Shaking head in shock - a different point of view!

Rating: 3/10 (3 June 2013)

This is for those who might be tricked into thinking this is a harmless teen flick about wanna-be superheroes. It isn't!
I admit it - I find just about any movie that shows extreme cruelty (esp. torture) in a so-called "comic" light disgusting. So if you're a huge Tarantino fan then skip my review. Personally I think torture can NEVER be funny, because it's just so damn horrible, and it's really going on in many places as you're reading this. But that's just me.
This movie takes the next logical step in Hollywood's ongoing march towards increasing shock value. By "shocking" I mean three things: (1) increasingly cruel scenes being taken for granted (torture scenes being considered "funny" - this trend took off with Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, two "golden oldies" that I personally consider pretty f'd up, even as a man - and these days no action film is complete without some good-ol' torture), (2) teens being shown to swear, masturbate (nothing wrong here, but it's just not movie material IMHO!), and basically act as crude and shocking as possible "adult style" - and this is supposed to be hilarious apparently...and it's gotten more intense in the last 10 years, and a more recent trend (3) kids (not teens - KIDS) being either killed, or killing others (obvious recent example: Hunger Games; until then it was pretty much taboo). On top of those, there's the never-ending *obsession* that America (and Hollywood) has with guns. REALLY big ones, and tons of them. It's a blazingly American phenomenon, and it's no wonder the USA has so many gun killings. I'm not saying it's *because* of the movies, but more that the movies *reflect* America's obsession with weapons as things that are extremely necessary and insanely cool.
So if you're into these recent (and not so recent) developments in Hollywood, you'll love this movie too. Basically it caters to the torture-loving, gun-totin' hormone-flooded American teen male of the 21st century. I'm not even THAT old yet but this is really too much for me, and maybe for you too.