It's not easy to assess this one !

Rating: 7/10 (21 April 2010)

This had the potential to be a great film, but it went astray, especially the ending. However, let me start at the beginning. The portrayal of a geeky high school guy wanting to become a "super hero" and learning, "the hard way," that it isn't very realistic (and quite dangerous) is fairly well done. It paves the way perfectly for the real "super heroes," who are a bit mentally imbalanced, to put it nicely. The bloody and gruesome, yet comical scene of Hit Girl killing a bunch of thugs and low-lifes is the high point of the film. The problem then becomes where to go from there.
First I'll talk about the issues I had with the actual film, then I'll offer an alternative idea. There were too many characters who were given enough time to get the audience interested in them, yet not enough time to do anything else. None of the characters were "developed" to a sufficient degree for me, actually. At the end, we are asked to believe that Hit Girl has no "emotional scars" and can just be a "normal" child. I would have at least changed that ending so that when confronted by bullies who want her lunch money (I would have made the bullies girls rather than boys), she just gives it to them as says something like, "no problem; remember that violence never solves anything." However, I would prefer to see the film go in a very different direction after Hit Girl's first scene of slaughter. Big Daddy and Hit Girl talk about Kick-Ass and decide that they should mentor him, or at least make him realize that he's going to get himself killed at some point, because they won't be there to come to the rescue every time he gets himself into trouble. They take him on one of their missions after giving him some "training," and he kills a "bad guy" who was about to kill him. When he gets back home he realizes he doesn't have the demeanor to do such things, even in the case of self defense, because he should have never put himself in that position in the first place.
He develops a love interest at the same time and struggles with the violence that he will have to be exposed to if he continues on the "super hero" path. This, in combination with his self defense killing, leads him not only to quit, but to think about how he can rescue Hit Girl from her father's indoctrination. He gets to know her a bit and realizes she has no social skills nor any other interest in life. It is a "sick" relationship she has with her obsessed father. He contacts social services and tells them what's going one, and they have him wear a wire to get evidence against Big Daddy. BD discovers what KA is planning to do, and he and HG abduct KA. HG doesn't realize that BD wants to kill KA and dispose of his body so that it is never found, but HG intervenes when KA tells her about the world beyond the "super hero" lifestyle, when BD is out doing something. So, at the end, BD is in a mental institution, HG is in school and doing well, though getting counseling, and KA is living a "normal" life with his "normal"-looking girl friend.