Great movie -- one of the best of this year

Rating: 9/10 (13 May 2010)

As seems to be the standard now, I usually watch movies trying to avoid all marketing, reviews and press on them. I try to not view movies with the point of giving out 10's of 10 like candy (although some of my ratings indicate otherwise).
Yet with this movie I think it will be one of the best films this year....and I can actually see an Oscar nomination for Nicholas Cage with this. Really.
This movie although titled Kick-Ass is not about the title character at all. It's more about Cage's character (Big Daddy) and his daughter Mindy (Hit-Girl). The story in the movie does a great job at capturing little nuances -- when you first see Cage's character he is shooting a gun at his daughter. It actually feels a little 'thrown away' and you almost think that they aren't important to the movie. Then they reveal their alter-egos and fight alongside Kick-Ass who is going through a typical teenager story -- he meets a girl, he falls in love, and they have a relationship.
It's odd how this movie starts out like Superbad or Knocked Up and makes you think it's going to a crude humorous look at adolescence and a send-up of superhero/comic movies. But then it turns into something bigger. It turns into a great homage of Tarantino (the fight at the end with Hit-Girl), Michael Mann (Red Mist & Kick-Ass driving through the city is start out of Collateral, down to the lighting) and John Woo (the raid on D'Amico's lair and the scene in the warehouse).
But above all, you care about the characters, however minor and you care about the story. Nicholas Cage's character is the best I've ever seen him do and he needs to do more movies like this. Although the movie ends with the promise of a sequel, I actually hope there's not one. This movie's too perfect for that.
If you get a chance, see this or get it on DVD when it comes out.