A hilariously graphic alternate take on the superhero flick

Rating: 8/10 (7 December 2014)

We all know the standard superhero premise; regular guy is exposed to an A-bomb test, or encounters alien technology, or is part of lab experiment gone wrong. Then criminals kill his mom/dad/girlfriend or whoever, and he becomes a superhero to avenge them. Yeah, forget all that, we ain't going there.
Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) never gets powers, nor have any of his loved ones been killed by crooks. He's just your average high-school loser who thought it would be cool if there were real life super heroes. So he buys a costume online, and sets out to fight crime. Despite a rough start, and not being very good at fighting, he soon becomes a media sensation, bringing him to the attention of fellow vigilantes Hit Girl (Chloe Moretz) and Big Daddy (Nick Cage), and NYC's top drug lord. But life ain't easy for a super hero with no powers, and he might be way in over his head.
OK, so this movie is seriously demented, and seriously awesome. It's often hilarious, with incredible fight scenes. It contains shocking violence, dozens of F-bombs (many from an 11 year old girl), and a fair amount of sexual content. It's definitely not your average teen comedy, or your average action flick. I'd have to call it Superbad meets Kill Bill- with kids. It works because everything is done well, and because of the sheer incongruity of its elements. It's not every day you watch a pre-teen girl impale and chop the limbs of off gangsters while the theme from "The Banana Splits Show" plays.
Sometimes Kick Ass is pure comedy, sometimes it's straight action, most of the time it's a mix of both. Most of the humor is of the over-the-top offensive variety, which for me doesn't take anything away from its impact. Some of the funniest material is right at the beginning, when we get a look just how pathetic he is. His early attempts to battle evil are also pretty funny because of his sheer amateurishness. And this script can find comedy in anything, even a blood drenched mob execution. The more I think about it the more this reminds me of Reservoir Dogs.
But this movie can be dead serious when it wants to be. The action, as I said, is incredible. The early fights are pretty loosely staged, which is the point. It's just some wanna-be in tights taking swings at street hoods. But when Hit Girl enters the scene, it becomes pure awesomeness. She moves with incredible grace and agility as she slices, dices, and puts bullets through her enemies' heads. And the corridor scene at the end is like something out of Sin City. I still can't get over the fact that it's an eleven year old girl doing all of this.
I liked the idea of the villains planting a mole in the super hero community, and wonder why we haven't seen this before. (And no, that wasn't a major spoiler.) I also thought it was fairly cool that he becomes famous because of YouTube and immediately creates a Face Book page for his secret identity. I will admit that there are some slow parts in the middle. And the subplot about the girl of his dreams thinking he's gay- while funny- is dragged out longer than it should have been.
Still, this is one hell of a movie. It's side-splitting, action packed, and just plain nuts. If you enjoy Terentino or Apelow, chances are this is your kind of movie