Kick-Ass (2010) Review

Kick-Ass (2010)

Kick-Ass follows Dave Lizewski, whose love for superheroes inspires him to reinvent himself as the superhero Kick-Ass, joining forces with a father-daughter duo by the name of Hit-Girl and Big Daddy, on their quest for revenge against drug kingpin Frank D’Amico. 

It’s not often that a film does exactly what it says right on the tin but Kick-Ass does just that—kicks ass, and does it well, with a homespun originality that we aren’t likely to see again in the age of formulaic studio superhero flicks. Based on the darkly violent comic series by Mark Miller and John Romita Jr., the first attempt at bringing Kick-Ass to the big screen (Vaughn is already looking at rebooting the franchise) keeps that brutally violent tone of the comics, with a tinge of the quirky comedy elements that have become commonplace among the independent superhero landscape with films like Super and Scott Pilgrim. 

What’s particularly interesting about Kick-Ass though, is for a film about Kick-Ass and his inspiring rise of being the first ‘true’ superhero, this is very much the tale of revenge for Big Daddy and Hit-Girl, who (rightfully) steal the show as real heroes in a space soon to be dominated by “heroes” who have no reason being heroes at all. This drastic dichotomy adds an experience to such a D.I.Y. kind of flick forcing Dave to reevaluate his role as a hero, amidst a movie chock-full of ass beatings and a violence he’s not capable of, not without a little push of course, dropping us in a battle of intense violence and impressive amateurity, that is just loads of gory fun. 

We get a pretty great cast, starring Evan Peters, Clark Duke, Lyndsy Fonseca, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Mark Strong, Nicolas Cage, Chloë Grace Moretz, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson. As I mentioned, Taylor-Johnson does splendid as the always-take-a-beating Kick-Ass, but that pairing of Cage and Moretz is so damn fun, with Moretz making this her movie, knocking the stunt-work and delivery of Hit-Girl’s take no shit attitude out of the park. 

Kick-Ass, directed by Matthew Vaughn, is a wildly original superhero film about what it means to be a hero in a world dominated by assholes, and whether you’ll be the one the close the blinds, or throw on a suit and do what’s right, no matter the (highly likely an ass beating) consequences. 

7.9/10