Kick-Ass Review

Kick-Ass is a bold, bloody assault of energy and hilarity that lives up to its name and then some.

Made outside the studio system, director Matthew Vaughn’s vision preserves the unapologetic gore and foul-mouthed language of Mark Millar’s comic book series for an emphatically R-rated adaptation.  Side-splitting humor smashes perfectly into skull-cracking violence in a thoroughly entertaining experience.

Relative newcomer Aaron Johnson carries the film as Dave Lizewski, a lovable loser who wonders aloud why no one has ever tried to be a superhero before.  His friends (Evan Peters and a scene-stealing Clark Duke) laugh it off, but that only motivates Dave to take up crime-fighting.  Donning a green scuba suit and the name Kick-Ass, Dave ventures into the world to thwart injustice.

Except he gets his ass kicked.  Unfazed, Kick-Ass stumbles into a parking lot brawl and subsequent YouTube fandom, sparking a flurry of MySpace friends and costumed copycats.

But his late-night heroics get him in too deep and he soon needs rescuing by the pint-sized Hit Girl (Chloe Moretz), an 11-year-old assassin trained by her father Damon Macready (Nicolas Cage) a.k.a. Big Daddy.  Their partnership is the heart of the story, but Moretz owns this movie, dropping F-bombs and bad guys alike.

Unamused by the city’s new comic book phase are mob boss Frank D’Amico (Mark Strong) and his band of bumbling henchmen.  After a few failed attempts to squash the masked uprising, the gangster sends his son (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) out as Red Mist, an equally ridiculous hero and potential sidekick to Kick-Ass.

Geeks will revel in Dave’s fantasy of becoming a caped avenger and its post-modern satire of the superhero genre, which heavily references Spider-Man with costumed teen test runs and the line “with no powers comes no responsibility.”  Meanwhile, Cage channels Adam West’s Batman of the 1960s with a deliberately campy delivery and Dave scores Wolverine-esque metal bones.

Jane Goldman‘s screenplay moves swiftly between Dave’s dual personalities, leaping between brutal action sequences and an awkward love story with classmate babe Katie Deauxma (Lyndsy Fonseca).  Relationships between the Macreadys and D’Amicos provide emotional depth to an overall fun flick packed with spurting blood and consistent laughs.  Matthew Vaughn’s Kick-Ass is a hit you don’t want to miss.

4.5 out of 5.