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KICK-ASS
(*½)
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Movie Review by:
Jim "Good Old JR" Rutkowski
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Directed by:
Matthew Vaughn |
Written by:
Screenplay by Matthew Vaughn & Jane Goldman, based on the Marvel Comic of
the same name. |
Starring:
Aaron Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Mark Strong |
Running time:
117 minutes
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Released:
04/16/10 |
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Rated R
for strong brutal
violence throughout, pervasive language, sexual content, nudity and some drug
use - some involving children. |
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" ...a distractingly frenzied picture lacking true satiric aim, making the
oncoming mess of ultra-violence more troubling than rousing."
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It’s difficult to tell exactly how “Kick-Ass”
considers the comic book/superhero genre. On one hand, there’s a profusion of
love offered to the subculture through a series of crafty inside jokes and
tributes only a few knowing audience members will understand. On the other hand,
“Kick-Ass” is a tone-deaf pantsing of the superman cause, creating an incredible
ruckus as it breakdances on hallowed ground, preferring noise over wit when it
comes to giving funny books a comprehensive noogie. Only vibrant in spurts,
“Kick-Ass” is a distractingly frenzied picture lacking true satiric aim, making
the oncoming mess of ultra-violence more troubling than rousing.
Observing his city caught in the chokehold of crime, Dave (Aaron Johnson) has
elected to assume a superhero identity and prowl the streets, searching for
innocents to defend. Dressed in a green scuba suit and rechristening himself
Kick-Ass, the teen avenger finds life as a masked crusader more grueling and
bone-breaking than he initially imagined. Quickly becoming a media sensation,
Kick-Ass pulls a few more makeshift superheroes out of the shadows, including
Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage) and his 11-year-old daughter Hit-Girl (Chloe Grace
Moretz), both heavily trained and armed to the teeth. On the other side of the
law lies mob kingpin Frank D’Amico (Mark Strong) and his teen son Chris
(Christopher Mintz-Plasse), who are fed up with Kick-Ass interfering with their
foul plans. Trying to balance life as an awkward teenager and as an easily
toppled superhero, Kick-Ass is soon pulled into a brutal war Big Daddy is waging
on Frank and his cronies for reasons that go beyond simple crime fighting
courage.
Based on the comic book series created by Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr.,
“Kick-Ass” is pure geekery, and these types of endeavors generally require a
different set of critical antennae, tuned into a sharper pitch of colorful
irreverence. “Kick-Ass” plays much more far broadly than its subversive origins
promise, with director Matthew Vaughn turning the acerbic source material into a
bold, bright fantasy of do-it-yourself heroism, taboo-smashing dialogue, and
frequent bloodshed. Trust me, “Kick-Ass” earns its R-rating.
As with his previous productions “Layer Cake” and “Stardust,” Vaughn has proven
he can shape a pretty picture, but acquiring a distinctive tone has always
eluded him. “Kick-Ass” is no different, bucking wildly as it jumps back and
forth between Dave’s blithe superhero initiation to Big Daddy’s more sobering
motivations for revenge. It’s a difficult film to digest, since Vaughn expels so
such effort to keep the viewer in a state of shock, either through unspeakable
acts of violence or the potty mouth on Hit-Girl, getting plenty of mileage out
of the character’s deceptive innocence, which is used as a preamble to an array
of shootouts and stabbings. This would all be fine if some form of context were
apparent. But there is none to be found here.
The bombshell of young Moretz working blue defines the “Kick-Ass” viewing
experience, for better or worse. It’s a wholly confident performance from the
promising actress, who gracefully assumes the pint-sized assassin role with an
ease that fails her co-stars (Johnson layers on the Jerry Mathers teen
earnestness to a nauseating degree), and her character, along with Big Daddy, is
the only meager flash of heart in the film. Rooted in a vicious revenge
scenario, the father-daughter dynamic duo gives “Kick-Ass” an actual purpose,
where the Dave business tends to linger on unfunny acts of teen-dom that confuse
the film’s focus. However, Big Daddy and Hit-Girl are only a small piece of the
puzzle here, with Kick-Ass the star of the show. A shame, since the character
and the performance bringing it to life lack a necessary vitality that might
have made this coloring book all the more compelling.
“Kick-Ass” attempts the funny, but its real flavor comes from the violence.
We’re talking horrible stuff befitting such a cavalier concept, which Vaughn
cranks even louder by piping in ironic soundtrack cuts to underline the
absurdity, or allowing Cage to fit himself for an Adam West impression as Big
Daddy. The West inflections come across more as a loving tribute than an
affectation. Cage does surprise here, in that for once, he is not playing over
the top. He just goes with the material.
Showy, brutal, and aggressive, “Kick-Ass” is more mindlessly destructive than
imaginative, permitting the viewer their every wish-fulfillment fantasy as the
superheroes make mincemeat out of the baddies. There’s also the whole business
of blistering mayhem involving an 11-year-old girl, but that’s a concept Vaughn
is pleasingly proud of, using Hit-Girl as way to communicate the absurdity of
the material, or at least remind the public at large that troublemaker Millar is
involved.
“Kick-Ass” ends with a war between the superheroes and the criminal goombas,
taking the whole enterprise into pure overkill as the outrageousness of the
direction is pushed into the stratosphere, effectively killing the texture of
the film-making and whatever pinch of reality remained. But hey, as long as a
tween in a schoolgirl outfit is braining the enemy with a variety of ludicrous
weapons, should there be any demand for depth? Actually, it never hurts. Depth
is the last thing on this films mind.
Normally something as brazen as “Kick-Ass” would fall into a love-it-or-leave-it
category, dividing causal audiences and the geek nation, who will surely lap up
anything the film delivers when the irreverence is spewed this intensely. It’s a
noisy bit of ugly business. “Kick-Ass” feels hollow and rabidly determined to
get lost in the cartoon method, not charge ahead with a grand purpose the
premise seems to hunger for. After the heights achieved by Christopher Nolan's
Dark Knight
and last years
Watchmen, Kick-Ass is a sad, and rather depressing work. A huge step
backward for the comic book genre film. |
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KICK-ASS
© 2010 Lionsgate
All Rights Reserved
Review © 2010 Alternate Reality, Inc.
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