Kick Ass

Director: Matthew Vaughn
Starring: Aaron Johnson, Chloe Moretz, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Nicholas Cage
Viewed: At the Cinema


Wow. Kick Ass is a roller coaster of a movie- its got heapings of ultra-violence, teen angst, a hilarious script, a teensy bit of sex, a whole lot of four-letter words plus the tiniest trained assassin you ever saw. In short, Kick Ass is AWESOME FUN.

It's the story of teenager Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) who asks (and eventually answers) the question- "Why has nobody ever tried to be a superhero?". He takes on the persona of Kick Ass, costumed crime fighter, only to find himself badly injured with metal plates in his body (giving him a curious semi-immunity to pain) after his first crime-fighting encounter. Now a rumour's going round school that he's gay, and Dave's crush (Lyndsy Fonseca) reckons he'd make a great confidante for that reason. Undeterred by the fact that he has no training or skills, Dave continues to spend his evenings in his green and yellow wetsuit trying to make the world a better place. One night, when Kick Ass is getting his ass kicked by a couple of "villains" his actions are recorded by cameraphone. Soon after, Kick Ass becomes YouTube's next big thing and earns local infamy. Unfortunately, a ring of gangsters are now after Kick Ass, and Dave soon finds that he isn't the only vigilante crimefighter out there.

I for one didn't find Kick Ass as outrageous as it's been hyped to be. Violent, yes, but offensive? Not really. Alright, Kick Ass isn't for everybody, but if you're willing to get into it you'll be in for a heck of a fun ride.

But "oh," you say, "I've heard about this movie. What kind of sicko takes pleasure in witnessing the violent killings of dozens of men BY AN 11-YEAR OLD GIRL?!" OK. So it sounds bad. Yes, one of the central characters, young Mindy McCready (Moretz) is trained up by her dad (Cage) to be a crazy-ass super-killer.
But Kick Ass is a crazy fusion of the real world and the comic-book world- Dave's just an ordinary dude, Mindy really just wants to be a little girl, the gangster's son (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) just wants to be appreciated, and getting bashed up really does hurt, but hey, this is also a universe where all manner of weaponry is accessible to every man and his dog, where all stabbings are set to funky music, where mass murder has no consequences and where the average Joe really can get the hot chick after all. Ah, if only.
The world we are plunged into is so cartoonish, we just have to accept that the Bad Guys are bad, the Good Guys are good (if a little nuts) and that Bad Guys need to die and that Good Guys need to live long and prosper. Just sit back and enjoy the sheer inventiveness, boldness and the shameless gleefulness of the action scenes and put your annoying old conscience in the back seat for a bit.

And to anyone that finds said assassin's use of four-letter words offensive, I think that your priorities need to be sorted out.

OK, that's settled.

One of the things that has always pissed me off about the Spiderman movies is that Peter Parker is such a mopey wimp behind the mask. I really couldn't care less whether he lives or dies. Here, however, Aaron Johnson gives us both a superhero and just a plain hero that we can really cheer for. He's a normal guy, but that's what makes him so lovable, we can genuinely empathise with him. We feel his pain, we can understand his desire to help those in need and we adore his geekiness. Any teenager can see a part of themselves in Dave, plus, who doesn't love the underdog?

There are also some great random punches of humour that seem to come at the most inappropriate times- but that's what makes them so funny. There are also some comic-book references for all you geeks (including myself) to enjoy, some of which are unexpectedly poignant. Kick Ass seems determined to constantly surprise us, yielding new things to enjoy and never, ever is there a boring or over-sentimental moment.

The action sequences are so well handled and they look absolutely fantastic. Each scene has style and creative little touches ( a blood spatter here, a swipe of a samurai sword there, a nonchalant flick of the butterfly knife just to top things off...). The climactic face-off does not disappoint and is just as violent, dramatic, adrenaline-pumping and over-the-top as you could ask for. If this is your kind of thing, I'd recommend Zack Snyder's 2009 version of Watchmen and pretty much any Tarantino film.

But Kick Ass is not perfect. There are a few coincidences that are just a bit too coincidental, the ending is rather too well-tied up and there are a couple of occasions where you have to remind yourself, "It's just a movie" before you can actually enjoy it. Sometimes the "message" of the film gets lost and fuzzy amidst the madness, although it all comes together in the end. The character of Red Mist, aka Chris D'Amico, son of bad guy gangster Frank D'Amico, sidekick/enemy of Kick Ass- is a little bit under developed here. So he respects his dad? But he hates his dad's business? And he wants to run his dad's business? Does he like Dave? What? Chris is probably the most interesting character in the film, but a little more attention to him and his alter-ego Red Mist would have allowed us to see how interesting he could be.

Despite these minor flaws, Kick Ass manages to be entertaining, clever, the right kind of stupid, and very memorable.

Rating: 8

Verdict: Kick Ass is bloody, funny, touching and just a bit mad. Enjoy it with a friend.


Did you enjoy Kick Ass? Too bloody? Too curse-y? Best movie of all time? Tell me about it with a comment!