KICK-ASS

This was a strange experience for me when I first saw this film.  I couldn’t work out, first, if I liked it and second how I felt about an eleven year old girl saying obscenities (there’s that “C” word again) while killing a gang of men in incredibly violent ways.  At first, the comedic and comic tone of the film rubbed me the wrong way, but there was a point in the film when suddenly everything is treated very seriously and that’s when I knew that this film was special. 

The scene in question is when both Kick-Ass and Big Daddy have been captured and tortured, and suddenly the film isn’t fun anymore, it’s deadly serious.  The reality of trying to be a superhero when you don’t have any powers and that you or one of your loved ones could die at any moment because of it, suddenly hits home.  This scene is definitely the highlight of “Kick-Ass” for me (unfortunately it falls back into the comic book tone for the quite silly finale, though). 

The story of the film is about a normal (and nerdy) guy who decides to try and become a superhero, even though he has no powers.  On his first time out as Kick Ass, he gets stabbed and beaten to a pulp.  Although he survives the attack, his nerves are damaged and he can no longer feel pain, so he decides to give the superhero thing a second try.  While going up against more bad guys, he is filmed by on-lookers who post a video of him on the internet and he becomes an overnight star.  While trying to take down a few other bad guys he meets up with a couple of other superheroes Big Daddy and Hit-Girl, who are a father and daughter team.  Mayhem ensues. 

Again, that’s not much of a synopsis but it is fun to just experience this film.  Much has been written already about Chloe Moretz’s character of Hit-Girl, and whether or not this is a dangerous thing for kids to see in a film (she is an eleven year old trained assassin with a foul mouth), but at the end of the day, this is a film intended for adults (hence it’s MA rating), so I ultimately do not have a problem with it.  Incidentally Moretz is fantastic in the role, but the standout performance has to go to Nicolas Cage as Big Daddy.  His imitation of Adam West’s line delivery is hilarious, and it took a brave director to agree and support Cage’s decision here, because it could very well have been disastrous.  No reason to worry, because Cage pulls it off brilliantly, not only as his superhero character, but even as a father trying to care for his daughter after his wife’s death. 

Overall, “Kick-Ass” is a special film that shouldn’t be missed, though it’s a shame about that damn finale.  One final note: I loved the scene of Kick-Ass and Red Mist dancing together in the car (which was apparently an ad-lib).  It’s hilarious and so very real.

Ranked 14 in Top 25 of 2010