Well it was…you know

On Friday I headed to the theatre to see the beginning of the summer blockbuster rush. I know you might say it started with Clash of the Titans (2010) but I don’t think it did. I think it was released that early because the makers knew it would not fair well against any other big budget movie and that is why it was released at a time when it had no real competition. Anyways, in the next few weeks we will see the release of movies like The Losers, Nightmare on Elm Street (2010), Robin Hood, and Ironman 2. But before I get to see any of those I saw Kick-Ass.

Based on a comic book by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr about Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson), a regular high school kid who is way into comic books. After being mugged one too many times he decides he is going to don a costume and fight for right. But that turns out not to be as easy as it sounds, he is battered and broken but that doesn’t stop him from trying again. For his effort he becomes an online sensation and other costumed heroes come out of the wood work. One such pair is a father and daughter team. Big Daddy (Nicholas Cage) and Hit Girl (Chloe Moretz) are hardcore and out for revenge. While Red Mist (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) is in it for his fathers adoration.

Even though I own the first issue of the comic I didn’t read it before I watched Kick-Ass so I wasn’t too sure what I was in for. I have to say I wasn’t surprised by what I saw or disappointed either, it is a pretty good movie. I read the comic this morning and, so far, the movie played out just like the comic read, the narration by the protagonist, the flow of the film, even the set-up of some scenes.

The actors that were cast fit the roles. There were a few minor discrepancies in the look of characters like hair colour, height and bulk, but they all worked. Overall the acting was alright. Aaron Johnson was ok as the lead. He played teenage dork quite well. Nick Cage didn’t ruin the film with his acting, he was kind of hilarious with a great Adam West-ish performance. Christopher Mintz-Plasse still played the geek but he was not as pathetic as in his other movies. Mark Strong played Frank D’Amico, the bad guy, perfectly. He scowled, barked instructions, and his gruff voice is ideal for evil.

There was a little controversy about Kick-Ass. Hit Girl, a foul mouthed hyper violent 11-year old, was played by the 13-year old Moretz who I thought was a great balance between cute and menacing. The idea of a little girl shooting people and cussing threw people for a loop. The funny thing is that people were more upset that she was swearing than cutting off limbs. She didn’t swear anywhere near as much as I was expecting. I think she said about 4 cuss words in the movie. I think in the first issue there was as much swearing as in the whole film. Hit-Girl isn’t in the first comic so I am curious to see how the film and comic versions of her compare.

Everyone else in the movie was secondary characters. They moved the story along and added some comic relief. They included Clark Duke, Lyndsy Fonseca, and Michael Rispoli.

The story is good. Unfortunately I can’t compare the movie with the book at this point but it will be fun to see what they chose to keep or change. It is pretty clear that the scriptwriters mainly used the text already provided in the comics. They simply edited it down a bit and changed a couple of words here and there. The action is pretty awesome. The filmmakers didn’t pull any punches when it came to the violence in the movie. They showed the removal of limbs, bullets to the face, even bodies exploding. Like in the comic there is a lot of blood, at points the stark brutal-ness of it makes you cringe, like you can feel it. But that is what the filmmakers set out to do, they have not been shy to say so in interviews, and it is what got the movie its 18A rating.

Kick-Ass is a pretty, well, kick-ass movie. It is not for kids. There is course language, sex, and a lot of violence. There is always some fool who takes his kid to a movie that is just not right. As a geeky adult you would like it. It is just entertaining, especially at the end when it gets a little ridiculous (ridiculously awesome). They left more than enough room for a sequel that is done right could be just as good.

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