Feed: Kick-Ass Review (2010 Movie) - AggScore: 14.0

Kick-Ass Review (2010 Movie)

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Kick-Ass Movie Review- If you are a comic book fan, you simply must see Kick-Ass (watch), which is based on the work of Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr. Don't believe the negative reviews- they are from close-minded critics who don't know about the comic book world. Kick-Ass is a dark comedy with tons of violence, profanity, and exploitation of a child actress. Even with the Rated-R label and over-the-top senseless violence, Kick-Ass has an 8/10 rating from IMDb, 76% critic rating from Rotten Tomatoes- with a 83% fan rating, who rated it 3.9/5 stars. Kick-Ass is a comic book movie genre buster, but since it wasn't seen by mainstream audiences it will have little influence on upcoming Marvel and DC movies. Kick-Ass feels like an awesome independent comic book come to life. Again, the target audience is teen or adult comic book and comic book movie fans. The movie centers around a teenage Generation Y comic book geek- socially inept, shy, nerdy, with a tendency to engage in sick fantasies about putting on a costume and fighting crime. Suffice to say, he does, but it ends badly (very realistic). Thankfully, he got beat up so badly that his nerve endings get damaged so he doesn't feel pain that much..sounds like a super-power to me! Kick-Ass starts off as a character you feel pity for (and if you were ever mugged, you could relate to him), but my wife and I turned against him later on in the flick because he kept repeating his clueless mistakes. Thankfully, Nicholas Cage (Big Daddy) and Chloe Moretz (Hit Girl) stole the movie from Aaron Johnson (Kick-Ass). I thought Cage was just going to have a cameo since he's a comic book fan, but he actually has an important role and plays a "real life" version of Batman (a cross between Adam West and The Authority's MIDNIGHTER!) and his 11-year old daughter plays Robin. Of course, these versions are 2010 SICK, ULTRA-VIOLENT, and totally funny/demented. The villains in Kick-Ass are memorable and the movie runs at a fast pace, and is never boring. It totally turns comic book movies upside-down. It's a GOSH DARN SHAME that most of America saw Will Smith's Hancock instead of a REAL comic book film pastiche in Kick-Ass. Mathew Vaughn's directing is outstanding- the camera angles and pace are top-notch, and there are a bunch of surprises. The violence is a parody of Tarantino, but done tactfully. Kick-Ass had some themes from other cult super-hero classics like Mystery Men and Unbreakable. I could watch it over and over, truthfully, as I do with the good super-hero movies.  Kick-Ass does not take it self too seriously and even subtly attacks the expected naysayers in the actual movie. Even with the fourth wall broken, as a viewer I never fell out of the movie. I was hooked from the funny shocking 1st scene all the way to the end. Oh yeah, the Kick-Ass soundtrack is great, too. Yes, Kick-Ass is offensive, has pedophilia undertones, and has graphic violence with no obvious intrinsic value, but there is a message in there if you pay attention. Or maybe not; Mark Millar just loves sick things. Of course, you don't have to pay attention if you don't want to: just sit back and enjoy this work of art (but only if you like comic books and comic book films).