My Favourite Movies: Kick-Ass

I’d heard enough about this 2010 film to deliberately miss it at the movies. It sounded, so I thought, like just another of the teen, high-school, wannabe super-hero films that seemed to be everywhere at the time. Indeed I knew very few people who saw it on the big screen. Then one of my friends saw it on DVD and raved about it – so when it dropped into the cheap section I picked it up and gave it a try. Well, I freely admit that I watched it the first time with my chin mostly on the floor. For a 15 certificate I was astounded by the amount of swearing (including the C-word spoken at least once by a 13 year old Chloe Grace Moretez) and both the, admittedly cartoon-style, level of and amount of violence complete with buckets of blood. I quickly lost count of the number of deaths in this film but it much have easily topped at least 50 – most of them dispatch with glee by Ms Mortez as the urban super-hero Hit-Girl. But I get ahead of myself (as usual).

The story is pretty straight forward and is both a homage to and a not exactly subtle subversion of the super-hero genre. Basically it starts, pretty much, with a conversation in a comic book store between three high-school friends Dave Lizewski (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), Todd (Evan Peters) and Marty (Clark Duke) about why no-one has ever tried to be a real super-hero. That’s the genesis of Kick-Ass AKA Dave who begins wandering the streets looking for people to help. Inevitably things go horribly wrong (after all he’s not really a super-hero or much of a hero really) and ends up in hospital. Released weeks later with enough metal holding him together to set off metal detectors just by walking near them and a condition where most of his nerve endings no longer function he goes back on the streets and finds exactly what he’s looking for – trouble. Filmed on mobile phones and uploaded to YouTube he becomes an Internet sensation. When he tries to help his wannabe girlfriend Katie Deauxma (Lyndsy Fonseca) get rid of her drug dealing boyfriend he gets in way over his head until Hit-girl saves his life and kills all of the bad guys. Mistaken for the killer Kick-Ass is targeted by the mob and needs to call on Hit-girls expertise along with her father Big Daddy (a rather over the top Nicolas Cage). Predictably lots of carnage follow the teaming together of the trio of crime fighters.

Once you get over the shock value of the language and violence this is actually a quite clever film. It plays with the super-hero genre in interesting ways without alienating its target audience. Though I’ve never really understood the fascination with comic books – or super-heroes for that matter – I think I got a fair few of the in-jokes and references to various comic-book heroes. No doubt if you’re a fan of the genre you’ll get a lot more. Despite all being in their mid to late 20’s IRL Dave, Todd and Marty came across as believable teenagers and would probably have been my friends if I’d been in their school. Chloe Mortez was a revelation as Hit-girl as she dispatched baddies with seemingly effortless efficiency (to pop music!) and casual fashion. I haven’t seen her in much else since this (the very disappointing sequel has fortunately been erased from my memory) but so far I have yet to be impressed. Let’s hope that she didn’t peak at 13. Most of the rest of the cast – especially the seemingly endless number of bad guys (for Hit-girl to dispatch later) seemed to be from central casting. Even the head bad guy Frank D’Amico (Mark Strong) could have been anyone. His son Chris AKA Red Mist (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) was likewise unremarkable.

If the controversy over the film – partially well earned – has put you off seeing this before and you have a fairly strong stomach I’d give it a shot. If you can get beyond the first 20-30 minutes you should be able to make it all the way through – although you’ll probably have a sore jaw for a while from the number of times it’ll hit the floor. You have been warned.