Movie Review: KICK-ASS

I never knew that gun porn could feel so good!

But it can and it does in Kick-Ass where the battles and bullets and obscenities fly with no regard for what your grandma thinks. Except instead of going for shock value, the creators did something different. They made a damn good film.

Kick-Ass is the Matthew Vaughn directed film based off of Mark Millar’s widely popular comic of the same name. It follows the story of Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) as he transitions from your typical high school nobody who “like most people [his] age, merely existed” into a neoprene-wearing superhero calling himself “Kick-Ass.” But this change isn’t due to great tragedy or a fluke of scientific sorcery but rather a result of boredom and a slightly deranged sense of self-worth. But a few YouTube videos and a MySpace later, Kick-Ass is as well known in the cafeteria as he is in the Russian Mafia as their goons start dropping dead.

While Kick-Ass spends most of the time on the receiving end of a boot, he is soon joined by the deadly 11-year-old Hit-Girl (Chloe Moretz of (500) Days of Summer fame) who suddenly appears like a blade wielding, sinew slicing Strawberry Shortcake and the bullet-toting, Batman-loving Big Daddy (Nicholas Cage). He even steals his masked mannerisms from the great Adam West himself. The cast rounds out with Red Mist played by Christopher Mintz-Plasse (or McLovin because let’s face it, that’s how we’ll always refer to him) and Mark Strong (Lord Blackwood from the recent Sherlock Holmes film.)

Kick-Ass is visceral violence at its best. Matthew Vaughn (Layer Cake) stems from the Guy Ritchie school of stylized entertainment which is far more engaging than the quick-cut, shaky-cam frenzy we see too often these days. The combination of the well placed soundtrack with the over-the-top gunplay made for some intensely exciting sequences. And one can’t mention the word “gunplay” without noting that Hit-Girl is one of the most entertaining characters you’ll see in a film this year. Sure, it might have something to do with her lexicon consisting of words and phrases that would make even a sailor blush or that she’s the only other person I can think of that could probably Kill Bill, but she draws you in. And I can tell you, there are some truly gripping scenes in which I have never rooted so hard for a character to come out on top. Armrest gripping, forward leaning, edge of my seat rooting.

And that is what Kick-Ass is: gun porn in the most entertaining and engaging way. I can’t recommend it enough to those who won’t be put off by a film that reminds us just what that R-rating is for.

Kick-Ass kicks its way into theaters April 16th. (What? At least I refrained from saying “This movie kicked-ass…”)