Kick-Ass (2010)

I'd read so much about Kick-Ass in Empire around it's release last year that it almost put me off watching it, just because I thought my expectations would be too high. Sitting down to watch it on shiny blu-ray last week I found that after a bit of a slow start it really sucked me in and I enjoyed it muchly. 

It reminded me a bit of Scott Pilgrim, although less stylised and 'comic book' looking than that movie, it had a very modern spin on the superhero genre and its conventions. The beautiful Aaron Johnson (who I raved about in Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging) is our hero, a regular teen who decides it would be cool if super heroes really did exist, so he puts an outfit together online and goes out to find some crime to fight... and ends up beaten and stabbed, though handily this results in his having Wolverine-style metal grafted onto some bones and a lack of feeling in his nerves. 

Meanwhile Nic Cage, who's at his best here, sees how Kick-Ass' exploits go down with the public and becomes Big Daddy, with his young tween daughter a potty-mouthed killing machine, Hit-Girl (Chloe Moretz). And then there's bad guy Mark Strong and his son Christopher Mintz-Plasse, a.k.a. Red Mist, who Big Daddy targets to avenge the death of his wife, while Kick-Ass is blamed for the deaths of Strong's gangsters... It's all quite involved and takes some explaining. One thing I'd say is that the buzz around the film seemed to be all about Moretz and her foul mouthed action ways, which unfairly left Johnson in the background. I personally think he makes this movie, although I've seen him in just two films so far, and he's utterly gorgeous (it's the eyes), I really think he's a talent to watch.

The action, with a *ahem* kick ass soundtrack, is kinetic and savage, but thankfully not bone-crunchingly violent a la Watchmen. The dialogue is peppered liberally with cuss words, but they don't detract from the knowingness of the characters, who regularly reference Batman, X-Men and other superheroes. There's a nice love story with Dave/Kick-Ass and his crush Katie, who initially thinks he's gay and he's happy to play along if it means he can help spray tan her naked body! The film isn't too knowing though, it does have buckets of originality and some gloriously over the top gun play to recommend it. So yeah, Kick-Ass certainly does what it says on the tin. An awesome film.