Its sense of style and comical tone come at the expense of the reality and the humanity

Rating: 6/10 (11 April 2010)

Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) is a teenage geek who loves comics and is fascinated by superheroes. He asks his two best friends why no one has ever tried to be one. Regularly preyed upon by bullies, he orders a costume off the Internet and decides to become a vigilante, calling himself Kick-Ass. His first task of taking down two criminals results in him being left in hospital. To his dismay, a rumour is also spread around the school that he is gay which catches gets the attention of his dream girl Katie (Lyndsy Fonseca). Declining to give up on Kick-Ass, Dave makes a comeback and saves a thugs life during a fight. As the status of Kick-Ass increases, he finds fame and popularity on the Internet through social networking sites. Meanwhile, crime boss and coke dealer Frank D'Amico (Mark Strong) is tormented by a father and daughter pair of superheroes called Big Daddy (Nicholas Cage) and Hit-Girl (Chloe Moretz) who have their motives for battling crime together. Frank is also regularly pestered by his son Chris (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), who is willing to do anything to be part of the family business.
Although this ultra-violent adaptation of the graphic Marvel comic book Kick-Ass might seem like a parody of superhero films, there is not enough effort to transcend a number of the clichés that the script has been written around. Dave regularly reminds the audience that he is just an ordinary geek, but the plot still owes all too much to the first Spider-man film. The initial donning of the daggy costume, the chance to win the girl of his dreams, the inexperience of early battles and the dilemma between personal relationships and duty, are just some of the familiar grounds that Kick-Ass insists on covering once again. The film is at its funniest when it directly references and parodies other films, like cutting to Dave as he stands at a grave, vowing his revenge during a thunderstorm. However, Kick-Ass desperately lacks the sincerity of Sam Raimi's superhero films, which skilfully balanced the most fantastical elements with moments of humanity. Peter Parker might have been a geek but he was not a caricature. The reality of his problems, like his job and his relationships, made him a believable and interesting person outside of Spider-man. Dave has been written like a stereotype and the obligatory traits, like being girl shy and the masturbation jokes, are in check. There are certainly some laughs from the protagonist, but a lot the humour in the film is lowbrow and cringeworthy at times, asserting the films highly exaggerated and goofy tone.
A lot of the controversy surrounding Kick-Ass has stemmed from the high levels of comic violence. The film is certainly gruesome, over the top and gratuitous but what is more concerning is that there is a distinct lack of tension in a number of the fight scenes. Matthew Vaughn's direction is problematic because he has chosen to stage the battles like a series of MTV music videos, with rapid cutting and a noisy rock soundtrack. Some are indeed stylish and well choreographed, but bar one surprising ambush, the reality of being a vigilante is largely diminished. If the fights had been more grounded in reality, and the tone of the rest of the film was not so comical, the physical dangers might have to come to the foray. It is left to shock moments, like an early knife wound, to remind one of the risks. Unfortunately, the predictable climax removes any doubt as to whether the film is romanticising violence, with dual weapons wielding and acrobatics taking prominence over reality, boring some but most likely satisfying the sugar rush of twitchy adolescent video game fans.
Aaron Johnson made a very solid impression playing the young John Lennon in Nowhere Boy and here he and his friends are reasonably likable enough characters, despite the limited scope of the characterisation. They have a few funny lines but their relationships, specifically Dave's courting of Katie, are largely superfluous. The latter really only seems to be exist place to titillate teenage viewers and include a familiar dilemma between risk and romance, very much like Spider-man's relationship with Mary Jane or even Bruce Wayne's predicament with Rachel Dawes in The Dark Knight. Chloe Moretz has an energetic and bloody entrance as Hit-Girl. While her costume and purple wig are radical, the film really does not know what to do with her. She is a sketch of a cool idea rather than a fully fleshed out character. Surprisingly, Mark Strong has a livelier role than Cage, who does not bring as many laughs as one might expect. His stuttering speech patterns when in costume are just odd rather than funny.
Kick-Ass is certainly a wild ride but it is certain to present conflicting emotions for viewers. Some will be excited by the high levels of violence and the stylishly constructed action sequences. Yet others are likely to find the gore unnerving or simply pointless. Beneath the blood there is a highly familiar and overlong narrative, derived from predictable plot points, uneven performances and juvenile humour. It has been slickly made but its sense of style and comical tone come at the expense of the reality and the humanity.