It Should Be Called Ass-Kicked

Rating: 4/10 (6 April 2010)

Before I go on I would formally like to thank the Brendan Theatre in Las Vegas for hosting a screening of this film.
When seeing this over spring break I was surprised how badly this film played to me. I'm the main demographic it's aimed at (under 25 male) and despite that everyone else at the screening really seemed to enjoy it. I wouldn't have written anything about except the general theme of reviews seems to be that this is Pulp Fiction meets Spiderman.
The story starts off with a voice-over narration of Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) as the overlooked high-schooler who decides that becoming a superhero in this day and age can be achieved. He dons the suit and mask of Kick-Ass and the story goes on. The idea that the premise of Kick-Ass has been done is seemingly lost on director Matthew Vaughn (Layer Cake & Stardust) and he plows ahead acting as if Batman Begins and Spiderman don't exist in the American lexicon. Unfortunately for Kick-Ass he discovers that he isn't even the most qualified vigilante on the streets and is soon outshined by the foul-mouthed and probably deranged Hit-Girl (Chloe Moritz) and Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage doing his best Adam West impersonation). Red Mist also makes an appearance (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) but he's definitely not my cup of tea - in any of his roles.
The violence is controversial just for its own sake really. Hit-Girl (Chloe Moritz) the fan favorite of the audience ends up in a bad way that is really just to gruesome to watch. If you watched No Country for Old Men and thought, "Why is this Anton Chigurh guy such a choir boy? He should act with some malice!" then this might be your movie. Anyone else however will probably be disgusted.
But there is one thing I have to say going for it: Aaron Johnson. If I didn't know any better I would say they have found the new Peter Parker for the Marc Webb reboot of Spiderman. Of course now it is unlikely with Sony presumably going for an unknown for the role. Johnson outdoes everyone else in the film and he is easily the most relatable.
Again I don't hate this film (violence against children aside), but it just doesn't seem to have anything going for it.
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