I'll admit that, when the trailer was first released, I was pretty interested in seeing Matthew Vaughn (Layer Cake, Stardust)'s adaptation of Frank Miller's Kick-Ass. Though I wasn't familiar with the comics at all, I'd heard that the series was meant to be a satire of Generation Y and our current love for the "realistic" superhero genre. It's an interesting concept, that's granted, so I had planned on seeing it once it was released in theaters. For many reasons, though, I never got around to watching it in theaters. I mostly blame my loads of schoolwork and plans, but I digress as it didn't really bother me that I missed the film. Now that it's out on DVD, though, I finally got a chance to sit down and watch this 'satire'. Based on my controlled sense of hype for the film, it's only ironic that I actually ended up disliking Kick-Ass.
The film follows a comic book geek, Dave Lizewski, who wonders why nobody's ever tried becoming a "real-life superhero". Deciding to give a shot at it, Dave dons a green leotard and calls himself "Kick-Ass", a crimefighter-for-hire who takes "requests" through his Myspace profile. His first attempt proves to be bittersweet, though, as Dave gets completely beaten up by two local thugs but, after being hospitalized, is provided with enough metal in his skeleton that he can barely feel pain. With his new endurance, Kick-Ass soon becomes an internet phenomenon that catches the attention of both crime lords and the older "real superheroes", Big Daddy and Hit-Girl. The rest of the film follows Dave as he's pulled into a convoluted tale of vengeance and violence.
The concept's pretty interesting so it's a real shame that the characters are so poorly developed and written. Because of the poor dialogue and screenwriting, we barely get to know any of these characters on a deeper level and, thusly, they become very predictable and flat characters. Dave's geekiness is displayed as part of his character, yes, but that's only a character *trait*. What separates him from the likes of other geeky characters in fiction? Virtually nothing. He's flat and generic, and those are words that shouldn't be describing main characters. Heck, the entire cast is pretty flat. They're entertaining to watch, I suppose, but we only get to know people like Chris (Red Mist) or Damon (Big Daddy) on a shallow level. In fact, the only decently-written character in this whole movie is Hit-Girl. I won't give away any spoilers, but her character is intricately complex when compared to the likes of the rest of the cast. Not only that, but the actress that portrays her (Chloe Moretz) arguably gives the best performance of the film. It's kinda sad that a child would be the driving force behind a film that's as adult as Kick-Ass.
The cinematography is decent at best. When the camera's focused on the action, the camerawork is pretty tight. The editing's quick and flashy, the gunplay and violence is nicely stylized, and it really gets the aderaline pumping in terms of balls-to-the-wall action. When the camera's *not* focused on the action, though, the camerawork seems pretty lost at points. It doesn't know what to focus on and continously skips from shot to shot in a seeminlgy desperate attempt to find something to focus on. It still gets the story across but anyone who knows the basics of editing should understand that the film's only doing the minimum amount of work in this department.
I promose to give as few spoilers as possible - the ending to this film is simply awful. Not only does the film end with the most ridicoulous death scene I've ever seen, but the message of the film seems to glorify nihilism and vigilante justice. I understand that one doesn't need to agree with a film in order for the film to be good - just look at Birth of a Nation - but Kick-Ass is just deplorable. According to the film's themes (implicit and explicit), violence is the only effective means and that killing a person means absolutely nothing if it gets the job done. These "superheros" often brutally murder henchman and criminals without remorse. I've heard various arguments that state this is merely a "warning" against these sorts of behaviour, but with Joan Jett songs and Ennio Morricone music playing during these violent seqeunces, I can't help but wodner if this film actually believed that viglante justice and murder were sweet.
The soundtrack's iffy for me. While the film contains a generic and uninspired score, the soundtrack is pretty enjoyable for what it is. I'ts got some good songs in it and the inclusion of music by the likes of Ennio Morricone are a nice throwback to the violent films of Sergio Leone.
All in all, Kick-Ass is a poor film. It's got a nice concept and some impressive action sequences and camerawork, but the characters are flat and badly written and the overall message promotes some very controversial subject matter.
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