Kick-Ass

Not only has Kick-Ass been in the top three at the box office (number 1 is Clash of the Titans whose reviews have been really bad and number 2 is How to Train Your Dragon which I've already seen and reviewed), I've been hearing good things about it on the web and Twitter. Based on a comic book series, Kick-Ass is an interesting and at times slightly uncomfortable mix of comedy, coming of age drama/tenderness, gory violence and fast paced action.   

Is this a John Hughes film? Dave Lizewski and his two best friends are nothing special. They're not super smart, not sporty, not good with the girls. They're average high-schoolers with all the teenage insecurities that entails (so, so many). Most of the movie's laughs occur in this awkward teenage context. Dave, whose mother died of a brain aneurysm 18 months before, is the most idealistic of his friends and wonders why good people don't do the right thing and help others out, stop crime or stand up for each other and become super heroes. He decides to follow his dream and becomes Kick-Ass. With the funkiest diving suit ever made, his alter ego is created; one that he keeps secret the way any good super hero would. It's a modern day, comic book twist in a coming of age film.

 

Dave (middle) with his two best friends at their hangout, a comic book cafe.

  
Not Peter Parker/Spiderman: Dave/Kick-Ass wants to do good things but he has no super powers, no physical prowess and not even that much courage. He realizes he may have to start with small acts of courage and so goes on the hunt to save a lost cat. He inadvertently finds himself in the middle of an ongoing mugging and decides he needs to intervene. He doesn't kick ass, he actually gets his ass beaten quite badly but he manages to show courage and defend the victim long enough for the attackers to eventually flee. Because of a witness' cell phone video becoming an instant hit on YouTube, Kick-Ass is hugely popular and his MySpace page becomes an internet hit.

Meanwhile 11 year old Mindy MacReady and her father Damon (played by Nicolas Cage) are master marksmen and educated in all forms of fighting. We learn that Damon has spent the last 10 years planning how to take down the criminal gang that ruined his life just before Mindy was born and has indoctrinated his little girl into revenge and justice. They become super heroes Hit Girl and Big Daddy, and show up to just in time to save Kick-Ass when one of his attempted rescues leaves him in great danger. But they do so with such cold and brutal force that it makes Kick-Ass rethink his plan and consider leaving this violent reality behind him.

Kill Bill meets The Matrix: As the plot reaches its dramatic climax with the take down of the film's villain, crime boss Frank D'Amico, ensconced in his NYC penthouse, the film goes to a new level of action and becomes hard to watch for the squeamish. There are disturbing scenes of torture with the good and bad guys alike not hesitating in executing their enemies. And at one stage spaghetti western music gives the gore and action a true comic book feel to it (like what Tarantino used in Kill Bill). I imagined all the effects geeks who worked on the making of the movie gleeful in using their craft to show heads exploding and legs being cut off. Young Mindy is responsible for much of the murder and it's kind of disturbing watching a little girl who should be playing with Barbies, busy impaling her enemies and blowing heads off.

You realize that in this context a "happy ending" is subjective after such a blood bath but you can't help rooting for the characters and that each of them might find some kind of peace. As an aside, watch out for actor Aaron Johnson, the lead actor who plays Dave/Kick-Ass. He's going to become a Grade A HUNK! In this film he plays young and awkward but I can tell he's going to become gorgeous.

Watch the trailer HERE.

I think...it's not an easy-to-digest mix of styles but if you want to see a really original movie and aren't frightened by scenes of graphic violence, this is definitely worth seeing.

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