Kick-Ass Movie Review

Well the Kick-Ass hype machine seems to be taking the world by storm and it’s hard not be swept up in it. Everywhere I look is an advert for this new movie, whether it be on sites like Youtube on the net, adverts on my TV Screen or posters at my local bus stops. This movie is everywhere and everyone seems to be talking about it, just like the comic book when it was first released, but does it live up to the hype?

Kick-Ass Movie Review

The basic premise is that our lead character and hero Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) wants to know why no one in the real world has ever dared to put on a costume and fight crime. So many people read comics where masked vigilantes slip into a pair of tights and battle evil but no one has actually given it a go for real. Dave sees an opportunity and creates his own masked alter ego; Kick-Ass. He soon finds out that his new job is no walk in the park as he gets his ass kicked in almost every encounter and runs into problems way out of his league. In this digital age we live in Kick-Ass’s determination and heroism floods the news stations and internet gaining him global notoriety. As I said before Kick-Ass’s exploits get him caught up in a few spots of bother and before long real life super-hero’s Big Daddy & Hit Girl (turns out some one had thought of doing it before) have to come to the rescue. What follows is Big Daddy & Hit Girl’s mission to take out the local mob while unfortunately getting Kick-Ass involved just as he decides to hang up his costume.

This movie is one of the most faithful adaptations from the page to the big screen I have seen and it’s a really good thing. The script is funny and witty and Director Matthew Vaughn has kept the vision of the film very much to the look of the comic. No punches are pulled when it comes to the gruesome action, just like the comic, but this is not a film to be taken seriously, it’s all done in jest and is meant to be fun. Aaron Johnson and Chloe Moretz are perfect casting choices for their respective lead roles as Kick-Ass & Hit Girl. Christopher Mintz-Plasse (McLovin from Superbad) is good as the Mob Bosses son and masked hero Red Mist but I felt his comedic skills were a little underused. Nic Cage as Big Daddy was okay, he was still Nic Cage, just doing an Adam West impersonation. His costume too was a total replica of Batman’s which was completely different to the Punisher look with long trench coat from the comic, a poor choice I thought. The comic look was much cooler. The one difference from the movie to the comic which did bother me however (SPOILERS), was the fact that our hero does in the end get the girl of his dreams. The comic version has Dave embarrassingly confess his love to hot school friend Katie Deauxma before she has her boyfriend beat Dave up and humiliate him in front of everyone. I loved these scenes in the comic, it was totally unexpected and the resulting humiliation was totally humorous but also really sad and mad you feel for this character and connect the loser in yourself with our hero more. In the movie version however Dave confesses his love to his crush and she responds to our hero buy showing him what he has been missing in the girlfriend department. It feels uneasy to me and a bit of a bow down to some Hollywood suit who told the writers that the hero must always get the girl! We all know that in real life that is certainly not the case.

The soundtrack too is really cool, there’s lots of great indie and rock music choices that suit the feel of the film and gives it a cool credibility. I loved the tunes all the way through.

On the whole though I thoroughly enjoyed the chaotic ride. Its funny, fast passed, colorful and ultra violent. If you loved the comic, then the movie truly does it justice and you will love it too. Or if you’ve never read the comic but it sounds like the sort of film you’d like, then go see it because this movie lives up to the hype, this film Kick’s ass!

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