Kick-Ass
First things first- I’d like to begin my review of “Kick-Ass” by acknowledging the sort of “mini-controversy” between Roger Ebert (who gave the film one star) and Harry Knowles (who loved it when he saw it at his own Butt-Numb-a-Thon festival in December). Having read both of the arguments, and now having seen the film itself, I find that while Ebert leaves out critical plot points in part of his review that would debunk some of his criticisms (I’ll go into them a bit later), Knowles should have waited until seeing the final film before commenting, since his own arguments are a bit all over the place, and discussing it in context of the final film would have helped his case. It’s a stalemate.
Now onto the movie. More than anything, this film made me wonder what a Matthew Vaughn-directed “X-Men: The Last Stand” would have looked like. True, we got the delightfully quirky fantasy “Stardust” instead, but the “Layer Cake” filmmaker’s bold and bruising wit in this film makes me think we could’ve gotten a better launching point to further “X”-adventures than Brett Ratner’s film was.
But anyway, “Kick-Ass” (based on the comic by “Wanted’s” Mark Millar and John S. Romita Jr.) is another movie, and a pretty fine one at that. At its’ heart, it’s a dark and twisted comedy about what a world with real costumed vigilantes would be like. How is this different than last year’s “Watchmen,” based on Alan Moore’s iconic ’80s masterpiece? Well first of all, there’s not a blue wang in sight. Secondly, that world is still very much a comic book universe, despite its’ very real concerns and violence. “Kick-Ass” hues closer to reality, with really lame masks and “superheroes” that aren’t very “super” per se.
Our hero and narrator is Dave (Aaron Johnson, who would be right at home as Peter Parker if you ask me, hint hint), a high school nerd who one day is inspired to rise up against the mean streets and take matters into his own hands. He buys a wet suit and gets some weapons, and is off to fight for justice…and proceeds to immediately get beaten to a pulp. Eventually, he dusts himself off and picks himself up, and before you know it, amateur footage of him is storming the ‘net, and he’s become a hero to the disenfranchised, and a hottie classmate (Lyndsy Fonseca) who finds need for Kick-Ass, but also a friend like Dave, whom she thinks is gay. Talk about double cock-block…
After Kick-Ass becomes a sensation, masked heroes for the everyman are all the rage, much to the displeasure of crime lord Frank D’Amico (Mark Strong, quickly becoming a great go-to villain after this and “Sherlock Holmes”), whose son Chris (“Superbad’s” Christopher Mintz-Plasse) is sick of being left out of the family business and decides to become Red Mist as a way of getting through to his father.
But they aren’t the only parent-child pairing who’re affected by Kick-Ass, there’s also Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage, in a crazy fun surreal performance that’s the actor at his boldest) and his 11-year old daughter Hit Girl (Chloe Grace Moretz, who like Johnson is a star in the making), who’ve quietly been taking the fight to D’Amico for years until Kick-Ass comes to town. Here’s an important thing to realize about this pairing (which is at the center of Ebert’s disdain about the film)- they’re a bit off. Correction- they’re way the fuck off the beaten path of normalcy. It’s not like we first see these two and they’re an old school Americana family unit. Their past holds secrets that justify (to them at least) their vigilantism, and have shaped these two into vicious killers. A great comparison would be to look at the bond between Jean Reno and Natalie Portman in Luc Besson’s “Leon the Professional.” Like Portman’s character in that subversive action classic, there are real tragedies in this pair’s past that’ve lead them to action. What we’re seeing is the pair at the height of their abilities, after years of practice. Do I approve of their choice? No, but accept that it’s the choice these characters (in the reality of this film) would make under the circumstances.
An important part of “Kick-Ass'” appeal as a sort of “alternative” form of entertainment is how it skirts the line of glorifying vigilante behavior, but finds the sweet spot in not crossing it by showing that the pain these characters go through in their fighting is very real. Dave is sent to the emergency room his first time out. Red Mist almost twists his ankle jumping off a damn ledge. Hit Girl is awfully close to death at one point, and Big Daddy takes a pretty hard beating for the web world to see at another. Were these real people, we’d be right to feel horrified by where their choices have led them, and thanks to the connection we come to feel with these characters, we do feel their pain even if we find ourselves laughing at the absurdity of their exploits before or after.
But part of the appeal of the great superheroes in comics is that they’re willing to take those chances in the name of what’s right, for doing something most laymen wouldn’t. Truth, justice, and the American way, as Superman’s motto goes. These guys don’t have such lofty aspirations to be sure, but with Vaughn’s honest wit and brutal hits, these characters sure make me want to find a way to kick some ass of my own, and get the girl (especially if she looked at hot as Fonseca). Just don’t look for me wearing the type of ridiculous costume these guys wear doing so. Now where is my Colonial jacket and pirate hat…
