Before I get to the review proper, I need to point out that we are now living in a day and age where any random person can be driving down the road, look up, and see the words KICK-ASS plastered on a movie theater marquee. Much like Pluto being booted from its planetary status, it seems the word “ass” no longer counts as profanity.
Unlike other comic book movies, the film Kick-Ass and the limited Marvel Comic series of the same name were developed simultaneously. Even so, there are some significant differences between the comic series and the film, which I will touch on as they arise. The story begins with New York high-school student David Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) asking himself, and the audience, why no one has ever tried to be a comic book-style superhero. In spite of the fact that he has no special powers or tragic past, and has to purchase a superhero costume on the internet, Dave genuinely wants to help those in need and make a difference in his community, no matter how small or large the task may be. Sadly, his first attempt to “fight crime” doesn’t go very well and he ends up being stabbed, then hit by a speeding car. After several surgeries and some recovery time, David gets the superhero itch once more, dawns his green tights, and saves a man from a group of thugs trying to through him a boot party. This time, with his awkward fighting and damaged nerves unable to register pain, Dave is marginally successful and his valorous act is recorded on video and uploaded to the internet where Kick-Ass, as Dave calls himself, becomes an instant celebrity. Later, Kick-Ass is saved from some drug dealers by ex-cop Damon Macready (Nicolas Cage) and his eleven-year-old daughter Mindy (Chloe Grace Moretz) who were inspired by Dave to take on the costumed personae of Big Daddy and Hit-Girl respectively. This is where the danger and Dave’s ineptitude in his chosen hobby are highlighted as both Big Daddy and Hit-Girl are not only well trained with weapons and in martial arts, but the duo is not squeamish about using lethal and bloody force when dealing with criminals. Witnessing the carnage raining down upon the drug dealers by Hit-Girl gives Dave what addicts would call a ‘moment of clarity’ and he promptly returns home, hangs up his tights, and swears off crime fighting. Unfortunately, the damage has already been done. New York crime kingpin Frank D’Amico (Mark Strong) knows that a costumed vigilante has been offing his men and, with his new found internet fame, Kick-Ass is about to feel the full force of this crime lord’s wrath.
While the comic series and movie both share the same set-up, what turned me off to the comic version of the story were the details regarding the Big Daddy and Hit-Girl characters. In the film, it is revealed through a wonderfully artistic scene that Damon Macready was a cop that was framed for drug trafficking by D’Amico’s organization and spent several years in jail. During this time, Macready’s pregnant wife fell into a deep depression and committed suicide, although doctors were able to save her unborn child, Mindy. When Macready got out of jail, he took Mindy in and began her martial and combat training so the two of them could one day bring down D’Amico’s criminal empire. Thus is Macready’s motivation for turning his young daughter into the Punisher; an act many parents in the audience, and Roger Ebert, would find unforgivably cruel and irresponsible. What saves these two characters, for me, is the loving father-daughter relationship the pair maintain in spite of their screwed-up revenge lifestyle. The comic book is actually far more bleak in that Dave discovers that the ex-cop Macready back story is just a lie that Damon told to his daughter to get her to want to learn about weapons and combat. Yes, in the comic, there really was no drug frame-up or maternal suicide. Macready wasn’t even a cop. He spirits his child away from her mother and turns her into a vigilante killer because he was board. Fortunately, Damon’s back story is legit in the film version, as it is confirmed during a visit from his former partner on the force Sergeant Marcus Williams (Omari Hardwick) and the movie is much better for it.
If you don’t mind some scenes of ultra-violence and you are not an up-tight, overprotective mother that would rather strangle herself than listen to an eleven-year-old fictional character say a few swear words, then I would highly recommend that you see Kick-Ass. Overblown controversies aside, this is an interesting story with well rounded and believable characters that is well told and well filmed with several genuinely exciting action bits that are sewn together with comedy writing that’s actually really funny. What more could you ask? The only real negative point that I can level at the film is that it has a tendency to lose its themes and ideas. As an example, the story starts off posing the idea of real people in a realistic world setting putting on costumes and fighting crime. The notion is that it’s taking the fantastical idea of ‘the superhero’ and grounding it in reality. As the film progresses, the situations and violence that occur become exceedingly more exaggerated and comic book-like with physics-shattering acrobatics and obscene amounts of bodily fluids. It’s like Director Matthew Vaughn introduced the very interesting theme of “What would super crime fighters be like in real life?” then got bored with the idea half way through and decided to make an over-the-top action movie instead. It’s still a good action movie, but any sense of reality the film might have had flies right out the window when the machine-gun-armed jet pack shows up on screen.
