Kick-Ass – Review

31Mar10

Hyper-violence, child abuse, and a 12-year-old girl saying the ‘C’ word; not three traits typically associated with the comic book superhero genre. Throw in a two-hour running time, Nicholas Cage, and Christopher ‘McLovin’ Mintz-Plasse, and it immediately becomes apparent that Kick-Ass really is something different. In spite of such contents, the most surprising thing about Kick-Ass is much simpler: how shockingly brilliant it is.

Kick-Ass marks Mark Vaughan’s return to the director’s chair, following 2007’s disappointing Stardust (better known for a certain Take That soundtrack), and 2004’s flawed-but-entertaining Layer Cake. The premise is simple enough: a kid, Dave, gets sick of being just another face in the crowd, so decides to pursue his fantasy of becoming a superhero. As the tightly constructed narrative unfolds, Dave watches as his alter-ego gradually becomes an internet phenomenon, but with such recognition comes expectation, therefore thrusting him into a variety of life-threatening situations juxtaposed with comedic gold.

Such juxtaposition of humour with shocks is where Kick-Ass succeeds the most, forcing audiences to subconsciously ask themselves a variety of questions while viewing. It also acts as a brilliantly effective balancing system between the fantastical and the literal, never straying too far into either comedic or serious territory without the two openly acknowledging one another. When it does, then Kick-Ass becomes an even more satisfying experience, with the explosive climax feeling like a deserved reward for a movie veering in neither one direction nor another for the majority of its two hour duration.

This is most certainly not to the movie’s detriment, however. Quite the opposite in fact. The hilarity of some of Dave’s situations, most notably the genius subplot regarding his sexuality being under question by the girl of his dreams, Katie (Lyndsy Fonseca), provide welcome comic relief to some of the more serious subject matter running throughout the film, forcing morals to come under scrutiny on various occasions. Kick-Ass, while viewed on the surface may appear to be a gratuitous action movie with comedy elements, frequently touches on some rather difficult issues, such as a father raising his daughter to essentially become a sheltered killing machine. Amusing it may be, but the great thing is that Kick-Ass hardly sugar-coats such issues, leaving it down to the viewer to make their own judgements regarding the morality of certain areas of the narrative.

Oh, and in case I haven’t already made it clear enough, Kick-Ass really is violent. Like, really violent, to a surprising extent. The majority of this is courtesy of Hit-Girl/Mindy, a brutal twelve year old raised into a world of violence by Nicholas Cage’s psychotic but loveable Big Daddy. Chloe Moretz is fantastic as Hit-Girl, portraying a bloodthirsty kid who swears a lot. The Daily Mail have obviously had a field day with “Okay you c*nts… lets see what you can do now!” being uttered from a twelve year old’s mouth, but then again this is the same Daily Mail that actually believe that videogames transform children into killers, so nothing too surprising here.

Furthermore, the rest of the cast are solid too. Nicholas Cage is brilliant as the loving but twisted father, Damon, pulling off arguably the performance of his career. It breaks the stereotype of Cage only being able to act out the moody one-dimensional character too, so I sincerely hope that Nicholas continues to step into roles where he can let his hair down a little. Aaron Johnson, recently receiving a Jameson Empire Award for his portrayal of John Lennon in Nowhere Boy, is also brilliant, delivering a convincing performance of a hapless teen determined to live out his fantasies. Kick-Ass proves that Johnson boasts versatility, therefore the future is certainly bright for the rising star.

On another note, the soundtrack is fantastic, with tracks ranging from The Prodigy to Elvis, from Mika to (quite fittingly) The Hit Girls. The film is also nicely edited, with some clever reality/YouTube transitions helping to maintain the frenetic pace of the narrative. However, the finest example of cinematography comes in the latter half of the film, with several minutes of continuous strobe-effects testing the willpower of the seizure-wary amongst us. It aids what is one of the film’s many stunning action sequences though, and is a genuinely unique approach to a shootout well worth squinting at.

The main reason that Kick-Ass is such a success is its fine balance of both comedic and serious elements. The soundtrack is fantastic, the characters lovable, and the hyper-violence may come as a surprise to many. Perhaps it was inevitable, but Batman Begins might have just been dethroned as the best comic-book hero movie of all time, and who’d have thought it’d have its crown stolen by such a sleeper hit?

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Kick-Ass is pure cinema gold, combining frenetic action and witty humour with near-perfect execution. It may be a little too profanity-stricken and violent for some, but stunning performances and an engaging narrative help elevate Kick-Ass well above Batman Begins as one of the finest comic-book hero movies of all time.

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