The Rundown
An astounding film based on Mark Millar's brutal comic, Kick-Ass succeeds both as a comedy and as an action film.
Red Eye Score
User Score
Review by Geoff Scaplehorn
One of the main problems with scoring systems for reviews is that, when you get down to it, they’re so arbitrary. What I think of as a good film might well be someone else’s Gigli. Conversely, there are plenty of top-rated films out there that I just can’t sit through.
What this tends to mean is that it becomes very difficult to use the full scale. A ‘1’ is a terrible film – fine. ‘5’ is average, watch it if you’ve got nothing better to do. Okay. A good film might get an ‘8’ or – if it’s truly exceptional – a ‘9’. We hardly ever hand out ‘10’s. What film could possibly be perfect, and who gets to be the judge of that?
For a film to hit a ’10’, then, I can’t rely simply on my own opinion. It needs a group consensus.
Watching Kick-Ass in Islington on a Friday night, I have never heard such an animated cinema crowd. They didn’t just enjoy the film; they adored it. They laughed and cheered throughout, and even applauded the highlights.
Kick-Ass is a great film.
High-school student Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) is nothing special, but he wants to be a superhero. An early attempt at crime fighting under the nom de plume ‘Kick-Ass’ almost gets him killed, but his troubles really begin when a meeting with Batman- and Robin-a-likes ‘Big Daddy’ (Nicholas Cage) and ‘Hit-Girl’ (Chloe Moretz) lands him into trouble with the New York mob.
Aaron Johnson is perfectly cast in the geeky title role; he has enough personality to carry the film without needing to conform to the usual leading man norms. In many ways, he is a bystander to the film, however, taking second fiddle to the other outlandish characters.
As to be expected from Mark Millar’s original comic, Kick-Ass is a brutal and violent film. It makes Watchmen look like My Super Ex-Girlfriend. The fights are excellently choreographed, from Johnson’s gawky beatings to Moretz and Cage’s hi-tech assaults. The final action sequence, which lasts an easy half-hour, is one of the most compelling and brilliant set pieces I have ever seen in a film, mixing gun-play, kung-fu and comedy into a spectacular orgy of death and destruction.
Despite the ultra-violence, Kick-Ass is devilishly funny, without having to resort to the usual slapstick inherent in superhero comedy (I'm looking at you, Spider-Man 3). Johnson's teenager, while not as problem-prone as Peter Parker, struggles with the fact that the girl he fancies considers him to be her gay best friend. Cage and Moretz maintain a tight family ethos even as they butcher thugs and train by shooting each other at point-blank range.
Much has been made of the fact that Moretz, who is 13, has a role that sees her swearing like a sailor and hacking limbs off her opponents. In truth, she is an astounding actress, and her on-screen relationship with Cage’s homicidal father figure is both tender and electric. Cage, meanwhile, turns in his best performance in years.
While Kick-Ass obviously references all of the great superhero films (Spider-Man and The Dark Knight in particular), it feels closer in spirit to Tarantino’s Kill Bill. This is smart, referential stuff; every line is a reference or an in-joke, yet those with no prior experience of the comic scene will have no trouble joining in the hostilities.
It's hard to sum up exactly what makes this film a ‘10’. Mostly, I think it's the fact that I honestly can’t remember the last time I had so much fun at the cinema. Judging from the reactions from the crowd around me, I wasn’t alone. Go and watch Kick-Ass immediately – but leave the kids at home.
What this tends to mean is that it becomes very difficult to use the full scale. A ‘1’ is a terrible film – fine. ‘5’ is average, watch it if you’ve got nothing better to do. Okay. A good film might get an ‘8’ or – if it’s truly exceptional – a ‘9’. We hardly ever hand out ‘10’s. What film could possibly be perfect, and who gets to be the judge of that?
For a film to hit a ’10’, then, I can’t rely simply on my own opinion. It needs a group consensus.
Watching Kick-Ass in Islington on a Friday night, I have never heard such an animated cinema crowd. They didn’t just enjoy the film; they adored it. They laughed and cheered throughout, and even applauded the highlights.
Kick-Ass is a great film.
High-school student Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) is nothing special, but he wants to be a superhero. An early attempt at crime fighting under the nom de plume ‘Kick-Ass’ almost gets him killed, but his troubles really begin when a meeting with Batman- and Robin-a-likes ‘Big Daddy’ (Nicholas Cage) and ‘Hit-Girl’ (Chloe Moretz) lands him into trouble with the New York mob.
Aaron Johnson is perfectly cast in the geeky title role; he has enough personality to carry the film without needing to conform to the usual leading man norms. In many ways, he is a bystander to the film, however, taking second fiddle to the other outlandish characters.
As to be expected from Mark Millar’s original comic, Kick-Ass is a brutal and violent film. It makes Watchmen look like My Super Ex-Girlfriend. The fights are excellently choreographed, from Johnson’s gawky beatings to Moretz and Cage’s hi-tech assaults. The final action sequence, which lasts an easy half-hour, is one of the most compelling and brilliant set pieces I have ever seen in a film, mixing gun-play, kung-fu and comedy into a spectacular orgy of death and destruction.
Despite the ultra-violence, Kick-Ass is devilishly funny, without having to resort to the usual slapstick inherent in superhero comedy (I'm looking at you, Spider-Man 3). Johnson's teenager, while not as problem-prone as Peter Parker, struggles with the fact that the girl he fancies considers him to be her gay best friend. Cage and Moretz maintain a tight family ethos even as they butcher thugs and train by shooting each other at point-blank range.
Much has been made of the fact that Moretz, who is 13, has a role that sees her swearing like a sailor and hacking limbs off her opponents. In truth, she is an astounding actress, and her on-screen relationship with Cage’s homicidal father figure is both tender and electric. Cage, meanwhile, turns in his best performance in years.
While Kick-Ass obviously references all of the great superhero films (Spider-Man and The Dark Knight in particular), it feels closer in spirit to Tarantino’s Kill Bill. This is smart, referential stuff; every line is a reference or an in-joke, yet those with no prior experience of the comic scene will have no trouble joining in the hostilities.
It's hard to sum up exactly what makes this film a ‘10’. Mostly, I think it's the fact that I honestly can’t remember the last time I had so much fun at the cinema. Judging from the reactions from the crowd around me, I wasn’t alone. Go and watch Kick-Ass immediately – but leave the kids at home.
People
Directed By
Matthew Vaughn
Written By
Jane Goldman, Mark Millar, Matthew Vaughn
Produced By
Adam Bohling, Darren Goldberg, Mark Millar, Tarquin Pack, Brad Pitt, David Reid, John Romita Jr., Kris Thykier, Matthew Vaughn
Starring
Nicolas Cage,
Aaron Johnson,
Chloe Moretz,
Christopher Mintz-Plasse,
Mark Strong,
Xander Berkeley,
Tamer Hassan,
Clark Duke,
Lyndsy Fonseca,
Omari Hardwick,