Comic book writer Mark Millar and director Matthew Vaughn have a nice thing going. Millar writes these over-the-top crazy things with a lot of hyper-violent actions, and Vaughn translates them to the silver screen. This is seen in its best iteration with the Kingsmen series, though oddly enough the movie is a lot more of a Millar-style story than the original story which is a much more conventional James Bond spoof. But the other collaboration? The superhero satire Kick-Ass? That was a lot more faithful to the source material.
That said, I finally saw this on the free streaming service Tubi, and that had commercials pop up in the worst points possible. So, as a warning, that may affect my impression of the movie itself.
Shy, comic book-loving nerd Dave Lizewski (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) wonders why no one has actually tried to become a superhero. His friends dismiss the idea as crazy because, well, real people don’t have superpowers and would just end up getting hurt or worse. That doesn’t stop Dave from ordering a wet suit and walking around “on patrol”. Sure, the first time he tries to fight some car thieves, he ends up in the hospital, but his second attempt, combined with the name “Kick-Ass,” makes him a social media sensation. Soon, Dave is out doing good deeds and enjoying the popularity. He’s also enjoying the company of his crush Katie (Lyndsy Fonesca), even if she does think Dave is gay.
That said, not everyone is entranced by Kick-Ass. Local crime boss Frank D’Amico (Mark Strong) thinks Kick-Ass is responsible for the deaths of some of his crew and the theft of a lot of cocaine. On the other hand, much more serious vigilantes Hit-Girl and Big Daddy (Chloe Grace Moretz and Nicholas Cage) see Kick-Ass as a potential ally if not an overly impressive one. Vaughn’s over-the-top style, combined with Millar’s fairly violent story, will be sure to lead to a lot of death and dismemberment before all this is over, but can Kick-Ass get out of all this alive?
I did actually read the original comics once upon a time, and they were very much standard Mark Millar work. Vaughn’s movie recreates whole scenes from the story, and after seeing the Kingsmen movies, that isn’t surprising. Heck, Vaughn has proven a deft hand for cartoonish, comic book-style violence. There were a number of changes made to the narrative–Katie’s reaction to finding out Dave’s secret is more or less the exact opposite of what happens in the movie and it a bit more likely given the situation–but much of what made the movie stand out when it was new was probably the shock value. Grace Moertz’s Hit-Girl is a hyperviolent killing machine with a very foul mouth, and she looks to be about eleven years old. This is a girl who slices and shoots her way through hordes of minions without breaking a sweat, leaving a trail of bodies in her wake in her quest to…well, fight the forces of evil like her daddy taught her to. But aside from the shock value, is the character that distinct? Vaughn’s work has often been of a more transgressive nature. Without the shock value, it’s still done well, but not as noteworthy.
That said, Nicholas Cage is a real scene-stealer in this movie. Looking like a dorky suburban dad out of costume and speaking in an Adam West staccato in-costume, he’s a stand-out in a movie that has a lot of eye-catching moments and good performances in it. The overall “edginess” of both the movie and the source material feels like a teenage boy’s idea of edgy, and parts of it play like more of the male power fantasy than more conventional superhero movies, but it was still a mostly fun movie, particularly when Cage was on-screen doing his thing. I’d recommend the movie for Cage alone, and he’s not the main star. But just as I advice against thinking too hard about the politics of the Kingsmen movies, I wouldn’t put too much thought into what Kick-Ass has to say about superheroes. Enjoy the superficial thrills, and you should be fine.
Grade: B-
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