KICK ASS (includes trailer)
April 11th 2010 02:51
Kick Ass
Well this was an unexpected surprise. When I saw the trailer for Kick Ass it looked like a light teen comedy of reasonable quality, in the vein of ‘Super Bad’ – was I ever wrong. More like half Super Bad, half Kill Bill. Let’s try another one, half ‘Kung Fu Hustle’, half ‘Dark Knight’, that kind of thing. I have intentionally done a short review for Kick ass as analyses seems to be the very enemy of this fun ride.
Kick Ass sets a colourful tone for itself right from the first frame. It introduces us to Dave Lizewski, a teenage boy (played by Aaron Johnson), filled with raging hormones and feeling out of place in general, this would make for light comedy normally if it weren’t set against a disturbing backdrop of tragedy which is played for laughs. Dave decides to don a dumb looking costume and try his hand at being a super hero one day. Why the hell not, right? He reads lots of comics, and he’s got nothing to lose in trying. Once he’s caught on phone camera by onlookers while he’s in action, he becomes an internet and media phenomenon under his hero alias named KICK ASS.
The film constantly works on a number of levels, the stories main outline hovers around the kind of comedy formula that hasn’t been seen in a while. It’s always funny stuff – but the violence and harm that comes to him is no laughing matter, or is it. Dave continues to pursue this and every time you think the film is going to go in the direction of farcical comedy it veers off into an alarmingly realistic direction and in the very next breath flies off into comic land. The manic mixture of real world consequence and childhood fantasy doesn’t seem like it should work, but my God it does, wonderfully in fact. It not only works but it toys with you. It’s clear that your watching a film where anything can happen at any time. It makes for quite a visceral and exhilarating experience to watch a film that’s so irresponsible and completely off the wall. It’s sure to shock and alarm all parents.
The original comic book that inspired the film
Along the way Dave gets into hot water and is rescued by a real life super hero, Hit Girl, played by Chloe Moretz. Hit Girl is 11 years old and does all the things that earn a film an R-rating, from blowing some ones brains out at point blank range all the way down to the fun stuff like impaling drug dealers with Japanese steel. Chloe Moretz comes into her own during Kick Ass after we got a hint of her attitude in ‘500 Hundered Days Of Summer’. This time Chloe Moretz is off the leash and demands the same kind awe as Uma Thurman did in Kill Bill, but more so because of her young age – plus – she does all her own stunts. I must say, her casting in this was a stroke of genius and I can’t wait to see what she does next. Her father, who goes by the name of Big Daddy, is played by Nicholas Cage. This is first thing decent thing Cage has done in a very long time.
Kick ass is directed by Matthew Vaughn. After his slight misstep on the uneven but decent enough ‘Layer Cake’, my expectations were low enough to be dazzled as a result. Vaughn creates so many, at once workable tones during ‘Kick Ass’, so gloriously violent and over the top, ‘Kick Ass’ channels a mix of American indie comedy with Asian cinema’s ultra violence. Along with this is an unusual mix of fantasy bumping heads with real world consequence and disturbing undercurrents of dark comedy. ‘Kick Ass’ might just be the most visionary film since ‘District 9’.
"See this movie or I blow ya head off"
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Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
I saw this as my first cinema visit in Boston. Really enjoyed it despite the contradictions in purpose..should have my own review up shortly.
Comment by ShaunK
Screen Adventure
I think the contradiction in purpose is what made it stick out positively - I know exactly what your talking about and I don't see it as a flaw