Believe the hype - well most of it anyway

Rating: 8/10 (24 March 2010)

It is clear that Mathew Vaughn is one of the most promising British directors at present. His debut, Layer Cake, showed the glossy veneer and seedy underbelly of London with a stylised high sheen look and showed flourishes of brilliance - the opening sequence reminiscent of Fincher and the action never replacing the narrative. Stardust showed that he could create an alternative reality that was believable considering its meagre budget. With Kick Ass, the action is rooted in reality. Posing the question "why does nobody become a superhero?" it follows a slightly different narrative than the comic book as its protagonist, Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson), considers the point with his friends and finally becomes one himself - Kick Ass. Foremost, Vaughn handles the action sequences with great competance: the shoot-outs are at times pure Hong-Kong action, other times truly original and the rescue scene is breathtakingly beautiful in its composition. We believe that a twelve year old Hit Girl could do all these things and you wince when the punches, blades and other assorted weapons are thrown. The action is also punctuated with dark and bloody humour throughout, you don't tire of seeing Kick Ass getting his ass kicked or Hit Girl impaling villains and uttering some truly blue language - much will be said of both, but this is a comic book film... fictional reality mean anything to Daily Mail readers? The casting of all characters is spot on, as a lover of the comic I was impressed at how they had translated the characters and their drama to the big screen. It is also worth noting that none of the sharp dialogue and spot on representation of teens is lost from the comics, they are believable teenagers that also look the age they are playing. However, Vaughn seems unsure as how to structure the film; one minute the death of a main character and the next, more laughs as Hit Girl swears and punches some more. The whole film seems disjointed, like reading a comic issue by issue and not as a book. One scene doesn't always appear to fit the next as if part of the previous scene was missing. Don't get me wrong, I thought the film was excellent but not perfect as I had expected from the hype surrounding it.