A film that screams entertainment

Rating: 8/10 (18 February 2011)

KICK ASS is one of those rare films that do what they say on the tin: it absolutely kicks ass. I wasn't sure whether I'd appreciate the zany humour on offer here, as most of the time I find Hollywood comedy tired and laborious. This turns out to be a real shot in the arm, a film that takes great delight in spoofing such silly fare as the umpteenth Spiderman sequel/reboot and the interminable Iron Man movies. Kudos to Jane Goldman for writing it and Matthew Vaughn (whose LAYER CAKE I hated) for directing.
The jokes come thick and fast, most of them funny. Aaron Johnson is a delightful as the ineffectual superhero, but the real star is Chloe Moretz, whose Hit Girl is probably the most original character in a film all year. What a surprise, too, to find Nicolas Cage so hilarious, with his deadpanned impression of Adam West's BATMAN another highlight. The plot moves along at a fair old whack and is loaded with delicious action and outrageous profanity. The CCTV footage showing Big Daddy tackling a warehouse full of thugs was wonderful. Mark Strong makes for another charismatic bad guy, but I'd like to start seeing him playing the hero once in a while. Vaughn can't help including roles for his old buddies like Jason Flemyng and Dexter Fletcher, but there's no harm in that either. What a breath of fresh air this movie is.