Kick-Ass is the story about an average kid - Dave (Aaron Johnson) - who gets mugged one time too many and decides it's about time someone became a superhero. With nothing but a green costume and good intentions, he transforms into Kick-Ass. A few chapters later, he's mixed up in some things far above his tousled head as he inadvertently pisses off the city's biggest crime lord (Mark Strong) and is introduced to two slightly more real and much more talented costumed vigallantes, Hit Girl (Moretz) and Big Daddy (Nicholas Cage). A little down the road the mysterious Red Mist (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) enters the picture as well.
What follows is beautiful carnage. Hit Girl totally steals the show. She's like The Bride from Kill Bill in the body of Dakota Fanning, but even more awesome. Her gymnastics put Jackie Chan to shame and her mouth is dirtier than the Thames. Oh, and she's only eleven. She's not all killing and swearing though as her acting shows a maturity and skill beyond most adults. If she can avoid the traditional pitfalls of being a child star, she'd destined for great things.
Nicholas Cage as Batman-esque Big Daddy is surprisingly amusing, yet also, well, kick ass. In fact, pretty much the only aspect of this film that isn't is Kick Ass himself. Being dork with big dreams doesn't make Dave much cooler, though he does get a couple scenes near the end that are all kinds of wish fulfillment. Mark Strong fits comfortably in the role of villain and Plasse plays up Red Mist's disturbed life decently. The soundtrack too is rollicking good fun. The scene set to Banana Splits is memorably fantastic.
Just in case the R rating got past you, this is not a film for children by any means, despite starring young actors. This has been the cause of recent controversy with Roger Ebert calling it "morally reprehensible" and any number of bloggers calling into the question the appropriateness of having such a young girl as Moretz engage in such foul language and carefree violence. Personally, the part of the movie I found the most morally objectionable was the teenage sex scene that felt a bit tacked on and a little tacky. After all, the people they're killing have got it coming, and really it is a strong language kind of situation. The actor's can certainly separate their roles and their real lives. If parents are concerned about Hit Girl being a bad influence on their children, they should be more concerned about the fact that they're taking their children to R rated movies.
Controversy aside, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. I'm sure there are comic book purists upset at the changes to the material, but from what I've read, the changes were an improvement. The parts that were changed or taken out would have elicited a "that's just wrong," and not in a good way. Maybe if I had read the comic I would feel somewhat different, but I found this to be the most entertaining movie of the year so far. Beware of strong language and ultra violent violence, but if that's not enough to stop you, see it, now.
***** (5/5 stars)
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