117 minutes of unadulterated, unashamed fun.

Rating: 9/10 (4 April 2010)

A loser who forms a superhero alter ego without having any actual superpowers. An 11 year old girl with a foul mouth who loves a shoot up. McLovin as Red Mist. What's not to like? And this is just what we saw in the shorts. To say Matthew Vaughn has delivered the goods promised in the trailer (not a certainty these days – yes G.I. Joe, we're looking at you) is an understatement. Less concerned with what audiences expect and more interested in taking the preconceptions of what a superhero movie should look like and warping them around his twisted little finger, Vaughn delights in taking the unexpected turn. From the opening guffaw about a winged crusader to the closing line taken straight from a fellow comic-book movie, Kick-Ass issues a swift kick up the backside of the audience for thinking they know better.
Vaughn made a name for himself in the movie biz as the producer of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch. Spending that time with Guy Ritchie has reaped some obvious rewards, not least his flair for spectacular bloodshed. It's not just the ultra-violence itself that is done well though, it is the hyper-kinetic action set pieces surrounding it that really provide the eye-popping, awe-inducing entertainment. The slow motion scene where Hit Girl unleashes her rage on Big Daddy's captors is truly magnificent – a mesmeric scene to remember for years to come – whilst the claret-filled finale will have a smile on your face from ear to ear thanks to the inventive, tongue-in-cheek brutality. All off the action sequences are done so well that you may – to quote Po from Kung Fu Panda – go blind from over-exposure to pure awesomeness.
Casting to perfection, Vaughn has assembled a group of actors that fit their roles completely. Johnson induces our sympathy and cheers all at once, his Dave is a typical teenage boy with geeky friends (played comically by Clark Duke and Evan Peters) and no chance with women, but thankfully isn't a sad sack or a little brat like majority of adolescent characters that feature in the movies. Hitting career-top form with the slightly crazy Big Daddy is Cage; the role flits between psycho vigilante and doting father which allows the Oscar winner to play with small tics and nuances, which is what he has always done best. Mintz-Plasse and Strong are also on solid form as the cowardly costumer Red Mist and vociferous gangster D'Amico respectively, Mintz-Plasse especially impressive as he breaks through the McLovin stereotype he's been cursed with for the last few years.
Make no mistake though, there is one standout performance that soars above the rest. Only 11 years old when filming, Moretz plays Hit Girl with such confidence and panache that she single-handedly runs away with the film. Moretz sprouts off quotable dialogue with a fantastically smug expression, her pitch-perfect delivery resonates life experience well beyond her years. Her colourful language and uncompromisingly vicious fighting skills may have conservative groups getting their knickers in a twist, but for the rest of us it just makes her one of the coolest characters we've seen for a while – it is only a movie after all.
Kick-Ass is 117 minutes of unadulterated, unashamed fun. Pure and simple.
4.5 out of 5 (1 - Rubbish, 2 - Ordinary, 3 - Good, 4 - Excellent, 5 - Classic)