Movie Review: Kick-Ass

It might have just been because I was having a terrible, terrible day, but I walked out of Kick-Ass with the greatest feeling of satisfaction I've felt since Star Trek last year. I've seen good movies since then, sure, but this film came out of nowhere to make me laugh, make me sad, and finally excited for the story to continue. Yeah, I was praying for a sequel as soon as I left the theater.

Every trailer I had seen set me up for something completely different. I was thinking it would be a semi-parody. Maybe something along the lines of Superbad meets Spiderman with a hint of Watchmen. I was almost there, because I had believed that I wouldn't come to take this story or the movie seriously. That I would have my laughs or awe at the action and then leave, never to watch it again. Oh, but how wrong I was.

The premise centers around a teenager with nothing going for him who lives in the bad side of town where being mugged is almost a weekly ritual. Finally, he decides he isn't going to take it anymore, and develops a "superhero" persona, Kick-Ass, so that he might bring justice to the streets of his city. But as he pointed out in the film, what he manages to bring isn't so much justice, but good intentions. In any case, he attempts to stave off the wrong villains, and ends up getting caught up in a mobster conspiracy. Peter Parker never had it so hard.

Along the way, Kick-Ass meets up with a handful of other masked vigilantes, who will change the way he thought about fighting crime, because finding and beating up the bad guy isn't as simple as it sounds. Sometimes you might piss off the wrong people, which is exactly what happens.

As you watch the movie, it might remind you of several other movies, and you'd be absolutely right there. This movie still is an almost-parody of some of the major comic book franchises and films out there. You'll see little minute references to stories such as Watchmen, X-Men, Spiderman, Batman, and even Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight. It's a comic and superhero lover's delight, and takes shots at all of these properties, and manages to celebrate them at the same time.

But none of those movies/comics were even remotely violent and language-ridden as this movie was, and that's a fact.

The actors, all of them, do an amazing job here. The lead actor playing Kick-Ass (the real-life Brit who happens to be engaged to a 43-year-old) does a fantastic job channeling Peter Parker, as well as bringing a surprising amount of depth to his character. I came to sympathize with him as the film continued, instead of laughing at him. He's a good kid who tries to do good, and it doesn't turn out to be that simple.

The other superhero duo in the film, Big Daddy and Hit-Girl, are simply amazing characters who manage to completely undermine the focus of the movie and come to own the entire production. This was their movie. Nicholas Cage does a fantastic, awesome, stupendous job of playing the Batman rip-off who is wearing more than one mask when it comes to his life. There are a few moments where he plays to the intensity of the situation and he just outright shines. There's no overacting, save when he intentionally begins channeling Adam West's Batman to a noticeable degree, as if to parody the always-noticeable, consistently grating voice of Christian Bale's Batman.

But perhaps even more impressing is the young actress who portrays Hit-Girl who, like Nicholas Cage, completely stole the show whenever she was on screen. She is violent and foul-mouthed on a Rorschach-like scale, and does so without ever sounding fake. Easily one of the best child actors in the business today, trouncing all else. Her performance alone might justify buying the ticket for this movie.

Don't want to talk too much about "McLovin's" character, as he's central to the plot as the Harry Osborn-type character, but he does an awesome job in this movie, as well.

Kick-Ass is definitely THE movie to see this month if you're a fan of comics, superheroes, and gratuitous violence. Can't wait to see it again. =D