Review: Kick-Ass

Kick-Ass

OPENING: 04/16/2010

STUDIO: Lionsgate

RUN TIME: 117 min

ACCOMPLICES:
Trailer, Website

The Charge
I can’t fly. But I can kick your ass!

Opening Statement
Kick-Ass is the cinematic equivalent of skydiving; not everyone will be willing to take the plunge, but those who do will never forget it. Remember in Point Break when Keanu Reeves described the sport as being 100% pure adrenaline? That’s this movie experience in a nutshell.

Facts Of The Case (Warning! Spoilers)
Meet utterly ordinary Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson, The Greatest), virtually invisible to all the girls. He has a huge crush on the lovely Katie (Lyndsy Fonseca, Desperate Housewives), who’s never given him a second glance. Why would she? Dave is a walking, talking, bespectacled runt whose daily routine consists of being humiliated at school, jumped by violent punks, and masturbating to visions of his busty English teacher.

Dave wonders why there are no real superheroes. His friend Marty (Clark Duke, Greek) tells him, “Because you’d get your ass-kicked!” However, Dave’s initiative overcomes his common sense. Ordering a green wet suit by mail, Dave transforms into “Kick-Ass,” dedicating himself to fighting crime in NYC. His first assignment ends in being beaten, stabbed, and knocked out by speeding car. Suffering that kind of ass whooping, most guys would throw in the towel. Not Dave. Thanks to insurmountable nerve damage, he’s now impervious to pain. In an encore, rescuing someone from a violent gang, Kick-Ass is captured on video and his popularity explodes all over the internet!

Unknown to Dave, there’s already a superhero duo operating in the city — Damon (Nicolas Cage, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans) and Mindy Macready (Chloe Moretz, (500) Days Of Summer). This unlikely father-daughter team is out to massacre a coke-dealing crime ring led by Frank D’Amico (Mark Strong, Sherlock Holmes), the man responsible for ruining Damon’s police career. Meanwhile, D’Amico’s son Chris (Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Superbad) is sick of being sheltered and wants to help take down these crime-fighters. So, he becomes one himself: “Red-Mist.” What’s special about him? He’s a pot-smoking, sports-car-loving freak.

The Evidence
You know you’re watching an audience-pleaser when everyone around you is laughing, cheering, and hollering at the screen—culminating in a standing ovation! I never experienced Star Wars in the summer of 1977 because I wasn’t even born yet. Now, I believe I witnessed the premature birth of a pop culture phenomenon, one in which will be endlessly cloned by Hollywood for decades to come. Kick-Ass is, without a doubt, the greatest theatrical experience of my life; knocking down such previous favorites as Dances With Wolves, Independence Day and King Kong. Those were great, but my favorite kinds of films have always been those celebrating a genre (or multiple genres) while also thrusting a giant middle finger in Hollywood’s face. The creators of Kick-Ass hit all of their satiric targets with more frenetic glee than a hyena who’s just downed a dozen or so Monster drinks. What’s so astonishing, however, is they do so while also injecting a furiously pumping heart underneath. Those who felt duped by the Clash Of The Titans remake need not fret anymore. The kraken has finally been released. Better late than never.

Here’s more news for you: this is the first comic book adaptation (and satire) I’ve ever cried at.

Yes, you read that right. I cried a couple of times even though Kick-Ass‘s primary motivation is to be not much more than goofy, gloriously over-the-top popcorn entertainment. Call me insane, if you like, but here’s my explanation. Rarely have I’ve been able to genuinely care about super-heroes or comic book characters in the past because of the hyper-stylized universes they all reside in. For me, Richard Donner and Christopher Nolan were the only ones who’ve been able to add some kind of realism to their comic book-inspired projects, and even they paled in comparison to such slam-bang thrill-rides as Star Wars and Raiders Of The Lost Ark. Many will identify with Kick-Ass‘s nebbish protagonist because he’s fulfilling the dream of millions: what would it really be like to put on a mask and kick some ass?

However, it’s of Dave’s naiveté, charm and sheer “under-doggedness” which make him three-dimensional. Among the numerous complaints critics are spit-balling at Kick-Ass is that Dave is the “weakest” super-hero of the bunch. Yes, he is weak at first, but it completely suits the character. As audience members, we reflect and respond to what he’s going through and experiencing. Thus, we eventually root for him because he represents ourselves. Dave’s purpose is not to steal scenes—somebody else has that responsibility—but to serve as a guide for the audience, following him on this insanely violent but eye-popping journey. At the film’s conclusion, he learns more than most superheroes; you believe he will never treat his teacher—or any woman for that matter—as a sexual fantasy/object ever again. Newcomer Johnson has a naturalistic presence on the screen, and matching him is McLovin’ himself, who creates another colorful and delightful character with a similar drive—escaping from a humdrum, isolated existence to be something bigger than himself. Mintz-Plasse may be Harry Osborn to Johnson’s Peter Parker, but they make a terrific screen team, whether they are jammin’ to tunes or kickin’ each other’s asses.

On the other side of the casting coin, we have the face of Nicholas Cage, contributing another one of his trademark idiosyncratic character portraits. As Damon, he’s simply a loving and devoted father who only wants the best for his little girl. As Big Daddy, he ingeniously channels Adam West from the old Batman series, something which many comic-book geeks would like to see go away forever. (Deal with it, chumps; West rocked!). Cage’s quirks never really go into overdrive here, yet he’s still a tour-de-force. Never, not once, does Cage wink at the audience and pretend to be a Hollywood star.

As a critic, it’s a real challenge to judge child actors because of their inexperience. Never before has that challenge been completely shattered. The crown jewel of Kick-Ass is 13-year-old Chloe Grace Moretz. As Mindy, she’s as sweet and adorable as any daughter one would like to have; it’s all the more jaw-dropping when she dons a black mask and purple wig, morphing into an unstoppable, brutal killing machine. Her swearing and shooting is beyond infectious, and it disappoints me that so many critics are taking a moralistic stance regarding her character. Rubbish; after decades of women and children being treated as nothing more than defenseless plot devices in action movies, Hit-Girl was a real breath of fresh air—even if all if got sucked out of the theater within seconds because of Moretz’s irresistible personality and dazzling stunts (most of which she executed herself without the aid of CGI). In fact, she may very well emerge as a 21st century symbol of female liberation and empowerment simply because she is so young. I mean, finally, we have a female “superhero” that we could cheer for and believe in while she slashes her male competition down with visual and verbal grandeur. Every young actress in Hollywood—Megan, Jessica, and Miley included—needs to watch this. Study her. Learn from her.

Lest not forget the real man delivering this project on an unsuspecting public. Director Matthew Vaughn hasn’t been all that known until now, previously helming the British shoot-em-up Layer Cake with a pre-Bond Daniel Craig. However, he also produced such cult favorites as Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch. Gives you a pretty good idea about this film’s attitude, doesn’t it? Adapting the recent comic book by Mark Millar (Wanted) and John Romita, Jr., Vaughn and his crew go above and beyond what we usually expect from superhero flicks. There are no formula marks or contrivances here; just an unpredictable powerhouse of action, comedy and heroism. According to the director (who financed the $35M project entirely out of his own pocket), this is really a “love letter” to comic books and superheroes, even with all the mocking of standard Hollywood convention on display. To comic connoisseurs, Kick-Ass will come off as an explosively orgasmic wet dream. Even if you detect only a fraction of the numerous in-jokes and barbs, you will still be blown away by its take-no-prisoners, breaking-all-the-rules aesthetic. Give credit where credit is due. Not only is the movie written with a surprising amount of intelligence, but it also has massive balls.

Oh, and the controversy? As for the bit of ultra-violence, Hollywood and video games have always been slack in allowing all the shotgun shells and blood seep into their product with lower ratings. (This applies especially to comic book movies.) Therefore, Kick-Ass actually drops an atomic bomb on the Boys of Tinseltown, sending them a message to quit their addiction to play-it-safe PG-13 mayhem. The R rating is perfect because this is definitely not for kids; it’s a smart adult film made for smart adults. Now, here’s something we must remember: our children have now seen more graphic violence and hardcore pornography because of the Internet. So, I can imagine some open-minded adults taking their older children to go see it. The weekend grosses may have been underwhelming, but box-office numbers are practically worthless when children and teenagers are not allowed in R-rated movies. So parents, be aware this is an outlandishly violent film and, if you feel it’s completely inappropriate, leave your kids in How To Train Your Dragon. Finally, let’s avoid the age-old debate of screen violence influencing people to do violent acts, shall we? As drive-in guru Joe Bob Briggs says, “If violent movies made you violent, I would have committed 97 murders by now.”

Now, the language. There have been significant fires set over Hit-Girl’s use of not only the F-word but also the C-word (and it’s not crap, just to let you know, Grandma!). Another history lesson: do you really think these words will be offensive 100 years now, hell even 50 years from now? Do you really think our children haven’t already said these words in open public, in the playground or even in your homes? Ponder this for a second; the past predicts the future. But, here again, it all comes back to parental responsibility. Five years ago, Kick-Ass would have been “slapped” with an NC-17 rating; thus I consider it a significent breakthrough in adult cinema. Also, I felt the use of the C-word perfectly illuminates Hit-Girl as a metaphor for fourth-wave pop feminism, in how she verbally castrates all these sicko creeps. Let’s not forget the C-word originated as a prejudice term towards the female sex, just as the N-word has been used as a racist term. If there is a sequel, it should center around Hit-Girl and her mission to get rid of the Mayor’s evil organization and destroy the special signal he shines in the sky; she disgustingly describes as being “in the shape of a giant c*ck!” Come to think of it…the executives of Goldman Sachs would be a worthy target, too! Maybe for the second sequel.

Closing Statement
When Avatar was released, it was hailed as a technical marvel because of its gigantic step forward in 3D. I’m still floored by this, since the story was ripped-off from at least a dozen other films, and its depiction of an evil military fighting a “perfect” race was vomit-inducing due to all the cheap manipulation on display. While Kick-Ass was indeed inspired by previous flicks including Kill Bill, Superbad and Orgazmo (my personal favorite), it also offers more originality and audacity then any other movie of its genre…or any genre, for that matter. The superb story, thunderous action, laugh-out-loud humor and phenom perforances make Kick-Ass an absolute winner. And the reward is an unforgettable motion picture experience.

The Verdict
Batman, Superman, Iron Man, Hollywood…you all just got your asses kicked by a girl! A tween girl! A tween girl in a purple wig, for God’s sake! If you love any aspect of the movies and are not easily offended, then Kick-Ass is a must-see.
10/10

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