Kick Ass was atrocious… in a “great” kind of way. It’s very difficult for me to judge this film as a whole because as Harrison Bergeron stated in his review, it’s one hell of a roller coaster ride and certainly not one for everyone. This review will contain mega spoilers because I for one felt that in this film’s case, I should have been warned. Violence and mature language is not even half of it. This film was all kinds of wrong the likes of which hasn’t been seen before (at least through my eyes). It went overboard and I’m talking a tsunami hitting Tugger* in the face overboard! Read on to see if I think it was a good thing.
I will not be able to compare this film to its comic book source material because I haven’t read it yet. But since the consensus seems to point in the direction of an accurate adaptation, I’ll take the majority’s word for it and leave it at that. As for this film compared to other comic book movies, in my opinion it’s in a world of its own and quite frankly shouldn’t be compared. This is not a superhero movie. It qualifies more as a no holds barred, action oriented teen comedy about superheroes and how they would fare in the real world, heavy emphasis on “real”. When you hear news about some guys dressing up as comic book heroes and patrolling the streets at night and you automatically think of what could happen to them since real life is as far away from a comic book as it gets, take that mental picture and multiply it by ten and you get Kick Ass. It’s simply that graphic. You get 12 year old girls being kicked in the face and slammed through tables, screaming men being burnt alive in front of their children, teenagers being shot in the head in alley ways and a blood bath that makes Kill Bill look infantile.
Now… most of the non comic fans that have yet to see this film must think that by what I just said, it has to be the worst film ever made. Actually… it was brilliantly executed. The film definitely goes beyond anyone’s comfort zone but it’s a brilliant film about reality slapping you straight in the face. Spectators should just know exactly what they’re getting themselves into first hand though which is why I gave you specific details included in the film to begin with. I love violence in movies because it’s so off the rails that it’s laughable but in Kick Ass’s case, it’s not a laughing matter. Maybe it’s the realism that is attributed to the film that makes this seem overly graphic and not necessary but I left the theatre slack jawed and I can’t for the life of me remember how long it took me to realise that I hadn’t been blinking my eyes. The amount of drool I secreted was staggering! In the words of the immortal Eric Cartman; “That movie has warped my fragile little mind!” I felt like the South Park episode where Cartman couldn’t laugh anymore because he had just seen the funniest thing ever and his mind couldn’t compute what could be considered funny ever again. I felt like I had seen the most realistic and graphic violence that this world could bring and I blew a violence fuse. This film brings a brand new interpretation of the term “no holds bared”. If you’re into fairy tales, this is the last film you’ll ever want to see. I cannot stress this enough, now you have been properly warned.
As for the specifics of the film, contrary to many, I did not feel like it had “highlights” per say. It was just an amalgamation of good acting talents, realistic violence and a freshly original plot. The dialog was breathtaking for a few scenes and also incredibly funny. In fact, it was probably one of the funniest films I have seen in a long while but it does come to a point where you have to look at each other and practically ask yourselves if you should be laughing or not. It pushes many boundaries, maybe even too many. I think if I were to mention a certain highlight, it would have been Mark Strong’s performance. He was over the top yet down to earth all at the same time. He sold a cartoon-ish persona in a completely believable manner. In my humble opinion, he brought this film from good to great and I am looking forward to seeing his portrayal of Sinestro in the Green Lantern upcoming feature. The rest of the cast was decent but nothing worth much mention. Many are raving about Chloe Moretz’s performance which was very good but I don’t feel it was better than any other performance of the rest of the cast. I was a tad disappointed with Aaron Johnson’s performance since I was expecting him to shine brighter than the rest, having snagged the leading role, but he was just as good as everyone else. He was even a bit overshadowed in a few scenes. I think the only point this film looses, once you gear up your sense of humour and your open mind is the cheesy ending to an otherwise very realistic film. It just didn’t seem to fit properly. But all things considered, this was a brilliant and thought provoking motion picture. Just you be ready for it!
4 out of 5 stars!
Images taken from Google Images.