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Cons: disturbing amounts of violence, sexual innuendo (but no graphic sex)
Director: Matthew Vaughn, 2010
Kick-Ass is a movie wherein an everyday powerless teenager, Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson), decides to become a super hero. Naturally he gets his ass kicked. Surprisingly he doesn't give up and runs into a father/daughter team (Nicholas Cage and Chloe Moretz) who have actually trained to become vigilantes in order to take down drug lord Frank D'Amico (Mark Strong). Frank's son comes up with a plan to stop those killing his father's men, starting a chain of events that shows, in violently graphic terms, why regular people don't become superheroes.
The best character by far is by Hit-Girl (Chloe Moretz). It's hard to come up with something creepier than a psychopathic girl, merciliessly killing people. There's an obvious nod to A Clockwork Orange during her fight scenes, where peppy music plays and she cheerfully chats with her victims. It's absolutely chilling.The movie is VERY graphic. Its 18A rating is well deserved. As Sean Means said in his Salt Lake Tribune review, "When the movie is cool, it’s very, very cool — and when it’s disturbing, it’s very, very disturbing." (Found via Rotten Tomatoes)
Yet, it's also very funny. I laughed out loud at several points in the film. And when we were leaving the theater I laughed again at some of the lines. In many ways it's funnier in retrospect (since you're so stunned during the film at some parts you forget to laugh).
Given how the rest of the film goes the ending feels a bit contrived. I found this forgivable, as I expected a grand finale, though it does ignore the premise of the film - that real people can't do certain things without training.
Regardless, if you don't mind violence (or closing your eyes at some points), and are willing to be alternately wowed and disturbed, Kick-Ass is a great film.
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