"Kick-Ass", symptomatic of what is wrong with film-making today ...

Rating: 4/10 (4 January 2011)

With such a pretentious title, you would think you're gonna watch a comedy or a parody or a fun, entertaining action movie ... well, that's what I expected. The movie started with an excellent premise, a clever mix between "Superbad" and any comic-book movie. In fact, I loved the plot idea of giving a chance to an average nobody to become a super-hero. With this mindset, I thought we'd have time to let the character grow on us, to feel sympathy for him, and to observe his evolution into a real original super-hero. I thought it would be a mix between a comedy with witty dialogs and funny visual gags and a heart-warming coming-of-age story. For me, that's the way the movie started ...
And then, the tone radically changes. Big Daddy and his super little daughter make their entrance. I thought the pivotal moment would come from the hero, not from outsiders. No, it was like the director changed his mind and said "let's not waste our time now, we've got to "kick some ass", to shock, let's play ..." And then we see, two skilled superheroes who make you totally forget about the premise of the film ...
We are supposed to discuss the believability of such heroes like Superman or Batman, aren't we? Then why, suddenly, the movie shows us one of the most dangerous and spectacular super heroines ever created with gadgets and Batmanesque weapons? a little girl who seemed to enjoy massacring people!!! what the hell was that?! the movie turned into an irresponsible mess, committed by a Tarantino wannabe. I'm sorry but as gruesome as the killings in "Kill Bill" were, at least they had a "point". In this movie, the violence was so gratuitous, so disturbing, it was like the director was suffering from schizophrenia, let's start like a comedy, then evolves into an action film, and finish it as a thriller a la "Dark Knight" ...
Yes, violence should have a point. I have nothing against ultra-violence in movies as long as it serves a purpose. In this movie, it was some kind of dangerously influential, flashy and over-the-top violence ... is it cool to show a 11 year old, brainwashed by a fascist Daddy, cutting off a man's legs AND finding it delightful, is it entertaining ? were they "bad guys" enough to be killed in such a merciless way? The movie became what it was trying to criticize in the beginning (in a very clever way) a superhero film, trying to be unique by mixing genres at a point I didn't even know how I was suppose to take the character, as Hancock or Bruce Wayne? I thought the gags were the best parts of the film ... and there were a few of them, mostly in the beginning (when it wasn't funny, I lost the interest and didn't care enough for the characters, it became monotonous)
I also have nothing against genre bending, as long as it looks like a natural progression, not something thrown like this just for shocking value. The movie was just an excuse to mix between current bankable movie genres, teen comedies (well, the comedy deserted the movie after the first half-hour) action films and dark thrillers ... I didn't even take the movie as a parody, and I'm not sure the movie was supposed to be one. It used the same codes as a superhero flick in an very exaggerated way, and I would have found that funny, if the scenes were actually funny and I don't think they were. I didn't find the knife-stabbing funny, I didn't think it was a bad scene either, I felt sorry for the character and thought it was one of the most 'shockingly intelligent' moment from the film. There were too many "serious" scenes in "Kick-Ass" for me, to label it as a parody. The only thing "original" was the genre-binding, but it was so artificial I didn't get what the director was trying to prove : normal people can be superheroes? no, they can't because real-life violence is not like in the comic books? no, actually, violence can be very fun and delightful if you're skilled and get the right weapons?
I don't get what's so great with watching a 11-old-year girl, dress her like a 'Manga' schoolgirl (something clearly borrowed from "Kill Bil"l) and let her kill the bad guys in the most gruesome way (whatever crime they committed, we're supposed to believe they have deserved it) with the ultimate insult : a classic Western Spaghetti score ... how unoriginal and distasteful. Violence is not cool, and is not supposed to be cool, and the greatest movies about violence, at one point showed its ugliness : "Bonnie and Clyde", "Pulp Fiction", "The Dirty Dozen", "The Wild Bunch", it's even insulting to mention these films in this review.
"Kick-Ass", a flashy, dangerous, meaningless movie, symptomatic of what is wrong with film-making today ...