Oct 042010
 
four reels

Dave (Aaron Johnson) is a nerdy, comic-book reading, bullied, high school student who decides that he will be a costumed superhero, though he has no reason to believe he will be any good at it.  Wearing an unusual wetsuit, he sets out to foil crime, and fails miserably. But a hospital stay later, he becomes an Internet sensation as “Kick-Ass” when he is filmed fighting off local gang-bangers.  He also attracts the attention of Frank D’Amico (Mark Strong), a crime lord who suspects Kick-Ass of ruining his coke trade. Unknown to all, the slightly deranged father-daughter superhero team of Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage) and Hit-girl (Chloe Moretz) are cleaning up the streets and plan to destroy D’Amico, and Kick-Ass’s path puts him right in the middle of their war.

Seventy-five percent of Kick-Ass is old-school teen comedy. Dave tries to step out of his average life and gets more than he bargained for. There’s a girl, of course, and a pair of goofy side-kicks. It’s fun, with some above average gags, and a few engaging if underdeveloped characters. The plot is linear, rarely even trying to slide in a surprise, except for how thin it all is and how unnecessary large chunks are (the love interest could be plucked from the film without a re-write). The voice-over works, which is a shock in itself, and the villains are properly diabolic. It takes itself way too seriously, but that is a flaw of many films even thinly connected to the super-hero genre; it isn’t to Hulk  levels, but it could be turned down a few notches.

But then there is that other twenty-five percent, the stuff that saps away time from the teen romance and coming of age story, and it is nothing but surprises. After ten minutes of that cookie-cutter tale, we’re introduced to Damon Macready (Cage), a loving and caring father with a special relationship with his eleven-year-old daughter, Mindy. They laugh and chat and share their feelings. Oh, and they kill people.  Lots of people. With guns and knives and grenades and some kind of pole arm, and every moment is hysterical mayhem. Cage is in top demented form (and he’s an actor that knows demented) as the bubbly dad who puts on a Batman-like bodysuit and carries a sniper rifle. But no matter how much fun watching him cause havoc is, he is overshadowed, as is the rest of the picture, by Chloe Moretz’s Mindy/Hit-Girl.

Hit-Girl swears like seven sailors with syphilis and cuts down bad guys like Neo merged with Jason Voorhees. Limbs fly, blood sprays, the little girl smiles happily, and every second is a joy to behold. It’s over the top, highly violent, and just great fun. The real flaw of the film is that it leaves Hit-Girl. Every moment with Dave and his high school friends is a moment you’ll be longing for Hit-Girl. Does her screen time make up for the general amusing mediocrity of the rest of the movie?  Oh yes, many times over.

Even the mediocre stuff is satisfying by the time the end credits roll around. The comic-opera combat just takes it to a higher level. It is simple to determine if this is a film for you. Do you like fast-moving, tear-down-the-walls, death and dismemberment action like you would find in a Hong Kong kung fu or cop epic? If yes, would you like it even better if a tween girl was the killing machine? If so, this movie is for you, and the humor is just a bonus.

If not…your life is missing the warmth that can only be gained from knowing what sweet little girls are really like.

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