Kick Ass

[Projectionist]

Loved it

[Ancient One]

Ive got the graphic novel and it ROCKS. Im off to see this at the movies this week,probably Friday. will let you know my opinion then.

[MrSilly]

I had a ball of a time watching it, but it still suffers form some typical problems. Namely, the GODDAMN ORIGIN TAKING TOO LONG. Once that's out of the way however it turns into a brilliant film, the action scenes being both hilarious and deeply satisfying. The final act left such an enormous stupid grin on my face not seen since I first saw Crank: High Voltage.

[Zippykins1]

Really enjoyable stuff although could have chopped the running time down a bit. Certainly the best thing Nic Cage has been in for a while.

[Grinch11]

Completely agree on the running time, my only real problems with the film was in the structure. The set-up was fantastic before it gave way to more generic comic book stuff towards the end. We NEED an origin story due to the fact that this is a comlpetely new comic-book universe. Everyone sorta knows how Batman went a bit mental after the murder of his folks, and that Supes came from Krypton, but I for one had never heard of the graphic novel prior to release (I believe they were still writing some of it as the movie was being made? Correct me if im wrong), so we need a "way in" to this stylised reality.

Cage was excellent, I loved his stacatto speech style to mimic Adam West. Seems like 2010 could be a good year for him, what with his bonkers turn in the terrific Bad Liuetenant: Portof New Orleans.

Oh, what the heck.....here's my review........ 4 stars

Matthew Vaughn’s comic book caper arrives with high kicks and hyperbole plastered on the side of every available advertising surface and more controversy than the Daily Mail pages know what to do with them. Now after months of word of mouth and such a vociferous promotional campaign, it’s finally arriving before outstaying its welcome.

Adapted from Mark Millar’s graphic novel by the clearly more talented side of the Jonathan Ross dynasty, Jane Goldman, Kick-Ass is Dave Lizewski (Johnson), a wet-suit wearing geek whose epiphany leads him to do what nobody in the real world has ever attempted before; become a super-hero.

And this is the “real world”, in much the same way that The Dark Knight was set in the real world; nobody has mutated powers or super-speed, but know this, before you go all “video recordings act” on this, remember it’s a comic book movie.

Dave gets stabbed, kicked, punched, and humiliated, but in doing so ends up a Youtube phenomenon, inspiring not wholly successful copycats, a rival with daddy issues, and a gang of disposable criminals led by big bad Frank D’Amico (Marc Strong).

Also hot on the trail, appropriately in BATMAN stylee is the films most divisive plot thread; that of Big Daddy (Cage), an Adam West impersonating vigilante who has his daughter, Hit Girl (Moretz) in tow. She is a profanity spouting, twin gun wielding, nun-chick loving 11-year old who completely steals the movie and will no doubt elicit as many howls of joy as howls of derision.

And it’s those howls of joy that’s the point with Kick-Ass; it’s meant to be pure, unadulterated fun, and 15 rated fun at that. Not suitable for children has never been more applicable and the responsibility for censorship should fall squarely on the shoulders of parents rather than the filmmakers. Rant Over.

Those of you willing to leave you moral compass at the door, but more importantly, not your brain, will be rewarded with a visually and narratively fresh mash up of Superbad, The X-Men, and Unbreakable, that’s consistently hilarious and interactively kinetic.

Most of that is down to the impressive cast; Johnson has already played Lennon, and the ease with which he nails the accent, charm and insecurities of our accidental hero signals the arrival of a star with genuine talent. Take note R-Patz.

The elder statesmen also have a lot of fun with their respective roles. Cage is a hoot as the unhinged father, along with the forthcoming Bad Lieutenant reimagining this looks like a bonkers return to form for him. Strong is becoming typecast as a villain for hire, but when’s he’s as deliciously dastardly as he is here then why complain?

Lets not forget Mintz-Plasse either, every hero needs a nemesis and only in Kick-Ass would that manifest in the form of a quiffed, stick thin, smart arse that drives a suped up sports car, yet cant manage a simple landing when jumping from a skip.
Orchestrated brilliantly by Vaughn, he gets the heightened action spot on without ever sacrificing the heart of the characters; from the father/daughter dynamics of Big Daddy and Hitgirl, and the awkward relatable dilemmas of David’s teenage angst, neither is suffocated by such splendid set-pieces as the warehouse fireball and the slo-mo corridor carnage of the finale. It’s a lesson that the bloat of so-called comic adaptations such as Wolverine and the latter Spidey instalments could have learnt from.

A benchmark in terms of genre and pure entertainment, you’ll enjoy getting your backside kicked by this, and even if you bruise it’s a worthwhile reminder of what a bloody good time you’ve had.

[Lizhawkins]

Hey guys,

I've changed the censorship settings. So now we can type ass (and arse) as much as we like...

[MrSilly]

I have to disagree on Johnson, thought he was the main weak link of the film. But this is also due to the writing of his character, it's too inconsistent and isn't particularly good.

My main example fo this would be int he opening, where he does the usual self-deprecating schtick about his social standing. Nothing new, seen it before. However, he exclaims that out of his friends, he's not even the funny one. Problem here is that his friends are so underdeveloped, and he's the one given all the best lines, that it just makes him look like a ****. In fact, his entire character was bland mediocrity, with a massively pointless love interest. That entire angle to the plot could've been thrown out completely and instead focused on his relationship with his mates, which is far more entertaining in the few times it's seen. But yeah, that's more of a writing issue.

Johnson himself, I'm not convinced. Wasn't overly impressed by Nowhere Boy (dull, uninteresting, probably doesn't help that I'm largely indifferent to The Beatles) and this is a continuation of that. Oh sure, in terms of voice and look he was pretty decent, but that's hardly enough. Thing is, I pretty much am a geek/nerd/loser, whatever you want to call it, and he just doesn't play a very good one. If anything, it's akin to those cheap comedies where the popular person puts on the facade of a wimp for comic effect. He's got curly hair, glasses and isn't particularly great in a fight, wow that's some great characterisation.

The central character and his issues were the worst part, all of the (best) humour and antics came from the stellar supporting cast. I consistently chuckle to myself when thinking of the banter and yabbering between D'Amico's henchmen, small humourous asides that kept the film from becoming too serious, the same going for Dave's friends. Dave himself and that bloody awful love interest were naff.

[Projectionist]

ass face arse just checking

[ParagraphFilms]

Here's my take on Kick Ass from my film review site. I did enjoy it, but it's definitely more superficial than the majority of Superhero movies.

In order to remain original, which it does pretty well, Kick Ass avoids the usual comic book clichés – however the film suffers because the story’s pretty flat. All of the main characters are well-played, especially Cage and Strong, although you don’t see nearly enough of anyone that isn’t Dave Lizewski/Kick Ass; and as a lead he’s not that interesting! My biggest problem was that it kept leaping between American Pie style comedy, shock value, grim & realistic violence, outrageously OTT fantasy/comic violence, romance, gangster… This will drag you through so many genres (sublime and ridiculous) that you never know what’s coming or how you’re supposed to react. Some of the action scenes are fairly frantic and unclear, especially the lame “doom style” night vision shootout!! It should have been about 30 minutes shorter and borrowed a lot of visuals from the recent Spiderman flicks. Despite the bashing above it is good fun, pretty entertaining and there are LOADS of comic-references for your inner-nerd to pick out – for me however it was a bit too superficial and the saturated trailer campaign absolutely ruined all the best bits.

Score: 6/10

[MrSilly]

Whoa! The night vision fight was the best part of the film! It was the only action scene that didn't utilise obnoxiously self-knowing brat rock as a musical accompaniment and the use of gunfire to illuminate the room was pretty damn great. Just the right amount of slo-mo (not much at all), frenetic yet focused, it was a brilliant set piece.