression about the movie if they go solely by the commercials... (I suppose a trailer might clarify things more.)

I watched the red band trailer so I knew what was coming and loved it.

I wonder if hit girl was allowed to see the film she was starring in.

She commented on saying that if she wasn't in the movie, there was no chance in hell she would of been able to see it, but because she was in it, she was allowed.

 

[Zyphonee]

I'll probably watch this film next week. I have never read the comics even though I consider myself a Romita Jr. fan, and even so, the premise seem so ridiculously over the top, that even after having every possible indicator that it is a good film, I just don't want to believe a film about a nerdy guy who suddenly wants to be a superhero so he makes himself a goofy looking costume would be good.

Once again, I prove I wouldn't make a living on the stock market.

 

[Weaver]

WHOAAAAAAAAAAAA this movie has Nick Cage in it?

Pass.

 

[Revolutionary]

Awsome, will see now.

 

[FarSpace]

That's cool how it seems more realistic then other super hero movies, and it still seems like it be real funy.

 

[DreamingMerc]

What I like about this movie is how completely balanced it is as far as consequence of action goes. If you want to go out and fight crime and as such criminals you're going to be breaking bones and tearing flesh at some point or another and eventually takes those blows back. That and it funny as hell at times. The bad parts are at times is blatantly schizophrenic in tone, the over the top action throws me free from the movie. It's just to much to ask of me to buy as a concept, doing flips and jumping around like a crack monkey in a fire-fight. That and this is a petty thing but a freaking butterfly knife, why are these things so popular when they are a genuinely worthless product. There's a reason they only get used by retards and movies, because anyone who legitimately tries to use one gets cut up buy a guy with a benchmade, tarani or SOG.

 

[tombman888]

i went and saw this 5 days ago with a friend, and we both taught i was an awesome movie. id recommend going to see it

 

[slimeonline]

Kick ass is worth watching

but watchmen was not good, it was terrible

 

[Cameron Baxter]

watchmen and kick ass are two completely different movies when you consider what they are trying to portray watchmen was about misuse of power and was designed to show that you can regard anyone as a bad guy while kickass i felt was more about understanding your limitations and being naive it still annoys me they didnt put big daddy's plot twist in though
(as a recommendation to those who did not like watchmen read the book cos its easier to understand why the characters are assholes)
(as a recommendation to kickass watch the movie because it is good fun and goes into more detail than the book of which i finished in a hour)

 

[Snowalker]

That glass castle... You got me there. I have read the graphic novel and I'm still not sure of the importance. I imagine he built it because he never intended to go back to earth but the entire thing does seem like a massive deviation from the plot. I think it's main purpose is to add a little to the character. I didn't love the movie, but the graphic novel is one of my favourite books of all time. If you can pick up a cheap copy or better yet borrow one I'd say give it a go. You never know it might surprise you, if not and you only borrowed it at least you didn't waste money.

He built the castle, and if you have read the graphic novel I don't know how you didn't pick up on this, because he saw the castle in the snow-globe from Silk Specter's memory, and it reminded him of her. Why was it important? Well, when she came to Mars to try to bring him back to Earth, it reminded her of the night she figured out the Comedian was her father and that she had just suppressed the memory, thats why she hated the structure and began hitting, he saw it cause her pain, and collapsed it. Make sense?

 

[TheRundownRabbit]

This movie didnt go in the direction everyone thought it would, but it was still awesome

 

[MrFluffy-X]

KICK ASS WAS AWESOME!

seriously bob? you actually liked watchman, that film balls!