I rarely go out to see movies anymore, hell I work as a projectionist at a movie theatre so I'm sure you can deduce the reason why, that and the fact that Hollywierd produces primarily unwatchable crapola on a regular basis. But ever so often I spot a trailer that catches my curiosity..."KICK ASS" caught my curiosity.
With my combined love of the comic book genre and cinematic graphic ,senseless violence I just had to go check the film out and simply put...this film "KICKS ASS"!
Now granted, it isn't going to win any Oscars any time soon or be listed amongst the timeless classics at the AFI (American Film Institute), but to be honest, I thoroughly enjoyed the film. It is yet another film adaptation of a comic book series, in this case; Kick Ass from ICON studios, the series was created by writer Mike Millar and artist John Romita Jr. and tells the story of a young teen wannabe superhero in today's real world atmosphere.
Our young hero Dave Lizewski, played by ( Aaron Johnson) is a young high school nerdy type who has, along with his buddies a deep abiding love for all things comic book, and one fateful day he decides, what the hell, to finally become that which he has always wanted to be...a superhero!
Unfortunately for Dave he soon finds out that the profession of crimefighter is a treacherous one which he finds out the hard way. Calling himself "Kick Ass" he soon becomes an internet sensation and all around popular guy which soon catches the attention of the local crime boss (Mark Strong) and some real life costumed crimefighters (Nicolas Cage / Chloe Moretz). The film like it's original source material is "R" rated due to graphic depictions of violence and some cursing but nothing that would cause Quentin Tarantino to blush. The movie is well directed by Matthew Vaughn who is no stranger to the comic genre, he also directed the film adaptation of Neil Gaiman's four color fantasy; "Stardust". The movie has a good steady pace and only slows for a sec, the film has some funny moments, the biggest in my opinion, when the pint sized killing machine "Hit Girl"(Chloe Moretz) makes her first appearance in the film by dispatching a group of thugs gleefully to the all too familiar beat of the "Banana Splits" theme song. The movie does take a turn for the serious at times especially concerning "Hit Girl's" father..."Big Daddy"(Nicolas Cage-doing his best Adam West impersonation). I never read the comic series, in fact I had never heard of it until the film came out, but I will definitely check them out now.
But be warned those with families, this film is not for the kiddies...it is a hard "R" for a reason but if you like films like "Sin City", "Hellboy", and "Kill Bill" you'll definitely get a kick out of "KICK ASS"!
