Kick-Ass
The origins for this movie begin in 2008 when a comic book series was created called Kick-Ass. Written by Mark Millar (known for writing The Ultimates, Civil War, Ultimate Fantastic Four and Wanted) and penned by John Romita Jr., the comic book series gotten a lot of mixed reviews. In the end it was said that it looked great but read rather weak.
Before the first issue of the series was even published, the rights to the movie were already sold. The director, Matthew Vaughn, stated that writing the comic and writing the screenplay happened at the same time, making it more of an organic process. Of course, certain things were changed, but the fans of the movie that have read the comics state that it are changes for the better.
So, is the movie good? Is it bad? Let’s find out shall we? Oh, mild spoilers ahead so beware all ye who enter here. Just skip to the TO SUMMARIZE part if you wanna know what I find of this movie.
Before the first issue of the series was even published, the rights to the movie were already sold. The director, Matthew Vaughn, stated that writing the comic and writing the screenplay happened at the same time, making it more of an organic process. Of course, certain things were changed, but the fans of the movie that have read the comics state that it are changes for the better.
So, is the movie good? Is it bad? Let’s find out shall we? Oh, mild spoilers ahead so beware all ye who enter here. Just skip to the TO SUMMARIZE part if you wanna know what I find of this movie.
Story:
Haven’t you ever wondered what it would be like if you were a superhero? There are a lot of injustices in the world and many of them go by noticed, without anybody interfering as they are afraid of their own life. If you were standing at your window and you saw someone getting kicked all over the place … would you go down to help? Yeah, you would call the cops if you weren’t noticed, but what if you were? What would you do?
This is how the movie begins, with Dave Lizewski asking himself these questions. Sometimes, you just have to do it. So he buys a costume off of e-bay and goes out in to the streets to kick some ass! Only to take more than he dishes out. A whole lot more. In fact, this guy gets his ass kicked so hard, his nerve endings stop functioning.
Eventually, the young kid finds himself to be way in over his head when he gets blamed by the big bad criminals for something done by two other characters, Big Daddy and Hit-Girl.
Big Daddy is an ex-cop who got framed and is now seeking revenge for his time served. Who’s the target? The boss of said big bad criminals. With his is his eleven year old daughter, Hit-Girl.
Without getting in to much more of the plot, I can tell you the following:
For the movie being called Kick-Ass, it has little to nothing about the character in the end. Yes, it revolves around him and his need to do good in the world, but once he gets sucked in to the battle between Big Daddy and the criminals, he takes a back seat. And I mean literally take a back seat. He’s so far back you’d need a fucking binocular to see him. If he wasn’t dressed in this spiffy green and yellow costume that sticks out like a white rapper, you’d barely even notice him in the last parts of the movie. Which is kind of a shame because there was potential to go further with this character. There’s also an interesting sub plot going on with his love interest, which was on its own pretty good and downright hilarious.
Luckily, the trade off isn’t so bad. In place of him, the movie focuses more on Big Daddy and Hit-Girl, who are the most interesting characters of them all. On one side you see a loving father and a charming daughter, living their lives happily, doing what they want to do. They really love each other and it really shows. On the other side, Big Daddy is shooting his daughter in the bulletproof vest to get her accustomed to it and he’s giving her butterfly knives as a birthday present.
Another interesting character is that of Red Mist, who I wasn’t sure what to think of throughout the movie until the very end. Now here’s a character I really can’t say anything about without giving anything away, but let’s just say he’s got a personality that might be contradictive to what he is doing, making it look like he is actually disgusted with what he is doing and what is going on.
In the end the most interesting character was that of Hit Girl, who is by far the most kick ass character of this movie. On one side you’re thinking that she’s awesome and cool and whatnot, but then you realize that she’s just eleven years old and there she is swearing like a motherfucker and shooting people in the face.
What makes this plot so good is that it’s just so much more than what the trailer promised it would be. It isn’t just all action and comedy, but there’s also a lot of drama and deep moments that will stick with you until long after the movie is over. Especially the character of Hit Girl will make you think things over of how you’re supposed to feel about her. As I said, you wanna root for her but you also feel sorry for her.
Lastly, the humor is just fantastic. This movie will make you laugh a lot with it’s great jokes that sometimes come right out of nowhere. There’s this one fantastic moment near the end of the movie. Very dramatic and suspenseful as you have no idea what’s going to happen. If you want to know when, then all you need to know is that it’s the live broadcast, before the action sequence. You’re sitting there, marveling at the brutality of it all when suddenly … well, you’ll just have to see but DAYUMN, I laughed so hard.
Performances:
Overall, I can’t complain about any of the performances at all. But let’s take a look at the big ones.
Aaron Johnson plays Dave Lizewski. He plays the character quite well and very strongly if I might add. He makes the character seem believable and does a very good job of portraying being kicked in the ass and shown every corner of the room. Hell, after this movie he might just be a pro at it. Let’s just he doesn’t get typecast now or he might be in some real trouble.
Chloë Grace Moretz as Mindy Macready, Hit Girl. PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR, people. Oscar worthy material if you ask me. She puts down one of the best superhero character I have ever seen before in my life. Unbelievable stuff, seriously. It definitely shows that she has a lot of talent and that she’s having a blast making this movie.
Christopher Mintz-Plasse plays Red Mist. Above average performance, nothing special, but he is quite good at giving this character a deeper personality just by the emotions he portrays.
Mark Strong as Frank D’Amico. Great performance if you ask me, the way he does some of the lines is downright hilarious. The man can be a comic genius in this movie. Whether by nature or by good directing, I really enjoyed his performance. Just so dry throughout the entire movie.
Lyndsiy Fonseca as Katie Deauxma was almost stereotypical in character and in performance. She did it as good as she could, though it was sad to see her part go so underused as it could have been a bit more fleshed out. In the end, stereotypical love interest and nothing more.
AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST: NICOLAS CAGE AS BIG DADDY. Adam West meets Elvis meets Nolan’s Batman. That is best how to describe his performance. This might very well be the best batman I have ever before seen in my life. I shit you not. Not only is Big Daddy awesome, but the man behind the mask is a great guy as well. A little bit of a weird assed father, but a great guy and definitely a loving parent.
Truth be told, he was the perfect guy for the job because I honestly can’t see anyone doing the scene of the live broadcast without making it look comical. He really carried that scene and made it so touching that it almost made you want to look away.
Varia:
The action sequenses were immensely brutal, bloody and gory. However, it never goes that one step too far that most movies like that tend to do. Take for instance John Rambo, Rambo IV, First Blood Part whatever. That was one bridge too far if you ask me. Doesn’t take away the fact that the action in this game is murder and very realistic … as far as guys in green spandex go, but you get what I’m saying.
One thing I absolutely appreciated was that THE ACTION WAS FOLLOWABLE. Not once did I wonder what the fuck was going on. Though it did came pretty close (Live broadcast scene again).
Soundtrackwise, this movie is making me want to pick up the CD. A rarity for me but this is making me want to go out there and buy the damned soundtrack. And I haven’t bought a CD in … ten … twelve years … give or take.
To summarize:
A very entertaining movie that doesn’t only deliver in action and comedy, but in story as well. It’s not without its flaws, not by a long shot, but it’s still a good movie in my eyes. A movie where you can forgive its flaws just because its so good. So therefore I want to give this movie a solid
8/10
What I really found to be great about this movie is the Hit-Girl controversy where people went all apeshit over the way she acted in the movie. Her response? “If I said one line of what I said in the movie in real life, I would be grounded for years!” She even goes as far as called Kick-Ass “the film” in interviews just because of that and at home she called it: Kick-Butt.
This has been Puddle Jumper reviewing Kick-Ass!
Haven’t you ever wondered what it would be like if you were a superhero? There are a lot of injustices in the world and many of them go by noticed, without anybody interfering as they are afraid of their own life. If you were standing at your window and you saw someone getting kicked all over the place … would you go down to help? Yeah, you would call the cops if you weren’t noticed, but what if you were? What would you do?
This is how the movie begins, with Dave Lizewski asking himself these questions. Sometimes, you just have to do it. So he buys a costume off of e-bay and goes out in to the streets to kick some ass! Only to take more than he dishes out. A whole lot more. In fact, this guy gets his ass kicked so hard, his nerve endings stop functioning.
Eventually, the young kid finds himself to be way in over his head when he gets blamed by the big bad criminals for something done by two other characters, Big Daddy and Hit-Girl.
Big Daddy is an ex-cop who got framed and is now seeking revenge for his time served. Who’s the target? The boss of said big bad criminals. With his is his eleven year old daughter, Hit-Girl.
Without getting in to much more of the plot, I can tell you the following:
For the movie being called Kick-Ass, it has little to nothing about the character in the end. Yes, it revolves around him and his need to do good in the world, but once he gets sucked in to the battle between Big Daddy and the criminals, he takes a back seat. And I mean literally take a back seat. He’s so far back you’d need a fucking binocular to see him. If he wasn’t dressed in this spiffy green and yellow costume that sticks out like a white rapper, you’d barely even notice him in the last parts of the movie. Which is kind of a shame because there was potential to go further with this character. There’s also an interesting sub plot going on with his love interest, which was on its own pretty good and downright hilarious.
Luckily, the trade off isn’t so bad. In place of him, the movie focuses more on Big Daddy and Hit-Girl, who are the most interesting characters of them all. On one side you see a loving father and a charming daughter, living their lives happily, doing what they want to do. They really love each other and it really shows. On the other side, Big Daddy is shooting his daughter in the bulletproof vest to get her accustomed to it and he’s giving her butterfly knives as a birthday present.
Another interesting character is that of Red Mist, who I wasn’t sure what to think of throughout the movie until the very end. Now here’s a character I really can’t say anything about without giving anything away, but let’s just say he’s got a personality that might be contradictive to what he is doing, making it look like he is actually disgusted with what he is doing and what is going on.
In the end the most interesting character was that of Hit Girl, who is by far the most kick ass character of this movie. On one side you’re thinking that she’s awesome and cool and whatnot, but then you realize that she’s just eleven years old and there she is swearing like a motherfucker and shooting people in the face.
What makes this plot so good is that it’s just so much more than what the trailer promised it would be. It isn’t just all action and comedy, but there’s also a lot of drama and deep moments that will stick with you until long after the movie is over. Especially the character of Hit Girl will make you think things over of how you’re supposed to feel about her. As I said, you wanna root for her but you also feel sorry for her.
Lastly, the humor is just fantastic. This movie will make you laugh a lot with it’s great jokes that sometimes come right out of nowhere. There’s this one fantastic moment near the end of the movie. Very dramatic and suspenseful as you have no idea what’s going to happen. If you want to know when, then all you need to know is that it’s the live broadcast, before the action sequence. You’re sitting there, marveling at the brutality of it all when suddenly … well, you’ll just have to see but DAYUMN, I laughed so hard.
Performances:
Overall, I can’t complain about any of the performances at all. But let’s take a look at the big ones.
Aaron Johnson plays Dave Lizewski. He plays the character quite well and very strongly if I might add. He makes the character seem believable and does a very good job of portraying being kicked in the ass and shown every corner of the room. Hell, after this movie he might just be a pro at it. Let’s just he doesn’t get typecast now or he might be in some real trouble.
Chloë Grace Moretz as Mindy Macready, Hit Girl. PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR, people. Oscar worthy material if you ask me. She puts down one of the best superhero character I have ever seen before in my life. Unbelievable stuff, seriously. It definitely shows that she has a lot of talent and that she’s having a blast making this movie.
Christopher Mintz-Plasse plays Red Mist. Above average performance, nothing special, but he is quite good at giving this character a deeper personality just by the emotions he portrays.
Mark Strong as Frank D’Amico. Great performance if you ask me, the way he does some of the lines is downright hilarious. The man can be a comic genius in this movie. Whether by nature or by good directing, I really enjoyed his performance. Just so dry throughout the entire movie.
Lyndsiy Fonseca as Katie Deauxma was almost stereotypical in character and in performance. She did it as good as she could, though it was sad to see her part go so underused as it could have been a bit more fleshed out. In the end, stereotypical love interest and nothing more.
AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST: NICOLAS CAGE AS BIG DADDY. Adam West meets Elvis meets Nolan’s Batman. That is best how to describe his performance. This might very well be the best batman I have ever before seen in my life. I shit you not. Not only is Big Daddy awesome, but the man behind the mask is a great guy as well. A little bit of a weird assed father, but a great guy and definitely a loving parent.
Truth be told, he was the perfect guy for the job because I honestly can’t see anyone doing the scene of the live broadcast without making it look comical. He really carried that scene and made it so touching that it almost made you want to look away.
Varia:
The action sequenses were immensely brutal, bloody and gory. However, it never goes that one step too far that most movies like that tend to do. Take for instance John Rambo, Rambo IV, First Blood Part whatever. That was one bridge too far if you ask me. Doesn’t take away the fact that the action in this game is murder and very realistic … as far as guys in green spandex go, but you get what I’m saying.
One thing I absolutely appreciated was that THE ACTION WAS FOLLOWABLE. Not once did I wonder what the fuck was going on. Though it did came pretty close (Live broadcast scene again).
Soundtrackwise, this movie is making me want to pick up the CD. A rarity for me but this is making me want to go out there and buy the damned soundtrack. And I haven’t bought a CD in … ten … twelve years … give or take.
To summarize:
A very entertaining movie that doesn’t only deliver in action and comedy, but in story as well. It’s not without its flaws, not by a long shot, but it’s still a good movie in my eyes. A movie where you can forgive its flaws just because its so good. So therefore I want to give this movie a solid
8/10
What I really found to be great about this movie is the Hit-Girl controversy where people went all apeshit over the way she acted in the movie. Her response? “If I said one line of what I said in the movie in real life, I would be grounded for years!” She even goes as far as called Kick-Ass “the film” in interviews just because of that and at home she called it: Kick-Butt.
This has been Puddle Jumper reviewing Kick-Ass!
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