Kick Ass = Batman and Robin

Well me and a buddy finally went to see Kick Ass last night. (I know... I know... But we both have kids and it's tough to get away to feed our fanboy urges) I must say that this was possibly the worst CBM since the debacle of "Batman and Robin".

Let me open by saying that I am NOT a Book to film purest. I think that when a book goes to film there are necessary changes to be made to fit the venue. However...

Points of protest

1) Big Daddy: I went into this film cautious due to the radial costume redesign on Big daddy. Not since Schwarzenegger's Mr. Freeze has there been such a horrid revisualization of an iconic character. But I gave it a chance...

2) Big Daddy's voice: OMG! To quote my friend: "It sounded like someone doing a bad impersonation of Nicholas Cage doing a bad impression of Adam West." I wanted to rip my ears off every time this character spoke on screen. As if the costume wasn't bad enough! How is it that a character who was more closely related to Frank Castle becomes the Campy 80's Batman in the film. I half expected a flashy graphic that said "POW!" to appear when he began fighting.

3) Big Daddy's back story: The biggest surprise in the source material was when you find out that Big daddy was a fanboy accountant who kidnapped his daughter and sold back issues of comics to fund his war on crime. Which BTW made him fit in sooo well into a book full of eccentric fanboys. Instead the film stayed with his "cover story" of a cop that got screwed.

4) Kick Ass: He's not supposed to get better at what he does! That's the point! And more than anything he's NOT supposed to get the girl!!!! (All you guys who rave over this movie; did you even read the book?!)

5) Red Mist: He’s supposed to be the cool character, not a sniveling dork. His role is to be the envy of Kick Ass.

6) Red Mist’s Identity: (Minor gripe) And why is it that when they make CBMs they feel that they have to take away the suspense and surprise element? They did the same thing with The Comedian’s murder in Watchmen. In Watchmen you aren’t supposed to know that it was one person who killed the comedian until near the end… it added to the mystery. The same can be said for Red Mist and how it was a surprise when he stabbed Kick Ass in the back revealing his true identity.

7) Hit Girl: Due to the raping of Bid daddy’s storyline Hit Girl’s endgame was ruined. She was supposed to be returned to her mother to live a real childhood. But let’s face it; they had to leave her character open to do a crappy sequel.

And my final and possibly most horrifying gripe…

8) A *&$^^%$ Jet Pack!?: Did Disney buy out Millar too? This was the most horrifying thing in the entire debacle. In a story so rooted in reality… A Jet Pack?! This was almost a nauseating as Ice skates popping out of Batman and Robin’s boots.

I know I will get blasted in the comments of this review but I just can’t believe all of the positive comments I have heard since the release of this film. Again, I’m ok with source material changes… let’s face it Nolan’s Dark Knight was arguably the best CBM ever made and a reinvention of the entire Batman Mythos. But these changes should better round out the story… not rape it of its originality.