Movie Review: Kick-Ass (2010)
An entertaining film, but far from a perfect one
Photo: Lionsgate
The reason to see Kick-Ass is to see Chloe Moretz as the mature beyond her years, trained killer Hit Girl. The reason to call it Kick-Ass, and center it around the film's title character, is to give audiences a human connection to the story, even if it is a paper thin character that offers very little to the overall proceedings. In fact, I'd be open to watching an edited version of the film only featuring the scenes involving Hit Girl as everything else is down time until the 11-year-old Moretz is back on screen taunting villains with foul language, her double edged-blade and an arsenal of firearms. It's a character I won't soon forget, but a movie I just might.
Based on the John S. Romita Jr. and Mark Millar comic, Kick-Ass tells the story of Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson), an average teen who up and decides he's going to be a superhero. He will wear a green leotard, wield a pair of Kendo sticks and go by the name Kick-Ass. It's a recipe for disaster and the real life implications of becoming a bonafide superhero are all explored, tirelessly in fact. Kick-Ass becomes an Internet sensation all while primarily getting his ass kicked, a joke that lands solid from Nicolas Cage, in a role more suited for his talent, or lack thereof.
The cast includes Aaron Johnson, Nicolas Cage, Chloe Moretz, Mark Strong, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Lyndsy Fonseca, Clark Duke, Omari Hardwick, Elizabeth McGovern, Michael Rispoli, Evan Peters and Jason Flemyng. For more information on this film including pictures, trailers and a detailed synopsis choose from the following menu.
Review
"Kick-Ass" is a Lionsgate release, directed by Matthew Vaughn and is rated R for strong brutal violence throughout, pervasive language, sexual content, nudity and some drug use - some involving children. The running time is 1 hour 58 minutes.
Cage applying eye-liner and firing loaded weapons at his little girl in training are absurdly comedic and he's just the man for the job. You can't help but want more, more, more. The introduction of Big Daddy and Hit Girl is the film's saving grace, without them this would have only proven to be just a notch higher than last year's similarly themed debacle, Watchmen. With Hit Girl and Big Daddy this film has character and excitement, even if a lot of what their selling goes against the film's selling of real world superheroes.
Aaron Johnson as Kick-Ass is quite good, but his character is simply uninteresting beyond his introduction. In fact, his friends played by Evan Peters and Clark Duke (Hot Tub Time Machine) are more interesting. Duke especially continues to bring a whimsical "whatever man" performance to his characters that I find extremely funny.
Christopher Mintz-Plasse plays D'Amico's son, posing as Red Mist and delivering the same performance he did in Superbad and Role Models, making his character seem tired, unimportant and not at all funny. To be honest, the guy has worn out his stay.
After serving as producer for Guy Ritchie's films, director and co-writer Matthew Vaughn made his directorial debut with Layer Cake in 2004 and with Kick-Ass serving as only his third film he's a proven talent. Without him, I feel this film would have done a 60-floor-high nosedive. Vaughn knew what this story needed to remain entertaining. The action sequences serve as a cinematic defibrillator to a story that frequently begins to fade. Hit Girl's violent introduction and a later strobe-light affected shoot-out are the film's two biggest highlights. They are certainly what most audiences will come out remembering and will likely inspire repeat viewings. She's addicting for sure and if the rest of the film was as good I would be slathering hyperbole all over this digital page to get you to see it.
However, some folks are targeting Hit Girl as offensive. Whether it's her language or the violence she brings and receives. I didn't have a problem with this. In fact the violence is far tamer than many have been lead to believe. And after all, it's a comic book movie, and an 11-year-old doling out pain and contributing to the mayhem is rarefied blast. Instead, I'm more curious about the reason for this film to exist as presented.
Kick-Ass's inability to actually "kick ass" makes me question the moral of the entire story. Dave Lizewski wants to become a superhero because he's tired of being picked on and tired of seeing people stand back and watch as others are assaulted. He wants to help, but he's obviously not equipped with the wherewithal to pull it off. Is the moral of this story to say he never should have tried? Or is it trying to say it's better to try and fail than to have never tried at all? The morality of the whole thing is a mess. I think it's best to look at it and say, "Hey idiot! Superheroes aren't real and you sure as hell can't be one!" Which is fine with me, I just want to watch Hit Girl slice some more bad guys up anyway. I'd prefer to forget about the film's inability to decide if it wants to be a real world morality tale or a fantasy world bloodbath, because its indecision to be one or the other is a storytelling flaw to be sure.
Nevertheless, while not a perfect movie, I had a lot of fun with it, which is really all it's meant for. So go see Kick-Ass and have a good time. Maybe even see it twice or three times. I wouldn't blame you, but I think if most people are honest with themselves they'll admit they are returning for one reason and one reason alone… While the movie needs to be called Kick-Ass, the reason you are watching it is to see Hit Girl.
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I totally agree with everything you said….more or less. I did find some of the 'dull' parts you spoke of to be more entertaining than you believed, but the most important truth about this movie is that Hit Girl IS the movie. Hit Girl makes the movie. Hit Girl carries the movie the entire way. Big Daddy was pretty awesome too, but if not for Hit Girl….there wouldn't be much to see in this film. It would have been a total dud that I would think most people wouldn't really pay to see. If this film reaps box office success, the one who should receive most of the glory is Chloe Grace Moretz. Her performance was brilliant. I can see that she will have a bright future ahead of her. I am a Hit Girl fanboy for life!!!
Well, I guess we're on the same page, we've rated out last films between B+ and C-.
Anyway, when're you gonna make a 2010 report Brad? I'd like to see if 2010 fares better than 2009
Hmmm, that's a good idea. May have to do one right before Iron Man 2 comes out.
"…a joke that lands solid from Nicolas Cage, in a role more suited for his talent, or lack thereof."
You mean his Oscar-winning talent?
Watchmen a debacle? cant agree on that one. Now I know I will enjoy this movie :)
Watchmen a debacle? Is this some sort of joke…
To the guys above me, it's a well-known fact to anybody who reads RoS regularly, that Brad dislikes Watchmen
I rate this movie a solid b- to a b+, but in my opinion it doesnt compare to the watchmen.
The comic it's based on wasn't all that great and didn't really have a moral to it either… probably less of one than the movie. The main character wasn't very likeable, and didn't take to being a superhero to right wrongs so much as to get attention. I think it was supposed to be somewhere between "Fight Club" and the "Jackass" phenomenon. Disaffected youth acting out violently by trying to be superheroes because they were comic nerds. There's the cynical underlying message about people in our fame-obsessed culture trying to get their 15 minutes through the internet now too. Ultimately though, it was all action and attitude and not much else.
I was highly disappointed with this film. Yes, the Hit Girl part was great, and well, if I leave a movie feeling, "It needed more Nicolas Cage" then I have to be suspect. But yes, the Kick Ass elements bored me. And the multiple themes meant the film had a surprising lack of focus. Even Vaughn seemed bored with those moments, hence there was little art to those sections unlike the other parts of the film. I couldn't tell if this was a satire, a morality play, a coming of age drama or comedy. Yes there are great individual moments of this movie but the film as a whole doesn't gel or work. And I really wanted to like this film.
Throughout the middle of the movie I was REALLY dissappointed with Kick-Ass's character. I mean the story WAS more focused on Hit-Girl/Mindy, but then why title it Kick-Ass? In the end I back you up on the B- rating and my second viewing WOULD only be because of Chloe Moretz.
Yeah, I agree it was fun, but if it was really based on reality then Hit Girl would've been dead. Another issue I had with this was it seems like all the Black characters were bad guys (except that one guy who was barely in it). I don't know if the comic was like that, but it's just a tired concept.
Aside from those issues I did have fun watching it and I wouldn't mind seeing it again.
I actually just got back from it and I totally loved it!
Yes, Chloe was the best part of it, but the energy of the whole thing was simply amazing.
The Script was great, and the cinematography was phenomenal!
Give it a watch everyone!
Yeah, Brad, totally agree with your rating. This film was lackluster and you could tell Mark Millar sold out to Hollywood with several plot changes from the graphic comic. Only Chloe Moretz as Hit-Girl saved this movie for me.
6/10
this movie nwas awesome. I cant believe Roger Ebert gave it a 1/4. Wow.
Gotta admit, Hit-Girl was the star of the show; however, I'm glad she didn't take up all the screen time. They put her in just of enough scenes to leave your mouth-watering for the next over-the-top, profanity & limb strewn action scene. It reminded me of the way they handled The Joker in Dark Knight: sure you wanted Heath Ledger in every scene, but Chris Nolan wisely left you wanting more after each viewing.
Still, having said all of that, this film was a little too bloated. If they could have managed to shave about 20-30 minutes off this film, they may have had a critical and box office masterpiece….well, at least on the greatest comic-book gems of all time. Overall, I would give Kick-Ass a B+ and call it the best flick of 2010…so far.
Totally agree with you, man. I absolutely adored Hit-Girl and want to see as much of her as I can. But had the movie been focused on her, I wouldn't have this desire. And yes, this has been the best movie of 2010 I have seen. I was truly upset when I realized the movie was over and I CANNOT wait to see this again. The movie has its flaws, but its a blast nonetheless.
Loved it. We got to the movies to be entertained, and this is probably the most entertaining movie we're going to see all year.
I really wanna see this but people are saying how terrible the swearing is. I really dont care about the violence cuz ive seen all the saw movies. So how terrible is the swearing.
The swearing is not terrible at all. I was surprised that it really wasn't that bad, because that seems to be what everyone's talking about.
Ok good, me and my dad r seeing this sometime this week and i just dont want it to be awkward. I saw the hit girl red band trailer and i didnt really care about the c word but my dad might. How bad is the sex? Sorry to ask all these questions but i just really want to see this instead of death at a funeral cuz that is the other option from this.
I loved this movie. I don't think there were any dull parts. It is by far my favorite comic book/ super hero movie of all time.
YESS
we loved this movie
probably one of the best things we got out of it was hearing the reactions from the people behind us
funny and soooo excellent
way to go!
About the whole watchmen thing, i hated that movie.
Just got back from Kick-Ass, my score is…..10/10. This was one of the best movies i have seen all year. This and shutter island are my two favorites this year. The action, humor, acting were all top notch.
good man!!!
i could be wrong but i thought this was the most entertaining and well, kick ass movie ever
i think it's best action movie of 2010 so far
Chloe Moretz (Hit Girl) is this week’s Rogue of the Week. http://bit.ly/d5N8RH