First post in a while, I kinda forgot... Not just to update my blog, but the fact I even had one... Oh well. Anyway, following my review of Death Note episode 1, I decided I would write a bit about Kick Ass.
First off, what is Kick Ass?
Kick Ass is, technically I suppose, a superhero comedy, although it isn't as straight forward as that, in the sense that it has more story to it than comedy... A risky move. A comedy without comedy?! Did Hollywood not learn that sort of thing does not work when Disaster Movie came out?!
Fear not, however, because this film ticks all the right boxes and delivers a punch that would put an incredibly pissed off Hulk to shame. It's about time we had a good non-serious superhero film, and I'm glad to say that this one is the one we needed, but not the one we deserve right now.
Okay, so moving on from Gary Oldman's "The Dark Knight" speech and onto the plot...
You have this less than average weedy guy (Wonderfully played by Aaron Johnson) as your main character who, frankly, could out-geek Peter Parker in the nerd olympics. Dave Lizewski is the name and he is obsessed with superheroes, comics, the lot. He fantasises about real life crimefighters and he one day decides that he's going to become one, so he orders a wetsuit and some kitchen gloves, and then takes on the mantle of Kick Ass. As you do.
Before you know it, Kick Ass is the next big Internet sensation, with millions of views on Youtube along with comic shops and parent's basements worldwide leaping onto the crimefighting bandwagon... But they aren't the only ones. Introduce Nicholas Cage and new-comer Chloe Moretz into the mix as Big Daddy and Hit Girl, two heroes who deliver their own brand of justice against the evil mob boss, Frank D'Amico (Mark Strong).
Each cast member does their job well. There isn't a single weak actor in this film, because they all delivered... But perhaps the most surprising act in this film was Chloe Moretz, who took a bit of a backseat throughout the film but became her own in two long scenes of ass kicking at the end. I cannot say enough about how well Chloe Moretz acted in this film. She could be the big star of tomorrow... But this blogger is hoping she doesn't fall down the same spiral that most Disney stars have as of late. Fame at a young age is a recipe for disaster.
As for the rest of the cast, Nicolas Cage was... Well, Nicolas Cage with a moustache. A decent performance, but horribly underused - But he does serve his part, its just from personal preference I would have liked to see more scenes with Cage and Moretz.
Mark Strong played a decent villain, as always. He was great in Sherlock Holmes, and he was great in this. This man will go far.
Aaron Johnson was also pretty decent, with a performance that was more Spiderman-like than Toby McGuire's performance in all 3 films - But don't get me started on that, I can rant for hours about how much I disliked those films.
Perhaps one thing that let me down was how so much focus was put on the title character. Aaron Johnson is a fine up and coming actor, but I feel that his character was fairly weak compared to others - Sure he's a normal guy with no training, but I would atleast like to have seen more scenes of him actually beating the crap out of people, not the other way around.
In conclusion, Kick Ass is definately a watchable film. It's a rare film, the kind you expect to be an average film that you rent and forget about but is actually another reason why superhero movies are so well liked. It's different, it's quirky and it works - My only complaint is the depiction of the title character as mentioned earlier but it's still a great film and very enjoyable.
4/5 stars.
