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Dave Liznewski dreams of being a superhero, much like the comic book heroes he adores with a passion. Dave unlike many kids his age has the guts to try, and finds out the hard way that being a superhero isn’t easy. With the help of Hit Girl and Big Daddy, Dave’s Alter ego known as Kick Ass finds himself mixed in with crime lords.
A sleek, stylish and dark superhero drama, Kick-Ass combines the elements of Nerdy Superheroism with the dark atmosphere of a more sophisticated comic book hero. Kick-Ass proves to be successful in creating with Dave, a very R-Rated Peter Parker type character, taking us into the life of Dave for comedic purposes in order for the movie to add a secondary element of humour.
Kick-Ass does a very good job with most of the main cast, with Aaron Johnson providing a very solid performance, allowing subtle growths for his character through-out the film. Chloe Grace Moretz plays the 12 year old assassin superhero Hit Girl with very few issues, creating a very intentionally over the top superhero, who has Kick-Ass (no pun intended) fighting abilities. Mark Strong does a bit of overacting as the villain, but it never reaches the level of being so overdramatic that it is cheesy. Very few of the cast choices seemed out of place, even as far as to say the smaller castings, such as Clark Duke as the best friend and Lyndsy Fonseca as his Dave/Kick-Ass’s love interest.
With superhero antics comes the ability to create a visually alluring film as well. At first it took the look and feel of a cheesy hero flick, but through-out it became a very artistic and well-planned action movie, set with rapid paced, well-edited action scenes. Kick-Ass allows for shy awkward nerdy types to get their fill of witty comedy, and it also allows for the action connoisseurs to get their fare share of violent and diverse and action scenes.
The only real complaint is that at times, it is a slow moving and plot devices are given too early, such as a major plot device that revolved Hit Girl that comes back into play later on in the film. Even still, it is easily forgiven because Origin stories are about the changes one goes through in order to embrace their new identity. Most of the time when the film started to feel stagnant, a funny or plot developing scene was used to help keep the interest at a steady level.
One of the coolest things about the film was the continuous references to comic book culture, and how it played a major factor in Dave’s personal development as well as his alter ego’s development.It referenced such cult faves as Sin City and The Spirit.
A B-Superhero movie, with intentionally flashy action scenes, it is topped by the ability to have it all feel somewhat natural. Despite some of the CG looking a little too fake, most of the gun fights were realistic and featured the right amount of gun fire that would co-inside with actual number of rounds fired by that particular gun. There were only a few times that the action felt or even looked a bit cheesy, but Kick-Ass for the most part featured some of the best jump cuts, and well timed action scenes in a long time. Director Matthew Vaughn was able to keep the inventive and ballsy feel of the graphic novel, adding just the right amount of typical comic book predictability to make a very refined, and engaging superhero flick.
Kick-Ass is a fun movie, there is no doubt about that, grab it for the laughs or the downright intense action adventure it is, but I guarantee one or more elements of the film will impress you. If you enjoy comedy, check it out, if you enjoy action, and then undoubtedly check it out.
8/10
