Kick-Ass Lives Up to Its Name
It’s been ten years since Hollywood discovered the full potential of comic book adaptations, specifically the superhero genre. We’ve since seen mutants unite, webs slung thrice, a man without fear, a dark knight get serious, an iron man soar, a vigilante obsess over the letter v, and a group of superheroes watch as a world-peace-via-nuclear-holocaust conspiracy unfolds. During this time, the superhero genre has touched on darker moods, become more violent and has edged closer to realism. This is part of what made The Dark Knight a phenomenon in 2008. And what earned Watchmen, the most violent and solemn of all, its necessary R-rating in 2009.
This is nothing new to comics; the medium has been serving up mostly adult fare for over 20 years as adults gradually became its primary readership. One could say that films like The Dark Knight and Watchmen (as well as non-superhero stories like Sin City and Road to Perdition) represent an inevitable step in the genre’s filmic evolution; Hollywood finally caught up to the medium it was adapting.
This year brings us Kick-Ass, a film that was independently financed and produced outside the studio system. That’s not for lack of trying: as the story goes, Mark Millar (executive producer and author of the source comic series) shopped the story of Kick-Ass around to Hollywood studios. Each one gave the same notes (“You can’t have a 12 year-old assassin in a movie!”) and ultimately passed. Over ten producers later (including artist John Romita, Jr. and Brad Pitt), enough money was put up for Matthew Vaughn (Layer Cake, Stardust) to direct one of the most violent superhero films to date.
To be fair, Kick-Ass isn’t any different than most R-rated action films Hollywood churned out in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Limbs get cut, bodies get impaled, and people get shot in various different ways, but there isn’t a single kill that compares to what one will find in any recent horror movie. Some have carped that what makes Kick-Ass different and most troubling is that all the violence is committed by teenagers. I must first ask if those who toss their hands at this film have no long-term memory. I feel compelled to recall Gogo Yubari, O-Ren Ishii’s 17 year-old bodyguard in Kill Bill, who was capable of acts far more gruesome than the 12 year-old Hit Girl of Kick-Ass. Or what about Battle Royale or for that matter dozens of other Japanese films with young females brandishing blades or barrels? Hit Girl (who seems to be garnering most of this film’s attention) is no more shocking in her unmerciful brutality than any of these characters or even Jodie Foster’s 14 year-old prostitute in Taxi Driver.
Most importantly, Kick-Ass is not to be taken seriously. Anyone who bemoans the future of cinema and our youth while watching Kick-Ass is somehow blinding themselves to the excitement this movie wants you to feel. Everything about his this movie screams “FUN!” - from its dialogue to the exuberant and oft-satirical soundtrack. Kick-Ass is a perfect mix of John Woo action, Spider-Man geekery, Mystery Men satire, and gangster brutality. It takes every superhero trope and turns them on their heads with a dose of reality. If someone wants to don a costume and fight a couple street thugs without any training then that person is going to get badly hurt. It never strains credibility beyond the world it creates.
Kick-Ass winks at the superhero film genre while also becoming a part of it. As a result, the film has been criticized for wanting to have its cake and eat it, too. But to see Kick-Ass in that way is an error, albeit an understandable one. Kick-Ass very consistently plays with the genre and its audience’s expectations, pays homage to specific movies (note Nicolas Cage’s Adam West impression, Red Mist’s slick Schumacher-influenced costume, and the rooftop jump scene similar to that in Spider-Man), and contains frequent henchmen fight scenes. The villain even goes out in an appropriately over-the-top manner. Kick-Ass doesn’t distance itself from the superhero movies of yore; it embraces them and wants to be included among them.
I would be remiss to not take a moment to spotlight Hit Girl (Chloe Moretz) and Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage). They are presented as supporting characters (especially in the trailers), but are every bit as important to the story as the title character. Their story is a well-told tale of revenge infused with a sweet father/daughter dynamic. I can’t stress enough how refreshing it is to finally enjoy a Nicolas Cage performance after ten years of crap (World Trade Center notwithstanding)! His father character is sweet, loving, deranged, dopey, and bad-ass.
I made special mention of Chloe Moretz as a rising star in a previous review. Kick-Ass is the movie that official transforms her from That Girl to a Name on par with Dakota Fanning; surely, Chloe’s talent is just as impressive. Hit Girl is the one thing the film asks the audience to suspend disbelief over (a girl who’s been trained for seven years to be a murderous vigilante) and Moretz convincingly sells the audience on the character. She’s also the source of many of the film’s thrills.
Kick-Ass is that rare movie that makes you fall in love with its characters to the extent that you’re anxious to see more of them. It leaves open the opportunity for a sequel, but is worthy of treasuring on its own. If you're looking for a fun action movie then look no further. This is one of the best times you’ll have at the theater this year. If only Hollywood would get a clue and cease passing up such brilliant and edgy films like this one, there’d be more movies like Kick-Ass and less ‘80s remakes.
Should you see it? Buy tickets
9/10
Kick-Ass is in theaters now.