Review of Kick-Ass 2

The first film was incredibly entertaining and a huge breath of fresh air. This sequel is not as bad as all that and there are far worse sequels about, in fact it is quite watchable, but compared to its predecessor it does fall well short. It's still slickly edited, the colours dazzle with no garishness or drabness, the costumes are still a lot of fun and the effects are incredible. The shaky cam while effective in some scenes was too much in others though. The music is breezy, adrenaline-pumping and catchy, if not quite as fitting as the soundtrack in the first. The witty, edgy humour and the (even more) violent, tense action sequences still remain and with little diminished impact, the climax is incredibly exciting. Admittedly some of it does get violent to the point of being too much to stomach for some, it wasn't a problem with me but parts could have toned down a tad. The dialogue is not as fresh as the first's but still quite witty and irreverent. It is the story where Kick Ass 2 falls down on most, it is lacking in the lively pace of the original, due to some overlong and draggy scenes, and there are a lot of tone shifts that are rather abrupt and awkwardly done, there is a bit of trying to do too much quality. The high school/trying to fit in subplot always is a nice idea but again very little fresh or interesting is done with it, it does drag the pace down with the most uninteresting scenes being to do with this particular subplot and it does feel out of sorts with the rest of the film. Of course there are enough fun, exciting and at times emotional moments but not enough to hide how problematic the story is. The supporting characters are colourful enough especially the main antagonist, Mother Russia and Colonel Stars and Stripes but the leads feel underdeveloped and not always easy to root for, certainly nowhere near as colourful, if anything while well played their personalities are bland. The acting is good enough, although John Leguizamo is very much wasted and Christopher Mintz-Plasse while fine as Chris over-compensates a little as the villain(I would say his name but the guidelines have a thing about prohibited words). Chloe Grace Moretz carried the film brilliantly though and Aaron Johnson is just as confident. Jim Carrey is also wonderfully refreshing and a more than pleasing presence. Overall, a watchable sequel but the first Kick Ass kicks ass much, much better. 5/10 Bethany Cox