Dexter's Summer Camp

Rating: 2/10 (8 May 2010)

I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy this film, because it was rather entertaining. The featured heroes are not exactly what you would call "super", but they do manage to get the job done... eventually! They are actually anti-heroes, so one could say this movie resembles "Sin City" and "V for Vendetta" more than it does "Spiderman", "Superman" and other classic heroic films. But the problem is that the characters are... how to put it... simply too young to be anti-heroes!
In my opinion the best description of this film would be "Dexter's Summer Camp"... The fact that these "heroes" can kill people left and right without blinking an eye, without feeling any guilt or remorse simply because their victims were the bad guys, made me think of the show "Dexter". If the writers of the show decide to follow the books in season 5, and have Dexter teaching his kids the "family business", then Astor could be the actual Hit-Girl! This movie shows an 11-year old girl kill people as if she is playing a video-game, without at any point considering what she is doing might be wrong. And Kick-Ass himself doesn't think twice before executing a few villains, and is only concerned about making up the appropriate punch lines. It made me wonder: were Quentin Tarantino or Eli Roth involved in the script?
I enjoy watching horror films, I love all of Tarantino's work, I have no problem with violent action, shootouts, vicious fights, even sadistically brutal murder scenes in movies, but "Kick-Ass" actually disturbed me! The protagonists seem to lack the basic characteristic of almost all comic anti-heroes: the notion that even though homicide may sometimes be an inevitable action they must perform, it is still a most horrific crime. Showing children commit multiple murders just for the fun of it, without them ever considering the repercussions of their actions, is simply wrong.
Even so, I believe that most comic book fans will enjoy this movie. One reason is that it can be argued that "Kick-Ass" is progressive, since it deals with a somewhat different breed of anti-heroes; the ones who can fight crime, indulge their lust for death, and have fun at the same time! (Just like in "Dexter's Summer Camp")
P.S.: My username, CutSickAss, was not inspired in any way by this movie, it is just a (fitting) coincidence.