See it as what it is, and it will kick your ass with entertainment!

Rating: 9/10 (2 April 2011)

Let me start by saying I really enjoyed the movie a lot for its humor and entertaining value. It is not easy to make a movie that works so well on so many various levels and is so different from anything you have seen before.
This movie is not meant to be taken too serious. It is mainly a very well made and very entertaining parody and homage of numerous clichés in today's movies including genres like "teen comedy, American gangster, superheroes". Even though it uses these typical clichés it still manages to surprise the viewer by twisting them around in an unexpected way and by mixing them up with "anti-clichés" that break all rules like for example the characters of hit-girl and big daddy.
The movie is furthermore a satire about the degree of violence-entertainment in our societies (movies, TV-series,ego-shooters), while it at the same time not without self-irony admits, that violence included in stylish action scenes can be quite a big fun to watch and it provides us with it.
"Kick-ass" does not make moral statements, it just reflects. It shows us how people influenced by today's media enjoy watching violence it shows us how we enjoy to watch it ourselves without pointing the moral finger at us. It is a reflection about moral courage as well, it literally asks us "what would you do?" again without judging us or judging the guy at the window, who just watches and does not do anything when the main character and his friend get robbed.
In the scene where Kick-ass defends a man against three other guys we can see all those people behind the window pane gloating over the scene ("It's ****ing awesome!") and nobody is considering to help (besides maybe calling the police). And at the same time we are watching the scene ourselves and we enjoy the cool fighting scene together with the cool music. And we can ask what would we do in this situation? Would we help? Would we turn our eyes away? Or would we just watch as if it was a real movie?
Another similar scene is the life streaming of the brutal torture of kick-ass and big daddy. The really disturbing part here for me, besides the violence, was the realistic moment when the TV life broadcast is stopped and everybody jumps like crazy to the computers in order to not miss anything of the brutal execution. Why are they so eager to watch it? Hoping they might survive? Or is it simple out of curiosity and sensationalism? Again we can ask ourselves, would we be different? Until finally Hit-girl points a gun at us and tells us "show is over mother*******" Words the audience and maybe we as well might deserve.
For me kick ass manages to mix lots of different things, but still holds it together. Realism, pseudo-realism and unrealism for example are mixed together in an almost ridiculous way, so that it again feels like a homage to other movies.
There are the critiques who get so offended by "a girl emotionless killing dozens of people". The same critiques praise Kill Bill. Don't get me wrong I think Kill Bill is a great movie, but why would the violence presented in Kill Bill be tolerable but if it came from a little girl or against her it should be totally intolerable?? Furthermore are her fighting scenes extremely exaggerated and completely unrealistic. You cannot take them serious. They are just a parody of other extremely unrealistic fighting scenes, while not denying there are kind of cool anyway. Yes the scenes are very violent and gory, but so is Kill Bill, so are plenty of other movies.
"I don't want to see a girl slaughter other people in a movie" could be translated as "I don't mind people to be slaughtered in movies, but please stick to the political correctness and to what is tolerated by media mainstream." If you get offended by violence in movies generally, OK you should avoid this movie. But if you get offended just by the fact that the violence you usually tolerate in movies is now performed by a little girl and against her, then well I really don't understand you and don't see what your point is. And if you are worried about children being affected by this movie in a negative way you should maybe blame the parents who don't prevent their children from seeing it, or the movie rating systems, but you should not blame the movie itself. Otherwise to be consequent you should instead be worried about all the much more brutal and frightening horror movies that are out on the market.
Facit: Great movie that is a funny and entertaining parody of typical movie clichés, and full with references to other movies. Nice soundtrack and entertaining fighting and action scenes. Reflects the enormous representation of violence-entertainment in today's media and the lack of moral courage in our societies. Great, convincing and funny performances by the five main actors in the roles of Kick-ass, Hit girl, Big Daddy, Red Mist and D'Amico.
9 out of 10