Movie Review: Kick-Ass

Rated R for strong brutal violence throughout, pervasive language, sexual content, nudity and some drug use – some involving children.

117 Min.

Kick-Ass is one fun adrenaline ride full of bloody action sequences and foul language filled comedy scenes that truly will have you either laughing or cheering from start to finish. This film follows loser high school comic book fan Dave Lizewski when one day after being bullied decides to become a hero and fight crime. So what does he do, he goes online and orders a garish green scuba outfit and decides to being training. See unlike many super heros, Dave does not have any super powers. After an unsuccessful attempt to thwart crime he stumbles into a group of gang members beating up a guy and he decides to intervene. This attempt at bravery caught was filmed by a witness and went viral spiraling Kick-Ass into the vigilante stratosphere.

The life that Kick-Ass lives as Dave is completely different. Everyone at his high school does not notice he exists and the girl of his dreams thinks hes gay. On the other hand, Kick-Ass have thousands of friends on MySpace and has become a cult hero. There are other masked super heros stepping forward to fight evil. His stardom catches the eye of the local mob who decide they have to make an example of him to stop other vigilantes from emerging. Unbeknownst to Kick-Ass two hard core heros have also been noticing him and are there to lend a hand. Will Kick-Ass be able to survive the mob? Will Dave get the girl of his dreams? To find out I highly recommend watching this movie.

The cast is great. Aaron Johnson is great as Dave/Kick-Ass. He is actually British but his accent is not noticeable at all as his character. He is also very believable as a comic book fan and true geek. Evan Peters and Clark Duke are two of his real life sidekicks that add some nice comedic moments. One of my favorite characters is Mindy Macready/Hit Girl played by Chloe Moretz. She was great in 500 Days of Summer and as Hit Girl she is awesome and truly bad ass! I love her sarcastic lines as well as her harsh dialogue and her ability to truly kick ass! Nicolas Cage plays her father Damon Macready/Big Daddy who dresses in a costume similar to Batman but is a also seriously bad ass when fighting. I really liked the father daughter dynamic of these two characters in the film. One of the funnies scenes has to be when Damon shoots Mindy with a hand gun so she can experience the effects of being shot with a bullet proof vest. Mark Strong is a good bad guy as is evident from Sherlock Holmes. Christopher Mintz-Plasse is his son who wants his fathers respect.

I think the action sequences are the best part of the movie. I am happy that they were hard core sequences and not dummed down for a rating. Even the most violent sequences have some humor in them. I really liked the ending action sequence of this movie and think you will too. The costumes are another great factor of the movie. I like the use of bright vivid colors that really set the characters apart from the dismal background of the city. I think you will also find the soundtrack is pretty cool too and a great compliment to the movie.

The Bottom Line:

If you are looking for a great film to see with a group of friends and cheer the characters on then this is the movie for you. I think you will enjoy the characters and become involved with them and care about the outcome of the movie like I did. This movie is not hiding anything or holding back and punches it is full force action film with a nice dose of comedy thrown in.