KICK-ASS (Matthew Vaughn, 2010) ***1/2

Rating: 8/10 (10 April 2010)

If not for the high recommendation from a Maltese film-buff friend of mine a couple of days ago, I would probably have skipped an immediate viewing of this unheralded gem of a comic-strip spoof at the local cinema and waited for it to become available as a DVD rental; for the record, that same guy had loathed Zach Snyder's epic superhero movie WATCHMEN (2009) which I had really dug myself only recently...so, even if I decided to follow his advice, I had my reservations on just how right he could be!
Needless to say, judging by my uncharacteristically high rating for a contemporary genre film, my final verdict on KICK-ASS was in complete agreement with the latter's – who, incidentally, had also opined that "Quentin Tarantino would turn green with envy when he watches this"! Again, his comments were absolutely spot-on because here we also have a movie that is at once informed by – as well as being an analysis of – pop culture: naturally, in this case, the superhero/comic-strip phenomenon. But while in Tarantino's movies such wordy diatribes come off as vain show-offs by its fanboy writer-director by having them incongruously uttered by professional hit men or attractive chicks, in KICK-ASS they sound perfectly natural because it is nerdy schoolboys who deliver this kind of dialogue! Another Tarantinoesque trademark lifted wholesale (and utilized well) is the presence of an eclectic soundtrack, since throughout this movie we are treated to samples from Ennio Morricone's "For A Few Dollars More", "The Banana Splits" (one of my favorite TV shows from my long-gone childhood days!) and even the music playing over the opening credits of the "Masters Of Horror" TV-series.
Anyway, the men behind this brilliantly disarming piece of entertainment were also fairly unknown to me: original source writer Mark Millar had already been the creator of WANTED (2008) and director Matthew Vaughn had made the British crime thriller LAYER CAKE (2004; starring a pre-James Bond Daniel Craig) and STARDUST (2007; with Robert De Niro, Peter O'Toole, etc.); for what it is worth, I intend to track them all down in the coming days. Equally unknown and impressive was the young cast: Aaron Johnson (a Keith Gordon lookalike) is Kick-ass, 12-year old Chloe Moretz (soon to be seen in Matt Reeves' Hollywood remake of 2008's Swedish horror revelation LET THE RIGHT ONE IN) practically steals the show as the foul-mouthed, ass-kicking "Hit-Girl"; Lyndsy Fonseca is the lovely object of desire quietly lusted after by Kick-ass' geeky everyday alter-ego (and whom he only manages to hook up with by falsely "coming out"!), Mark Strong (as the town's leading mobster Frank D'Amico) and Chistopher Mintz-Plasse (as his overprotected kid who ingeniously lures Kick-ass into a deadly trap by dressing up as rival superhero "Red Mist"). The film also manages to accomplish a near-superhuman feat all of its own when it made me like Nicolas Cage as "Big Daddy" – Moretz' father and the one bona-fide article in the superhero stakes; Cage, an avowed comic-strip fan in real-life, had already appeared in the ludicrous GHOST RIDER (2007) next to Eva Mendeswith whom he has just appeared again in Werner Herzog's 2009 remake of THE BAD LIEUTENANT: PORT OF CALL – NEW ORLEANS which, it goes without saying, I want to check out despite its dubious intent!
While the single biggest laugh-out-loud moment in KICK-ASS for me comes at the very start of the film (with the ill-fated flight of another false 'superhero') and the sequel-inviting ending seemed somewhat misjudged – I would much rather have had the kid commit hara-kiri when he found the samurai sword, leaving the film to be a veritable one-off oddity – it is the sheerly audacious political incorrectness (having the young Moretz spitting four-letter words and hack limbs left, right and center, not to mention being punched in the face and thrown around rooms herself!) that arguably makes KICK-ASS the coolest and most enjoyable superhero movie ever made! Hell, if this attitude catches on, now might make it the right time for me (and my twin brother) to unleash our own decade-old 'objectionable' script onto a more open-minded world...