Definitely has its moments but mostly an uneasy mixture of violence and comedy

Rating: 7/10 (1 May 2010)

An ordinary, comic book obsessed high school kid named Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) with no super powers decides to become a super hero named Kick-Ass...with a pretty silly costume. He's almost killed in his first encounter but doesn't let it stop him. He runs into two other super heroes--Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage) and his 11 year old daughter Hit Girl (Chloe Moretz). They're trying to get rid of big crime head Frank D'Amico (Mark Strong).
OK--I never read the graphic novel this was based on so I can't make any comparisons. But, even though I was never bored and laughed out loud more than once, I found this incredibly uneven and troubling. There's plenty of pretty funny jokes (my favorites is when Hit Girl is killing a large number of gangsters and you hear Joan Jett's "Bad Reputation" playing!) and Cage does a hilarious imitation of Adam West's line readings from the old "Batman" TV series. Also the acting is good (especially from Johnson who must have been embarrassed wearing that silly costume). The violence is extreme--LOTS of blood and broken bones and body parts--BUT it's shown in quick cuts and it's more comic book than anything else. SPOILERS!!!! However, when Big Daddy and Kick-Ass are captured near the end the film gets WAY too violent and upsetting. Seeing the two of them getting beaten nonstop while hand-cuffed to chairs is just going too far. Also Hit Girl is brutally beaten up by Frank D'Amico (a few members of my audience gasped in shock). It DOES have a happy ending but you go through hell to get there. The premise is good but this film seems more determined to shock the audience than anything else. Also the extreme violence and comedy never mesh together--it's a VERY uneasy mix. I applaud the film for doing something different but the results are mediocre. I give this a 7.