Kick Ass Kicked Ass!

Rating: 10/10 (1 May 2010)

For an action and comedy flick fan, this movie wasn't good; it wasn't great either...it was simply one of the best movies of the year. In a nutshell, the movie was simply like taking the comedic elements of "Superbad" the post-modern elements of "Killbill" and the narrative flow of "Spiderman" and throwing them all in a blender. You have your typical hapless young hero/narrator who was a desperate virgin indulging in his own delusion of grandeur...who through a series of events evolves into someone with a backbone worth of being called "kick-ass" the name of his alter-ego. Then you have the standard revenge story of a cop who was framed by the bad guys (well, the antagonist of the film who happens to be the king-pin, top drug lord in the City) and spends the remainder of his life plotting revenge by sweeping the city clean of gangster minion scum from the bottom up. And finally there's the usual element found in teen comedies of nerd-wanting to get laid with hottest chick from school...pretends to be gay friend and later nudging himself out of the "just-friends" zone. Har har, very unoriginal over-used concepts. However, what this film does exceptionally well is fusing those three cliché element while throwing in some unexpected twists.
First off, there's the main characters, the narrator of the film Dave, aka Kick-ass, who clearly resembles Toby-Mcguire from Spiderman...the twist here is that he is literally your average teenager that watches kung-fu flix but can never pull off a perfect roundhouse kick - and he actually remains this way through out the film (well, due credit should be given to him since he did get run over by a truck and lost thousands of nerve endings...which gave him a high tolerance to pain). Dave was still the same guy - but with balls the size of grapefruits (not litearlly) which gave him the courage to face real bad guys with guns.
Second twist here is Hit Girl. Man, usually these movies features the badass lone-ranger seeking revenge in the goriest manner possible. Kick Ass adds a little 11 year old swording wielding daughter to the equation. The lone wolf here is played by non-other than Nick Cage...a fitting role giving his recent breakdown...here was a strong man, torn into pieces through forces beyond his control...but still managed to bounce back only to become a shadowly force shaving off bits and bits of his enemies slowly. You thought he lost everything...but the kicker is his dying wife gave him a daughter before her death. And Nick Cage raised that child to be a beast. Hit Girl is so bad ass that she's the only reason why the film was given an R rating. Bursting on the scene by cutting down a man three times her size and age, Hit girl Slices down her enemies with ruthless efficiency while simultaneously sprewing cuss words like a sailor...but curiously enough, sneaks cute curious glances at a defeated Kick-ass after each kill. I can't find a more interesting juxtaposition than an adorable girl that can deal some massive carnage. She stole the show.
Another interesting scene is when Kickass, aka Dave sneaks into the bedroom of the girl of his dreams, unmasks himself and gets pepper sprayed...but to great avail for his sex life...despite having no game.
Well of course, throw in MCLOVING from Superbad and you instantly get a love-able character that you can't exactly take too seriously. That's what makes Mcloving so damn suitable as the son of Mark Strong's character, the kingping. I can help but be drawn by the chemistry of McLoving and Mark Strong's character...whose dialogue and interactions at times provides comic relief...which is a refreshing change considering the typical offering of action flicks out there where the bad guys are portrayed in such stiff and ostentatious manner. Also, the foreshadowing elements are so obvious, but so cleaverly placed...and it was damn satisfying when kick ass blew mark strong away, literally....only to take off rocket-man style later. This film is just a goldmine of great sequences, most of them unexpected twists from familiar elements....and that's what makes it KICKASS!!!