Kick-Ass

"Yeah, that's right! We're superheroes! You love us!"

Dave Lizewski (Johnson) is an average teen... relatively invisible at high school, with no real goals in life.  Free time is spent with Marty (Clark Duke) and Todd (Evan Peters) reading and discussing comic books.  One day Dave has a thought: what's stopping him from wearing a costume and becoming a superhero?

He goes online and orders a scuba suit and mask and creates a new persona: Kick-Ass.  He patrols the streets looking for crime to fight.  But fighting crime isn't as easy as it looks, and his confrontation leaves him bloody and hospitalized.  A few months later, he emerges full of metal plates and frayed nerve endings, and hits the streets again.  That evening he fights off a group of men and protects an injured man, and his escapades are posted on YouTube.  The video becomes a viral hit and attracts the attention of crime/drug boss Frank D'Macio (Strong) who is losing profits to a masked vigilante, which he thinks is Kick-Ass.

Soon Dave is joined by other masked superheroes: Big Daddy (Cage) a former cop looking for vengeance, Big Daddy's daughter Hit Girl (Moretz) a young girl with a fondness for knifes and other weaponry, and Red Mist (Mintz-Plasse) the tricked-out and media savvy son of Frank D'Amico.  Meanwhile, a misunderstanding leads to a new friendship and loads of quality time with the girl of his dreams, Katie (Lyndsy Fonseca).  Will anyone discover Dave's alter ego, and will he get the girl?


I wanted to see this film when it was in theaters and received excellent word of mouth.  I didn't get to see it on the big screen, but continued to eagerly anticipate seeing it.  And now I'm sure what to think... it wasn't what I expected.

I watched the film with my roommate and another friend.  When it ended we all sat in silence until the credits ended because no one knew what to say.  After that I did a little research on the Kick-Ass comics.  I appreciate the changes the filmmakers made... such as the ending and slight changes to other storylines.

There was so much death.  In end only a few characters are still alive.  I was expecting blood, but the body count was massive and seemed unnecessary.  The language was also overkill.  And there is the protagonist.  He wasn't all that interesting... I know that is the point of the character, but something just didn't work.  Maybe it was actor Aaron Johnson, maybe it was the writing... but I didn't particularly care about him.  Chloe Moretz was good, but I couldn't take her seriously as Mindy...  Nicolas Cage was.... interesting.  I appreciated Big Daddy sounding like Adam West from Batman (the same speech patterns), but didn't like the character overall (he was so over the top).  Christopher Mintz-Plasse was also good-ish.  He was funny and heart-breaking.  The only other character worth mentioning is Clark Duke as Dave's friend Marty.  The character was consistently funny and the only bright spot for me.

A waste of time... and now they're talking about a sequel.  No thanks.
I thought this would be something I'd enjoy... I tend to like comic books and lately comic book films have been good.  I had high hopes, but was disappointed.  It wasn't bad, it just didn't have any redeemable qualities.  And it was marketed wrong.  It looked like a comedy, but it was short on laughs.

After the first few minutes I was seriously considering stopping the film... it just wasn't working for me.

Kick-Ass (2010) 117 minutes
Rating: Rated R for strong brutal violence throughout, pervasive language, sexual content, nudity and some drug use - some involving children.
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Starring: Aaron Johnson as Dave Lizewski / Kick-Ass
Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Chris D'Macio / Red Mist
Mark Strong as Frank D'Macio
Chloe Moretz as Mindy Macready / Hit Girl
Omari Hardwick as Sergeant Marcus Williams
Nicolas Cage as Damon Macready / Big Daddy