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#58 - Kick-Ass
Matthew Vaughn, 2010
An ordinary high-schooler decides to become a costumed crime-fighter and is soon caught between a crime boss and two vengeful father-and-daughter superheroes.
Original review found here.
I haven't seen Kick-Ass since it first came out and it's easy to feel like it should have stayed that way. It starts out as something of a deconstructive parody where a gawky high-schooler (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and comic-book fan openly questions why nobody's ever tried to be a superhero before; such a line of thought combines with his dissatisfaction over rampant crime and eventually leads to him ordering a wetsuit and fashioning himself into the eponymous hero. Of course, he soon realises how out of his depth he is not just because of how badly he gets attacked at first but also when he encounters a couple of existing superheroes (Nicolas Cage and Chloe Grace Moretz) who severely outclass him in terms of ability and dedication. It turns out that "Big Daddy" (Cage) and "Hit Girl" (Moretz) have their own agenda against a local crime boss (Mark Strong) whose awkward son (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) wants to do right by his father no matter what. Unfortunately, despite the more outwardly provocative elements such as extreme scenes of violence or one of the film's heroes being a murderous preteen, Kick-Ass just comes across as excruciatingly boring.
Though there's something to be said for Cage's turn as a caped crusader who does a staggered Adam West impression to disguise his true identity, that's pretty much the only performance here that comes close to standing out in a good way as a number of characters embody fairly standard roles that range from socially inept comic-book geeks to thickly-accented mob goons. Even the myriad humourous jabs at superhero tropes and geek culture feel limp and pointless. It'd be nice if the action side of things held up, but it really doesn't as scenes don't offer much in the way of invention or engagement. There is one exception in a scene where Big Daddy fights a warehouse full of goons that does stand out in a good way, but otherwise action tends to grow extremely repetitive and uninteresting despite the attempts to work in supposedly surprising or shocking elements. While my original review may have been significantly more conciliatory towards the film, six years and a serious shift in perspective has led me to think that Kick-Ass no longer deserves any such concessions. Its oh-so-clever attempt at deconstructing superhero comics is only one of many reasons why it's so difficult to feel invested in the proceedings; even when considering Vaughn's tendency towards sharp dialogue and memorable action set-pieces soundtracked with non-original songs, this film comes up frustratingly short.
Matthew Vaughn, 2010
An ordinary high-schooler decides to become a costumed crime-fighter and is soon caught between a crime boss and two vengeful father-and-daughter superheroes.
Original review found here.
I haven't seen Kick-Ass since it first came out and it's easy to feel like it should have stayed that way. It starts out as something of a deconstructive parody where a gawky high-schooler (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and comic-book fan openly questions why nobody's ever tried to be a superhero before; such a line of thought combines with his dissatisfaction over rampant crime and eventually leads to him ordering a wetsuit and fashioning himself into the eponymous hero. Of course, he soon realises how out of his depth he is not just because of how badly he gets attacked at first but also when he encounters a couple of existing superheroes (Nicolas Cage and Chloe Grace Moretz) who severely outclass him in terms of ability and dedication. It turns out that "Big Daddy" (Cage) and "Hit Girl" (Moretz) have their own agenda against a local crime boss (Mark Strong) whose awkward son (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) wants to do right by his father no matter what. Unfortunately, despite the more outwardly provocative elements such as extreme scenes of violence or one of the film's heroes being a murderous preteen, Kick-Ass just comes across as excruciatingly boring.
Though there's something to be said for Cage's turn as a caped crusader who does a staggered Adam West impression to disguise his true identity, that's pretty much the only performance here that comes close to standing out in a good way as a number of characters embody fairly standard roles that range from socially inept comic-book geeks to thickly-accented mob goons. Even the myriad humourous jabs at superhero tropes and geek culture feel limp and pointless. It'd be nice if the action side of things held up, but it really doesn't as scenes don't offer much in the way of invention or engagement. There is one exception in a scene where Big Daddy fights a warehouse full of goons that does stand out in a good way, but otherwise action tends to grow extremely repetitive and uninteresting despite the attempts to work in supposedly surprising or shocking elements. While my original review may have been significantly more conciliatory towards the film, six years and a serious shift in perspective has led me to think that Kick-Ass no longer deserves any such concessions. Its oh-so-clever attempt at deconstructing superhero comics is only one of many reasons why it's so difficult to feel invested in the proceedings; even when considering Vaughn's tendency towards sharp dialogue and memorable action set-pieces soundtracked with non-original songs, this film comes up frustratingly short.