2010 Review #9: Kick-Ass

Kick Ass

Rated R

(Strong brutal violence throughout, pervasive language, sexual content, nudity and some drug use - some involving children)

1 hour 57 minutes

Storyline:

Dave Lizewski is an unnoticed high school student and comic book fan who one day decides to become a super-hero, even though he has no powers, training or meaningful reason to do so.

Starring:

Aaron Johnson

Chloe Moretz

Christopher Mintz-Plasse

Nicolas Cage

Critics Grade:
B-

My Grade:

A-

My Review

"Kick-Ass" simply kicks ass. I know that's probably a silly cliched way to review this movie, but it's the darn truth! This movie rocks. It is so far out there in the realm of ridiculousness, but who really cares? This movie is so fun to watch and is highly, HIGHLY entertaining. This isn't your typical comic/super hero type movie though. Keep in mind this is a rated R film and is not for the faint of heart. It is violent, it is bloody, it is awesome. At time it reminded me of the "Kill Bill" movies, in action and in style.

The movie is about a teenager who randomly decides to become a masked crusader, who has no super powers, but wants so badly to fight crime. The one quip I have about the movie is that this transition of him being a normal nerdy teenager to becoming this silly caped crusader happens way to quickly. I would have loved to see more insight into this kids mind and know why he really made this change. But whatever, it's not that big of a deal. The star of the movie isn't this kid, who is the title character, Kick Ass. The star of this movie, in my opinion is Chloe Moretz, who plays Hit Girl. She steals the show. Many people, including family organizations might complain about this film because of the reason that much of this films violence centers around her. I say...shut up to those people. This is a fictional movie and this girl willingly played this role and she was not actually harmed. As an actress, she owned the film. As a character, she dominated the movie. She has such amazing stage prescence and is just so darn likeable. Seriously, if you see this movie for any reason, let it be for this girl. She 'effing rocked it! As long as you don't mind seeing an innocent looking girl dropping some "F" bombs and saying a few other choice naughty words.

Never did I think that an 11 year old girl would carry an action film on her shoulders. She provides much of the main action in the film too. She scales walls, does backflips, stabs people in the throat with huge daggers and swords, and runs down hallways unloading several clips of bullets in bad guys faces. You may think that sounds silly as a premise to an action movie, and in a way it certainly is, but it was so brilliantly entertaining to watch. The action was legit, it was loud and explosive. They did not let us down in that department at all. Sure it was preposterous, but this is why you are in a theater watching a MOVIE. We got a movie like this to be blown away by awesome scenes of things going boom and people flipping in slow motion and people being shot out of buildings with bazookas. This is exactly what we get with this movie, and it was amazing fun! I had a blast with this movie.

Not to mention it was pretty damn funny at times. It had a fairly decent script, which is not common for this type of movie. It was definitely a dark comedy and it worked so well with the characters and the action. These characters were quirky and well written and played very well by the actors. They were interesting enough to care about even though a few of them were a bit cliched. Some of the story was cliched too, I mean you know exactly how it was going to end up. They did make a joke about that very thing in the movie though, so it was OK. Anyway, one of the best characters in the movie was Big Daddy, played awesomely by Nicolas Cage. This was his comeback performance in my opinion. He has done some major duds recently, but man oh man has he redeemed himself with this. He was more than just a cameo, he had a small supporting role and was a pivitol character. He was crazy in this movie, and so funny. He was also bad ass, and it reminded me of Face/Off in a weird way. Glad to see him back to his old form, even if it is just for one movie.

You know what's weird? This movie feels SO much at times, like a Quentin Tarantino movie. There is a classic scene between Nic Cage and the little girl towards the beginning of the movie that just has Tarantino all over it. Great, intelligent dialog and cool camera work. No, Tarantino had NOTHING to do with this movie, I was just pointing out the film making style of Matthew Vaughn and how close he is in style (at times) to Quentin. I thought overall he did an awesome job with this flick.

Yes this movie is crazy and way out there in the believability level...but who the hell cares? This movie rocks. It is awesome. Packed with intense action scenes that are just so ridiculous it's fun! It's also hilarious! It has it all really, so please go see it! I recommend this movie to anyone, except I wouldn't suggest it to people who aren't fans of constant bad language (coming from the mouth of a little girl) and bloody violence. If you are OK with that...than you will be OK with Kick Ass. See it!!