Kick-Ass, “Kicks-Ass”

Kick ass tells the story of Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson), a normal teenager facing everyday problems. He doesn’t have any super-powers, except the power to be invisible to women, as he states.

He is an avid comic-book reader, and ask the question I believe we all thought of at least once in our life, “Why hasn’t anyone tried to ever become a super-hero?”

This question is quickly shot down by his friends who cite the fact that in order to be a superhero, one needs to have super powers. Dave cites Batman as someone who doesn’t have powers, but again his friends note the unlimited supply of money Bruce Wayne has to buy impossible gadgets that in the real world would be beyond anyone’s financial capabilities.

Enter KICK-ASS

With this question still lingering in Dave’s mind, he decides if no one else will do it, he will. Enter Kick-Ass. To no surprise, his first attempt in the crime-fighting business is met with violent consequences, as Dave is rushed to the hospital with broken bones and a stab wound to the gut.

After his near death experience, any human would be crazy to take another shot, yet Dave decides to become Kick-Ass once more. This time however, while still the receiving end of many blows, is victorious in saving a man from what looked to be a gang-related beat down. To Dave’s surprise, he has been recorded during this brawl by a bystander who immediately uploads the video to YouTube, which becomes and instant internet phenomenon, bringing hope and inspiration to people everywhere. Add to that, Kick-Ass creates his own Myspace page, which garners millions of fans, which Dave also uses as a way for citizens to contact Kick-Ass for help.

Later on, during one of his crime-fighting escapades which turns deadly, he meets Hit-Girl (Chloe Moretz) and Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage), a father-daughter team which appear to be the real deal. This upsets Dave as he feels Kick-Ass is nothing more than an amateur compared to Hit Girl and Big Daddy. Add to this is the introduction of Red Mist (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), a young “super-hero” Dave’s age who has single handedly delivered a top mob boss to the police.

This angers crime boss Frank D’Amico (Mark Strong), whose criminal operations are being sabotaged by these “super-heroes”, and decides to eliminate all of them to send out a message to a every citizen that these “heroes” are flesh and blood.

Kick-Ass is a very enjoyable film. It has plenty of humor and violence to make Tarantino proud. Aaron Johnson portrays Dave/Kick-Ass with conviction. While he becomes a “super-hero” in the eyes of many, he still acts out as a teenager who simply decided to put on a mask. The evolution of his character seems to progress naturally. Every decision he makes as both Dave and Kick-Ass is out of fear, and why shouldn’t he be. When he puts on the mask in the comfort of his own home, he is confident, enjoying the fact that he is playing the role of his idols in Superman,Batman, and Spider-Man. However, when he comes face to face with the duty of those idols, he is reasonably terrified and nervous. Throughout most of the movie, he is a just a kid who decides to play super-hero for the thrills. He isn’t ready to take on the responsibilities of his idols, and he shouldn’t have to, for this is real-life, and in real-life there isn’t always another issue coming out next month.

It’s not till the end, that his character fully realizes the impact he has made, and the consequences and responsibilities that come with them. Kick-Ass realizes something all comic fans notice, yet fail to realize. In every comic, every super-hero is faced with the sacrifice he must give in his personal life for the lives of others. Their alter ego life may seem thrilling and exciting, but their real lives are plagued. Once they become super-heroes, they can never live for themselves anymore. They forever will serve the good of others.

In terms of other performances, Nicolas Cage brings a very “batty” performance as his costume, presence, and his manner of speaking under his guise is all inspired by Batman. It is very fitting as it’s hard to believe if a man over the age of 40 decides to become a super-hero, they wouldn’t be inspired by Adam West’s Batman, as his portrayal invaded children’s TV sets all over the country in the sixties, right about when Big Daddy would have been a kid.

Chloe Mortez is Hit-Girl

Chloe Moretz will be probably discussed as the new “Dakota Fanning”, or child actress who acts to old for her age. She is very mature in her acting, and if any bad guy looked at any of the “super-heroes”
with fear, I guarantee you, Hit-Girl would be last on their list, yet she has the most “super” quality of all of them. I found Hit-Girl to be the character who probably stole the show for many.

Last, Christopher Mint- Plasse has some good moments as Red Mist, yet I still found McLovin lingering in my head.

Finally, I have two more things to say, one is about the world, and the other about the violence.

First, in terms of the world, while it deals with this great idea of “super-heroes” in the real world, I felt the world of The Dark Knight to be more truthful. The last act of Kick-Ass felt way to “comic book-like”, and any signs of it taking place in the real world were lost I felt. This was the biggest disappointment for me, as I felt the real world aspect was it’s greatest strength going in. In Dark Knight, i felt the characters were faced with more truthful moral dilemmas, and obstacles than what was present in the last act of Kick-Ass which read to me as every archetype last act of an Action Flick. Still the second half of the movie truly has some of its best moments, while the first half has good moments, and slow moments.

Now in terms of the violence, I’m just going to go out and say it, but I do not recommend this movie to be seen by any child the age of 13 and younger. I feel the movie is probably nothing new for High-schoolers and older, however, this movie can be catastrophic for anyone younger.

The reason being the violence and language associated with Hit-Girl. I feel it will send out a message to all kids in the age group I stated that cursing and violence towards/from adults is acceptable.

I think if any kid 13 and below saw this, there will be many questions they will ask their parents, that no parent is ready to deal with. You don’t want your kids to feel that violence towards them is accepted, and you don’t want them to feel that acting out violently towards you or any adult for that matter is funny and cool. So therefore, I forbid anyone 13 and younger from seeing it, and hope any self-respecting parent will keep these kids away from this too. Kids don’t view movies the way we do. When we get out of our theatre seats and leave the auditorium, we have the good judgment to know right from wrong. Kids see movies, and they assume right and wrong is what is shown to them, or for that matter what people are laughing at and enjoying themselves with.

Rating:  That little bit aside, in a rating system of 5 reels. I give Kick-Ass 4 reels for being entertaining, well acted by many involved, and at many times visually interesting. Kudos also go to the use of the theme from Sergio Leone’s “Dollars Trilogy.”

Trailer:

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