I'm very sorry for that terribly predictable pun.
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Kick-Ass is a genre-blurring deconstruction of both super hero movies, teen comedies, and the very concept of vigilantism in today's society. Oh, and it's got a 12-year old mass-murdering, trash-talking ninja in it. Suffice to say, this film is one of the funnest, funniest, and most entertaining excuses to go to the movies we've had in months.
The story is reasonably simple: young, shy, bookish kid named Dave Lizewski, played by British newcomer Aaron Johnson. Combining the best elements of Peter Parker and Michael Cera, Lizewski is a comic book nerd with one overriding obsession: why is it, in a world as weird and crazy as our own, nobody has tried to actually be a superhero? Not even attempted? So, with nothing to lose, he orders a wetsuit off the Internet and dons a mask to become: Kick-Ass. On his first night out, he proceeds to get his ass handed to him, and thus the story kicks into high gear.
See, Kick-Ass isn't a very good superhero. He has no combat training, no gadgets, nothing. He has heart, and determination, and that can only get you so far--but for him, it gets him onto Youtube, and from there he becomes a hit-sensation...and a target. As he tries to do good things for people, he ends up getting involved in some shady drug business, which introduces him to Hit Girl and Big Daddy, two OTHER masked vigilantes who are far better than he at the task at hand, especially Hit Girl, who is the best part of this movie, as will be discussed later.
Kick-Ass does a lot of things right. It gives plenty of time for characterization, it hits the right beats of a comic story arc and visualizes the action in a way that is visceral and entertaining. The soundtrack is excellent, the performances capture the weird, off-kilter tone of the film, and the emotional ups and downs are nicely paced to really make the audience feel sympathy and empathy for all the characters, even the bad guys.
For a story about real-life vigilantes, it's hard to find a good villain, especially when you have morally ambiguous Hit Girl slaughtering entire rooms of people. Mark Strong, of Sherlock Holmes fame, plays D'Amico, a local mob boss, whose comic-book loving son (Christopher Mintz-Plasse)idolizes Kick-Ass. When masked crusaders start messing with his business, D'Amico drops the hammer on Kick-Ass, and orders his destruction. Strong plays D'Amico with a human, yet deeply villainous sensibility. You'll laugh and applaud his triumphs, but you'll also cheer for his defeat--for such a simple role, Strong really goes the extra mile to make D'Amico believable, which really helps because...
Hit Girl. Just...Hit Girl. Probably the most controversial film character in recent years, Hit Girl rips this movie out of Kick-Ass' hands, kicks him in the balls, and then dances her way to superstardom. Chloe Moretz is our precocious little massacre in pig-tails, and for a character that could so EASILY be as irritating and unbelievable as they come, she somehow manages to pull it off. From her oddly threatening, yet strangely adorable "Batman voice" to her high-flying, ninja-kicking stuntwork to her costume to her hilarious tendency to say very, very bad words, Hit Girl dominates this movie, and her relationship with Big Daddy (Nicholas Cage) forms a tender emotional core to what would otherwise be a ludicrous character. Cage deserves special mention here--Big Daddy is a bizarre amalgamation of Adam West Batman and, well, Nic Cage, with a hint of William Shatner thrown in for good measure. With his ridiculous dramatics, strange. Halting. Way of. Speaking, often stop.ing in the middle of sentences and even wo.rds, Big Daddy is both hilarious and horrifying, depending on how you look at him.
But ultimately this is Kick-Ass' story, isn't it? He's the title character, he's the main character...yet the biggest flaw in this movie is that as soon as Hit Girl is introduced, Kick-Ass becomes largely irrelevant. Yes, he still gets the most screen time and we spend a lot of the movie inside his head as he comes to terms with what it means to be a hero and all that, but after watching a little girl slaughter an entire household of armed mooks, the trials and tribulations of a nerd trying to win over the girl of his dreams seems just a LITTLE bland. It plays well, though, and Johnson lends a funny sort of vulnerabilty to the character, exemplified by the fact that he actually is pretty shitty at being a superhero. Even basic acts of heroism are difficult for him, and his flaws really drive home the difficulty inherent in taking up this moniker and fighting this impossible fight.
Still, Kick-Ass spends almost the entire movie failing to, in fact, Kick-Ass, with one single victory to his name. Granted, it's implied that he does more, but all we see is him getting his ass kicked, or failing to be genre savvy enough to either protect his identity or protect himself. This may very well be the whole point of the film, but I really think they could have at least made him SOMEWHAT competent. It becomes hard to believe that we can at all count on this guy to be heroic, and his heroic moments are disproportionately weak compared to how effective and powerful Hit Girl and Big Daddy are.
Still, it's ultimately a minor flaw in an otherwise fantastic movie. With great music, great performances, beautifully choreographed action sequences, and a fresh, innovative spin on a now very tired and played out story, Kick-Ass is a movie for anyone who loves movies, superheros, or just good old fashioned fun.
Crowning Moment of Awesome: Where to start? There's Hit Girl slaughtering bad guys to the theme song of the Banana Splits, Hit Girl killing a dozen bad guys in a narrow hallway, Big Daddy burning down a warehouse...notice a trend? So, for me, I think the best Crowning Moment of this movie is at the end, where Kick-Ass is the one who steps in and ultimately saves the day, defeating D'Amico in a sequence that really must be seen to believed. It's not as great as it could have been, it's overshadowed by Hit Girl, but it's a moment that belongs to Kick-Ass, that he more or less earned, and it marks an excellent end to a thrilling climax.
---
Kick-Ass is a genre-blurring deconstruction of both super hero movies, teen comedies, and the very concept of vigilantism in today's society. Oh, and it's got a 12-year old mass-murdering, trash-talking ninja in it. Suffice to say, this film is one of the funnest, funniest, and most entertaining excuses to go to the movies we've had in months.
The story is reasonably simple: young, shy, bookish kid named Dave Lizewski, played by British newcomer Aaron Johnson. Combining the best elements of Peter Parker and Michael Cera, Lizewski is a comic book nerd with one overriding obsession: why is it, in a world as weird and crazy as our own, nobody has tried to actually be a superhero? Not even attempted? So, with nothing to lose, he orders a wetsuit off the Internet and dons a mask to become: Kick-Ass. On his first night out, he proceeds to get his ass handed to him, and thus the story kicks into high gear.
See, Kick-Ass isn't a very good superhero. He has no combat training, no gadgets, nothing. He has heart, and determination, and that can only get you so far--but for him, it gets him onto Youtube, and from there he becomes a hit-sensation...and a target. As he tries to do good things for people, he ends up getting involved in some shady drug business, which introduces him to Hit Girl and Big Daddy, two OTHER masked vigilantes who are far better than he at the task at hand, especially Hit Girl, who is the best part of this movie, as will be discussed later.
Kick-Ass does a lot of things right. It gives plenty of time for characterization, it hits the right beats of a comic story arc and visualizes the action in a way that is visceral and entertaining. The soundtrack is excellent, the performances capture the weird, off-kilter tone of the film, and the emotional ups and downs are nicely paced to really make the audience feel sympathy and empathy for all the characters, even the bad guys.
For a story about real-life vigilantes, it's hard to find a good villain, especially when you have morally ambiguous Hit Girl slaughtering entire rooms of people. Mark Strong, of Sherlock Holmes fame, plays D'Amico, a local mob boss, whose comic-book loving son (Christopher Mintz-Plasse)idolizes Kick-Ass. When masked crusaders start messing with his business, D'Amico drops the hammer on Kick-Ass, and orders his destruction. Strong plays D'Amico with a human, yet deeply villainous sensibility. You'll laugh and applaud his triumphs, but you'll also cheer for his defeat--for such a simple role, Strong really goes the extra mile to make D'Amico believable, which really helps because...
Hit Girl. Just...Hit Girl. Probably the most controversial film character in recent years, Hit Girl rips this movie out of Kick-Ass' hands, kicks him in the balls, and then dances her way to superstardom. Chloe Moretz is our precocious little massacre in pig-tails, and for a character that could so EASILY be as irritating and unbelievable as they come, she somehow manages to pull it off. From her oddly threatening, yet strangely adorable "Batman voice" to her high-flying, ninja-kicking stuntwork to her costume to her hilarious tendency to say very, very bad words, Hit Girl dominates this movie, and her relationship with Big Daddy (Nicholas Cage) forms a tender emotional core to what would otherwise be a ludicrous character. Cage deserves special mention here--Big Daddy is a bizarre amalgamation of Adam West Batman and, well, Nic Cage, with a hint of William Shatner thrown in for good measure. With his ridiculous dramatics, strange. Halting. Way of. Speaking, often stop.ing in the middle of sentences and even wo.rds, Big Daddy is both hilarious and horrifying, depending on how you look at him.
But ultimately this is Kick-Ass' story, isn't it? He's the title character, he's the main character...yet the biggest flaw in this movie is that as soon as Hit Girl is introduced, Kick-Ass becomes largely irrelevant. Yes, he still gets the most screen time and we spend a lot of the movie inside his head as he comes to terms with what it means to be a hero and all that, but after watching a little girl slaughter an entire household of armed mooks, the trials and tribulations of a nerd trying to win over the girl of his dreams seems just a LITTLE bland. It plays well, though, and Johnson lends a funny sort of vulnerabilty to the character, exemplified by the fact that he actually is pretty shitty at being a superhero. Even basic acts of heroism are difficult for him, and his flaws really drive home the difficulty inherent in taking up this moniker and fighting this impossible fight.
Still, Kick-Ass spends almost the entire movie failing to, in fact, Kick-Ass, with one single victory to his name. Granted, it's implied that he does more, but all we see is him getting his ass kicked, or failing to be genre savvy enough to either protect his identity or protect himself. This may very well be the whole point of the film, but I really think they could have at least made him SOMEWHAT competent. It becomes hard to believe that we can at all count on this guy to be heroic, and his heroic moments are disproportionately weak compared to how effective and powerful Hit Girl and Big Daddy are.
Still, it's ultimately a minor flaw in an otherwise fantastic movie. With great music, great performances, beautifully choreographed action sequences, and a fresh, innovative spin on a now very tired and played out story, Kick-Ass is a movie for anyone who loves movies, superheros, or just good old fashioned fun.
Crowning Moment of Awesome: Where to start? There's Hit Girl slaughtering bad guys to the theme song of the Banana Splits, Hit Girl killing a dozen bad guys in a narrow hallway, Big Daddy burning down a warehouse...notice a trend? So, for me, I think the best Crowning Moment of this movie is at the end, where Kick-Ass is the one who steps in and ultimately saves the day, defeating D'Amico in a sequence that really must be seen to believed. It's not as great as it could have been, it's overshadowed by Hit Girl, but it's a moment that belongs to Kick-Ass, that he more or less earned, and it marks an excellent end to a thrilling climax.
