Kick-Ass (****)

Directed by: Matthew Vaughn

Starring: Aaron Johnson, Nicholas Cage, Mark Strong, Chloe Moretz, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Lyndsy Fonseca, Clark Duke, Evan Peters

Seen: April 24^th and 27^th 2010

**** Out of ****

Kick-Ass may be the most senselessly violent movie I’ve ever seen, but one so brilliant I also put it in the same bracket as movies like The Dark Knight and Pulp Fiction. This movie is about so much more than just the violence and the endless bloodshed. One of the first things that the viewer needs to realise is that while this is a movie-universe in which the story unfolds, this is also something that holds a mirror to this universe we inhabit, and the things that to you might feel to be a stretch might also not be that far off. A little girl as the main perpetuator of most of the brutal violence in the movie is not a representation of a world I necessarily want to live in, but rather a startling premonition of a world we should try to avoid at all costs, and also a strangely interesting and at times funny thing to see, if only because laughing it off might be the only way to deal with it.

That aside, Kick-Ass is one awesome movie. Dave Lizewski (Johnson) is a normal teenager who claims his only superpower is being invisible to girls, even the one he most adores, Katie (Fonseca). Dave and his two best friends, Marty (Duke) and Todd (Peters), spend their days discussing comic books and getting mugged by common street thugs. Dave poses the question: “Why has nobody ever tried it, becoming a superhero?” to which the reply from Marty is that they’d be killed in a day. After one too many muggings Dave decides to start doing something about it, he buys a wet-suit as his superhero outfit and starts patrolling the streets. His first attempt at crime fighting does not go well, and he eventually gets released from the hospital, with his body resembling that of Wolverine with all the metal in it holding it together – but it does give him one advantage, with all the nerve damage he suffered he now has a much higher pain threshold, which gives us something to think about: how easily do we get desensitised every day by everything that happens to us and the things we see in movies and on TV?

Dave becomes Kick-Ass, a symbol of hope, of sorts, to people tired of crime – here’s someone who takes initiative, even though he can in all fairness, by superhero standards, be called an absolute novice. There are of course professionals in the form of the paradigm stretching Hit Girl (Moretz), who is an atomic live-wire, and her father Big Daddy (Cage), who coached Hit Girl in mayhem and murder all her life. There is a villain too, Frank D’Amico (Strong), and while he is more than competent, he has a bevy of henchmen good for only one thing: being eliminated in expedient brutality by Hit-Girl and Big Daddy. D’Amico’s son Chris (Mintz-Plasse) also becomes a wannabe superhero, Red Mist – and together with Kick-Ass they go through quite the adventure, leading up to the massive finale in which you either kill or be killed.

Kick-Ass also confirms another train of thought, the one that states that you reproduce what you are: i.e. more often than not children become their parents or mentors, in a sense. Hit Girl because her father trained her to become what she is, and Chris D’Amico in spite of his father keeping him out of his dealings as far as he can.

The action sequences in Kick-Ass are superb, as the choreography is something that only the wildest of imaginations could have come up with – Hit-Girl and Big Daddy literally dance with death, while Kick-Ass improves as things go along. One scene in particular, a battle between good and bad in a dark warehouse with strobe lights pulsating slammed me to the back of my chair in its ferocious intent. All of the actors do sterling jobs, with Aaron Johnson leading the way in a cast including Nicholas Cage as an important, but still almost fringe character. Mintz-Plasse is devious and seemingly awkward in equal degrees and Mark Strong rampages ahead in yet another brilliant performance.

Kick-Ass is most definitely not for kids, as it will leave you shaken up like you’ve never been shaken up before, but it won’t be long until you realise that this really is an excellent, over-the-top, kick ass movie, with heaps of entertainment and subtle social commentary in equal measure.