Kicking ass and taking names

Rating: 8/10 (1 July 2010)

A FEW years ago all we had to satisfy our titular comic book fantasies on the big screen was a baby-faced Toby Maguire prancing around in a red spandex suit. Now it would seem we are spoilt for choice as the age of the comic book sets into full, unflinching flow. The latest panel to film conversion is indie flick Kick Ass. This however, is a different coloured set of spandex altogether. Rated with a 15 certificate, it's not one of the family friendly comic tales of which the world has become accustomed to of late. Instead, it is a rough and tumble, action packed adventure with copious helpings of in-your-face violence and colourful profanities from unexpected mouths. Regular American high school student and comic book fan Dave Lizewski lives a simple life alone with his father. Personal trials, hardships and popularity aren't problems which really factor into Dave's life, until one day he decides to become a super hero - without powers or training. This simple concept opens up a realm of possibilities which resonate on a more personal level with an audience who live in the same universe, as opposed to the eccentricities of the Marvel and DC worlds portrayed in previous comic book adaptations. Because of this, the hilarity of the situations Kick-Ass finds himself in are amplified tenfold; giving the audience a more realistic, often painful, representation of what being a real-life super hero would be like. It would seem Dave is not alone in his quest either. He soon runs into crime-fighting duo Big Daddy and Hit Girl, a father-daughter combo of devastating proportions. Veteran Nicholas Cage gives a suitably high quality performance as the doting Dad tutoring his lethal little girl, but the plaudits from most critics have gone to 13-year-old Chloe Moretz, who was only 12 at the time of filming. Her role and performance will inevitably be redolent of previous young starlets like Jodie Foster in Taxi Driver and Natalie Portman in Leon. All of Moretz's co-stars and crew have heaped praise on the youngster, with many confessing to being forced into raising their game at the risk of being acted off screen by the pocket-sized puncher. Samurai swords and ninja throwing stars are Hit Girl's weapons of choice, and she is a dab hand at using them. Slicing and dicing her way through hoards of bad guys, Big Daddy's daughter carries out her job with an unflinching, hard-as-nails attitude. However, the small hero is also where the film draws the bulk of its controversy. One scene in particular sees Hit Girl beckoning more baddies on by calling them a four letter profanity currently considered one of the language's worst. Those who stir the controversy though are, for the most part,those who have not seen the film but only heard about this on-paper noteworthy situation. Those who then see Kick-Ass though, will probably employ hindsight as they realise the subtle yet evident portent of emotional hardship Hit Girl has had to endure as she grew up with her father in prison. As such, the language she uses is not for the shock effect on its audience, but more a faithful reprise of the comic book character's melancholic upbringing. Moving away from the controversy, a potential sidekick of questionable morals in the form of Superbad's Christopher Mintz-Plasse arrives to help Kick-Ass in his quest. Red Mist is the on screen son of super (yet still normal) villain Frank D'Amico, played by the ever despicable Mark Strong. The rich kid son, desperate to please his father, goes undercover to infiltrate Kick-Ass' superhero circle and provides some classic hilarity as he finds out that being a scrawny comic book nerd is not the best qualification for becoming a superhero. The film's grounded reality is its most empirical feature. At first glance, Kick-Ass' costume looks like a wet-suit you could pick up on ebay with a few extra pads stuck on. At second glance it turns out that that's exactly what it is. His first attempt at super heroism consequently ends up getting him hospitalised and throughout the film he keeps his homely characteristics that make him a normal teenage boy, all the while developing the courage and bravery of a true superhero. Grittily realistic is an adjective too far though. The film strikes a perfect balance between apathetic realism and over-the-top, completely un-PC action. Seeing Big Daddy teach Hit Girl how to 'take a bullet' by shooting her with a machine gun while she has a bullet-proof vest on is something that, for all the world an audience feels it should be shocked and appalled at, but the conviction and temerity of the characters make it utterly hilarious. The story plays on an interesting concept which the majority of its audience will find easy to relate to: The overwhelming desire to become a super hero in real life. The fact that the movie was commissioned before the third edition of the comic was even published and its first story arc completed speaks volume's about Kick Ass' potential as a low budget blockbuster destined for infinite critical acclaim. Perhaps the film is not one for the more conservative viewers who like their super heroes well-spoken and family-friendly (Aside from French audiences, who can see the same Kick-Ass at their local cinemas with a PG certificate), but it remains an absolute must for anyone outside of that classification. Spider Man and Batman are everything a super hero movie should be, and this movie is absolutely nothing like them, which is its crowning achievement. In Kick-Ass, writer Mark Millar has managed to create a viable alternative to the super hero norm which matches the quality of those clad in tight costumes who have come before it in a completely different, radical way. Just don't go getting any ideas...