Shenanigans & Tomfoolery

I’m a pretty big fan of Mark Millar’s writing but, for some reason, I haven’t gotten around to reading his and John Romita Jr.’s Kick-Ass yet. I prefer my superhero stories to be epic and over the top and the idea of a “real world” superhero doesn’t really appeal to me, I suppose. But word of mouth about the comic’s film adaptation has been very positive and it seems like director Matthew Vaughn was trying to stay true to the source material from what I had seen in the trailers so my curiosity was piqued.

There are spoilers ahead but I promise to not end this review by using this movie’s title to describe itself.

The premise of Kick-Ass can be summed up with: “What if a kid dressed up as a superhero and decided to play the part?” It’s a simple, endearing concept and one that’s explored thoroughly during the course of the film. Comic book lover Dave Lizewski (played by Aaron Johnson) decides to become a superhero and, with costume and police batons in hand, trains himself to become one. Nevertheless, the first time he goes after a couple of thugs he promptly gets stabbed through the gut and, while walking away in agony, gets run over by a hit and run driver. The near fatal event puts Dave in the hospital for several months but he walks out with some interesting “side effects” in his pocket. For one, his nervous system was severely damaged so he’s incapable of feeling pain and his skeleton was so fractured that he needed metal braces all over it, almost “like Wolverine.” This is the film’s biggest plot device and it’s what allows the story’s premise to really soar.

With his new enhancements in place, he goes after some thugs for a second time and wins by sheer endurance alone. With videos of this fight all over the internet and in the news, Kick-Ass, Dave’s nom de guerre, becomes a sensation. It’s around this point in the film where the story starts to slowly shift away from Kick-Ass and into the film’s true central plot: the conflict between mob boss Frank D’Amico (Mark Strong) and framed ex-cop Damon Macready (Nic Cage). Kick-Ass’s rise to fame has repercussions in the story in that at least three other persons get into the costumed crime fighting business but, ultimately, a lot of events seem to be out of Lizewski’s control and he soon starts to feel like a spectator in his own movie. He does get a great end sequence and it’s Kick-Ass that puts the nail in the D’Amico/Macready conflict but I was expecting to see more about the trials of tribulations of this real world superhero. It seems that during most of the movie, Dave’s biggest concern is whether he’ll tell the girl he’s attracted to that he’s not her “gay best friend” like she believes. The solution to that little problem, by the way, is probably the most contrived element in the entire film in that it basically amounts to “hey, it’s OK if you lied and took advantage of me.” But I digress.

At times, the movie hangs precariously above being too goofy for it’s own sake. When D’Amico’s son puts on a costume to goad Kick-Ass out of hiding and into his father’s hands, he comes fully equipped with his own version of the Batmobile and it just feels kinda silly to be honest. But there is a huge payoff for these questionable bits at the very end of the film when [SPOILERS] Kick-Ass dons a fucking jetpack! [/SPOILERS] That would’ve been too out of left field if we hadn’t been slowly introduced to the more outlandish elements of the film so it all comes together really well and a good balance between “goofy” and “awesome” was struck here, especially when it comes to Hit Girl.

Hit Girl is Macready’s daughter who he has trained to use as a killer in his war against D’Amico. It would’ve been easy to make Macready look like a soulless person for putting his own daughter in the line of fire but theirs is truly a loving and caring father/daughter relationship, even if both are nothing short of psychopaths. Because of the perceived success of Kick-Ass as a vigilante, Mindy and Damon Macready decide to join the fray and become Hit Girl and Big Daddy respectively and they’re much better at their job than Dave will ever be. There’s a joyful air with which actress Chloe Moretz carries herself as Hit Girl that even when she’s killing and maiming people left and right she still comes across as very innocent and sweet. It’s a great contrast and one that makes Hit Girl steal every single scene she’s in. The first time she shows off her skills to the Hit Girls’ “Bad Reputation” is easily one of the highlights of the film.

The whole soundtrack is pretty amazing as a matter of fact, opting for great pop culture songs in specific sequences as opposed to an original score. There are songs from The Prodigy to Elvis to Ennio Morricone and everything in between and each one of them accentuates and enhances the specific scenes they’re played on. It’s one of the many elements in Kick-Ass that makes the movie seen quite modern and contemporary at times. Similarly, when it’s time for some heavy exposition, Vaughn chooses to use original series artist John Romita Jr. to tell it in the form of an animated comic book. It’s a great sequence (even if Romita Jr.’s artwork doesn’t seem to translate to 3D very well) and an excellent way to handle something that is almost by definition boring and to do it within the context of what the film is about. There seems to be an over reliance on bad CG at times (particularly for violence and gore) and it can pull you out of the scene here and there but that’s a minor nitpick. From the density of the film and how it never lets up to the way some of the cuts and transitions are made, this is a film that almost seems tailor made for someone with my interests.

Certain things in Kick-Ass are left open for a potential sequel but the film does have a clear beginning, middle and end. Ultimately, I went into the theater for curiosity’s sake and walked from it completely satisfied with the movie I had seen. It’s easily one of the better comic book movies I have seen recently. Whatever complaints I’ve talked about are minor grievances and should not deter anyone from seeing this film. I question whether not having read the original source material (which is something I’ll definitely do now) has had any impact in my enjoyment of the film but again, I digress. This is a movie that I’ll be happy to revisit in years to come.