Ever wanted to be a superhero? We all must have at some point. The only problem is we don't have any special abilities. Plus, no one has really tried to jump off a building. There are occasions when you've seen someone several storeys up, but then you think "Hang on, he's with Fathers For Justice."
Kick-Ass was written by Matthew Vaughn (Stardust and Layer Cake) and Jane Goldman (Stardust and The Debt) and is about a teenage boy called Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson (Nowhere Boy)) who wants to become a real life superhero. However he has no super powers, apart from being invisible to girls and his friends believe that if anyone tried to be a superhero they would be dead within a day. Nevertheless, he buys a turquoise wetsuit off the Internet and sets out to stop crime. His name - Kick-Ass. But to start with he is more like ass-kicked. He soon becomes a sensation on YouTube after a fight with a group of thugs and tries to help out the girl of his dreams. However, he discovers that he is isn't the only masked vigilante around, in the shape of Hit Girl (Chloe Grace Moretz) and Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage (The Rock and Lord Of War)). Meanwhile, they are going after New York gangster Frank D'Amico (Mark Strong (Sherlock Holmes)), who they have had previous with. Kick-Ass then joins forces with Red Mist, who is actually Frank D'Amico's son, Chris (Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Superbad)), despite the fact Frank believes that Kick-Ass is responsible for the death of several of his men and wants him dead.
Some people are amazed that even uncut the film is still only a 15 certificate, not an 18. The BBFC actually say "Contains strong language, once very strong, & strong bloody comic violence". The violence is well justified because it doesn't dwell too much on the infliction of pain and suffering. The main issue is the language, especially the scene in which Hit Girl says "Okay you c***s, let's see what you can do now." Is it appropriate for an eleven year old to be using this kind of language? Probably not, but there are example of other great films which include kids swearing, like Linda Blair in "Dr" Mark Kermode's favourite film The Exorcist. The BBFC also say that it was used as a "comic" effect. That's fine by me, but there are some 18 certificate films which you might question because that is how modern teenagers talk and behave, particularly in Sweet Sixteen by Ken Loach and Shane Meadows' This Is England (which did receive a 15 certificate in Bristol).My response after I first saw Kick-Ass - I was pleasantly surprised. Before seeing it I though "Oh, God. Not another superhero film." However, it is so much more than that. The last film I was pleasantly surprised about was Sherlock Holmes, because it was the most un-Guy Ritchie movie ever made by Guy Ritchie and Robert Downey Jr. does do a decent British accent. It is well written by Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman, who both did an OK job with X Men: First Class. Apparently it only cost $30 million and all that was contributed by Matthew Vaughn. That does make up for some of his earlier rubbish, such as Mean Machine and Swept Away.
In terms of the cast, the stand out performance for me is that of Chloe Grace Moretz. She gets all the best lines, she gets all the action scenes and she is the most dominant character on the scene. Vaughn said that she is part of "the ultimate father-daughter relationship, where Barbie dolls are replaced with knives, and unicorns become hand grenades." She does outshine Aaron Johnson in my opinion, even though it is a very good performance from him. It's still fairly early in his career, so I wouldn't be surprised if we see him in another blockbuster movie in the near future. The other performance I thought was good was that of Nicolas Cage. For ages, he has appeared in some awful movies, but this is probably the role he has been most suited for in a long time. Vaughn describes Big Daddy as being a little bit Elvis and a little bit Adam West and Cage does deliver some of the lines with that kind of style. Plus there are the Batman links.In short, Kick-Ass is a change from some of the repetitive superhero films of the past. It is a shame that at the box office it was beaten by How To Train Your Dragon, which I've heard is good, but also Clash Of The Titans, Furry Vengeance and the remake of A Nightmare On Elm Street. Before I saw it for the first time, which was when it came out on DVD, I tried to compare it to Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and see which I should see first. Scott Pilgrim does have Edgar Wright as director which was the main appeal to me and some may call it a cult film. Also, there is Super starring Rainn Wilson and Ellen Page, which follows the same mouldKick-Ass, but this is an 18. I think, however, that people will remember it as "that film which isn't Kick-Ass", mainly because it was released after Kick-Ass. I am not by any means a die-hard comic book hero fan and I will never either be a superhero or have a special ability. However, Kick-Ass showed us that if you want to be a superhero it is not impossible, just difficult...
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