Kick-Ass

Synopsis

Dave is an average teenager who wonders why there are no real life superheroes to protect folks in the community. One day he decides he'll be a crime fighting superhero, with barely any fighting skills, and ends up saving a man from a beat down from three thugs. Dave becomes a phenomenon, thanks to the Internet, after his heroics are videotaped. But he got the game wrong; he ain't the only superhero out there. There's a father-daughter duo that are highly trained killers who have their own agenda.

Review

It's always great to go into a movie and walk out of the theater feeling good about the experience and movies in general. Kick-Ass made me feel this way. I knew this film would be decent, but it was so much better than that. Kick-Ass was great from the set up to the closing with fantastic pacing all the way through. The comedy was hilarious, every character had some kind of unique flavor and the action was wild which was incorporated with extreme violence (be prepared) and blood shooting out from the screen. Even though there are kids as main characters in this picture, it isn't for kids. It's truly rated R for a reason. It has an adult nature to it and I know youngins are going to want to desperately see it.

Kick’s script was written simultaneously when the comic book story of the same name was. The story involves a cute but dorky teenager named Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson, Nowhere Boy) who is pretty obsessed with comic books and superheroes. He often wonders why there are no real life superheroes out in the world to protect people from getting beat up or robbed. Dave decides to become one and calls himself Kick-Ass. He knows he has no skills or super powers but he has heart and after he helps a man from getting his butt whooped, he becomes an Internet phenomenon from the incident being recorded.

Unbeknown to Dave, he isn’t the only superhero out there. There's a father-daughter duo, named Big Daddy (Nicholas Cage, Bangkok Dangerous) and Hit-Girl (Chloe Grace Moretz, 500 Days of Summer) that are highly trained rough neck assassins. Now, everyone isn't loving the superheroes, especially kingpen Frank D'Amico (Mark Strong, Rocknrolla). He's all about sending a message to everyone out there that being a superhero is bad for your health. He wants to get these masked bandits off the streets because they are bad for his business. And the battle is on with the forces of good and evil.

The lead character Dave was unbelievably likable. He truly was a good person just trying to find his place in the world. He didn't do anything unbelievable as a superhero. Heck, he was really a "so-called" superhero. He didn't have any special skills. He was a normal kid with a nerdy edge who seemed like he needed something, wanted to be something and do something special.

You know, for some strange reason, we never really ripped on superhero outfits. Even if we thought those outfits were ridiculous, we just accepted them. When you see Kick-Ass's Amazon.com green and yellow scuba suit purchase, you'll instantly appreciate those old Spiderman bodysuits and the pointy-eared batman getups. In terms of dorkiness, Dave made Tobey Maguire in Spiderman (Peter Parker) look like Daniel Craig in Casino Royale --007. Poor kid. He wanted to be a superhero so bad and homey wore a dag on scuba suit with Timberlands. Just check out the trailer, you'll understand.

I want to know what's up with kids in today's time films looking skuzzy and like they haven't showered in days. Yet, back in the day, those Saved by the Bell kids were crispy-clean. The dudes' hair use to be perfectly gelled and Paul Sebastianed up. What in the world happened?

Anyhoo, 11-year-old Hit-Girl was better than Angelina Jolie straight up fighting. She was better than any grown action female star I've seen. I'm flabbergasted. This little chick-a-dee is going to have a big career ahead of her. I know everyone wants to know who she is after seeing this film. She was amazingly hardcore. She was no ordinary kid. Had a foul-mouth and could fight like major fighting machines have trained her. I'm not saying I'm an advocate for kids cursing and violence, I'm not. I'm just stating the facts in this flick.

Kick was good to see at a full ticket price at night. It was thoroughly entertaining and dark. I really liked Nicholas Cage's character as Big Daddy. He was comical, but in a straight up serious way. Kick should do a great job, especially with the word of mouth. Everyone is going to want to know who the nasty-mouth tough little girl is. I would definitely want her as my bodyguard.

One word sums up this wild movie, and it's exactly like Lionel Richie said at the 1985 American Music Awards -- "OUTRAGEOUS!" Shoot, this ain't a summer movie, but it started my spring off GREAT as far as films go! I'm hoping the great motion pictures continue. Just writing about Kick makes me want to watch again. This movie had action, adventure, comedy, a good back-story and straight up drama. It knows its audience, and you better know if you are that audience or you may not be happy with this flick. I just have to say for myself... OUTRAGEOUS!

My Rating ~ 5 Reels

Audience Rating (What's Yours?)