Kick-Ass Review

It’s barely May, but I’m pretty sure I already know what the go-to Halloween costume for little girls will be later this year - assuming you don’t mind your little girl dressing up like a foul-mouthed, limb-removing vigilante/superhero.

(In a related story, I would TOTALLY let my theoretical little girl dress up like a foul-mouthed, limb-removing vigilante-superhero.)

The movie and title character may be called “Kick-Ass”, but the star of the show is unquestionably Hit-Girl (played by Chloe Grace Moretz).

“Kick-Ass”- based on the novel “Push” by Sapphire…I mean, based on the comic book of the same name by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. – is the story of Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson), a high school student who decides to become a superhero, despite the fact that he has neither superpowers nor a compelling reason for doing so. (Dave notes, in voiceover, that his parents were NOT gunned down in a dark ally by a petty criminal.)

After a few bumps along the way, Dave ends up becoming an overnight sensation after his heroic exploits go viral on YouTube. (How modern!) Unfortunately, that brings him to the attention of Frank D’Amico (Mark Strong of “Sherlock Holmes” and who may never not play a villain from here on out), the city’s reigning mobster. Fortunately, that also brings Kick-Ass to the attention of Hit-Girl and Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage, nicely continuing his run of insane performances), who has been secretly dispensing his own brand of vigilante justice for a long time.

In my opinion, the characters of Hit-Girl and Big-Daddy are both the best and most frustrating things about the movie. (And, I suspect, the comic book, which I’ve never read.)

They’re great in the movie because they bring an incredible sense of energy and anarchy to the proceedings. Cage, purposefully channeling an Adam West-like hamminess for his Batman-like character, hasn’t been this good in a while. Whenever I’m ready to write him off after watching him sleepwalk through a string of awful movies, he always comes up with a fascinating performance. (Then again, the guy makes about eight movies a year, so he can’t help but stumble into a good movie occasionally.)

Then there’s Moretz, who gives a star-making turn as Hit-Girl. The novelty of a little girl saying such filthy things and kicking so much ass actually wears off relatively quickly because Moretz gives a solid, believable lived-in performance. After a bit, you just kind of accept that she can do these incredible things.

The reason they’re the most frustrating thing to happen to this movie is because, once they arrive, any semblance of reality director Matthew Vaughn had established goes flying out the window. Obviously, this is an action-movie adaptation of a comic book, so “reality” is a relative concept, but I was thoroughly enjoying the world Vaughn had established prior to Big Daddy and Hit-Girl’s over-the-top exploits.

That’s due, in large part, to Johnson’s strong work as Dave/Kick-Ass. Johnson is fantastic at playing an average, dorky teen. (My major pet peeve with the TV show “Chuck” is that Chuck Bartowski was supposed to be this gigantic geek, but Zachary Levi is a hell of a good-looking guy.) Johnson actually looks like an average teenager you might see in the real world (and I SWEAR I mean that as a compliment).

When Kick-Ass first tries his hand at being a superhero, it doesn’t go well and we REALLY feel Dave’s pain. Once Big-Daddy and Hit-Girl arrive on the scene, the movie becomes indistinguishable from any number of mega-budgeted blockbusters based on infinitely more popular comic book characters. Again, that’s not necessarily a bad thing, it just is what it is.

I also found Dave’s relationship with love interest Katie (Lyndsy Fonseca) to be infinitely less believable than his relationship with Chris D’Amico (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), the son of Frank who becomes the superhero known as Red Mist to get closer to Kick-Ass. I honestly thought Mintz-Plasse would be a one-hit wonder after his great turn as McLovin in “Superbad”, but in this movie the actor has expertly calibrated his nerdy on-screen persona to include a bit of relatable longing for paternal approval and acceptance. The guy is also funny as hell as he tries to become a supervillain like his dad.

Maybe it’s just me, but I enjoyed the moments in the movie grounded in reality and human emotion (and they sort of sneak up on you) a bit more than the bazooka explosions and ultra-violent slow-motion action sequences that are probably getting most of the attention, but that we’ve seen a thousand times before.

Either way, this movie still pretty much kicks ass.

Kick-Ass…A-