KICK-ASS

Dir. Matthew Vaughn US 2010

"Okay you cunts...let's see what you can do."

A lot of people asked me about my thoughts on this movie during the months leading up to its release (yes, months; the advertising campaign for it seemed interminable). And while I appreciated the obvious reverence being displayed for my knowledge of comics, I unfortunately couldn't offer people much in the way of educated opinions since I hadn't actually read the comic.

I know, shocking. Kick-Ass made a fairly big splash (if you're a nerd) when the first issue dropped back in 2008. It seemed interesting and I like John Romita's art, but my one major qualm was Mark Millar, the writer. Despite being one of the more popular comic book writers working today, I generally find him to be an insufferable, self-promoting douchebag who's time would be better spent writing something halfway decent rather than pimping his most recent piece of shit to Hollywood. Millar is essentially a watery distillation of Garth Ennis (all the horrific violence with none of the heart-on-the-sleeve earnestness) and Warren Ellis (all the nihilistic cynicism with none of the insightful wit). Ultimates and Superman: Red Son (barely) notwithstanding, Millar's books tend to possess a pervasive disgust for both his characters and comic book fans in general that's supposed to be edgy and meta, but is mostly cheap and irritating. I can laugh at comic books and fanboys as much as anyone else, but Wanted was essentially like paying money to get punched in the dick. And the movie sucked. So when Kick-Ass came out and took two years to finish an eight issue mini-series (another Millar trademark) I wasn't particularly excited about it or the inevitable movie adaptation.

Nerd rant over. Sorry. On to the actual movie. I liked it. That may come as a surprise after everything I've said about the source material, but I think one of the films strengths was removing itself from the comic and creating its own atmosphere and tone. And while I don't think that the movie ever really came to a coherent thematic conclusion (more on that later) it had a hell of a lot going for it and was ultimately very enjoyable.

Obligatory plot recap: Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) is a typical high school loser living in Queens who loves comics and can't talk to girls. He's basically Peter Parker, except you get lots of details about his masturbation habits. Fed up with his boring life, Dave decides to buy a scuba suit online and go on nightly crime-fighting patrols as Kick-Ass. After suffering several near-fatal beatdowns, Dave finds himself an overnight media sensation, as well as the target of a vicious mobster (Mark Strong) who blames costumed vigilantes for a systematically wiping out his men. Dave is eventually assisted/repeatedly saved by the actual perpetrators, a father/daughter vigilante team known as Hit Girl (Chloe Grace Moretz) and Big Daddy (Nicholas Cage). It all comes to a head in an orgy of blood and generally hilarious violence.

So lets start with the violence. This movie has plenty of it, the majority of which is committed by an 11-year old. The fight sequences pull no punches on either side and are shot with an appreciable slickness that's becoming more and more rare in modern action movies. You'll find no Bourne-style quick cutting or tightly framed shots here. Early on, this is mostly done in order to show how inept and sloppy Kick-Ass is. If you've ever seen real people fight (non-professionals, of course), you'll know that it's anything but neat or graceful. When Hit Girl and Big Daddy show up, the fights take a turn for the choreographed, but Vaughn keeps it interesting, throwing guns, swords, baseball bats and fistacuffs into the mix and it only gets crazier from there. Hit Girl's fights, while naturally kind of silly, are well-staged enough to keep you grounded in a reality where an 11-year old can wipe-out rooms of armed men. My only complaint was the prevalant use of CG bullet hits. I'm guessing they're probably easier and safer than squibs (especially for headshots) and they do play into the comic book nature of the violence, but I tend to prefer practical effects when it comes to these sorts of things.

If you go into this movie with your bloodlust up, it will definitely be sated. But of course, violence is only interesting when it's being caused or happening to characters you care about. As you can probably guess from other reviews and the commercials, Hit Girl steals the movie. Played with obvious relish by Chloe Grace Moretz, the character is alternately hilarious, adorable and genuinely threatening. And while there has already been a small bit of controversy over her unrelenting use of bad language and violence (not to mention the Natalie-Portman-in-The-Professional, Lolita-with-a-gun vibe she exudes), Moretz keeps the character grounded as a little girl who's all too happy to do as her daddy asks. Despite the deeply disturbing idea of a father turning his daughter into a killing machine of Terminator-like proportions, Nicholas Cage (bizarrely understated here, or as much as one can be while playing the Punisher by way of Adam West's Batman) keeps Big Daddy sympathetic and ensures that the relationship with his daughter always remains sweet and genuine. Their introductory scene is both tender and terrifying and I get the impression that Nicholas Cage, a well-known comic fan (the dude named his kid Kal-El for chrissakes), did his best to turn in a heartfelt performance, as opposed to something like this.

As for the rest of the cast, Christopher Mintz-Plasse does well in what might be his most dramatic role to date. The big reveal in the comic regarding his character, The Red Mist, is repurposed as upfront information in the film, most likely to give the charactor a bit more of an arc, which the actor carries off believably. If he can continue to move beyond his McLovin' persona, I think Mintz-Plasse has a bright future as funny, weird-looking character actor.

The villains, let by the always reliable Mark Strong seem to be mostly imported from Guy Ritchie movies (Ritchie is director Matt Vaughn's old producing partner) and while their collective transfer from British to New York accents is a bit spotty, their scenes develop their own rhythm and humor and keep them from just being evil plot devices.

Unfortunately, the weakest link in the cast is Aaron Johnson as the titular character. Also a British import, Johnson does fine with the accent, but the character is shackled by his own self-admitted lameness and becomes a completely passive force in the film by the end of the second act. I was not surprised to learn that Millar had originally considered basing the comic around Hit Girl and Big Daddy and I'm left wondering what that movie would have been like. Johnson fills the shoes of this pathetically average character well, but its as though the film decides halfway through that he's not particularly interesting to watch and leads you off in some other direction. His scenes with his friends (one of whom is Clark Duke, who you may remember from my Hot Tub Time Machine review) will ring amusingly true to any geek and wisely abandon the mockery that seemed inherent in the source material. Note to self: find out if that coffee bar/comic book store they hang out in is real.

The obligatory love story for the hero wasn't particuarly interesting either, despite a semi-amusing subplot where Dave pretends to be gay to get close to her, on top of the classic 'hero keeps his identity from the girl of his dreams' story trope. Katie, as played by Lyndsy Fonseca (also from Hot Tub Time Machine) is cute, but ultimately forgetable and their scenes together don't exactly set the screen on fire.

There's also some pacing issues, most notable in the slow-poke second act as the film shifts from being a weird meta-comedy about superheroes starring Kick-Ass to a more straightforward, hyper-violent comic book movie starring Big Daddy and Hit Girl. And that, I think, ends up being the film's biggest problem. Although I'm glad they moved away from the douchey tone of the comic itself, I feel as though the script could have used a few more rewrites to help the filmmakers figure out exactly what they were trying to do or say with this movie. The film doesn't really succeed at being the realistic depiction of superheroes that it advertises (the ending is way too fucking out there; you'll know exactly what I'm talking about when it happens), but as a straight superhero/action movie, it's not really anything you haven't seen before, Hit Girl notwithstanding. And yet, I had a lot of fun watching it. Take that as you will.