Review by James Binstead
Kick-ass, the movie adapted from Mark Millar’s comic book series which prides itself for being a little grimmer than the usual ‘Pow’, ‘Bang’, ‘Wham’ comics with its bloody nature and realistic brutality. The story is based round Dave Lizewski (played by Aaron Johnson) a teenage boy whose only special ability is ‘Being invisible to women’, unlike other superheroes who seem to have endless amounts of cash fuelling their operations or incredible superhuman powers Dave only has $200 and a strong sense of justice to become the hero anti vigilant he wants to be. Once armed with batons wrapped in electrical tape and a ridiculous looking diving suit it’s time for Kick-ass to do what he was born to do.
If you enjoyed the Dark Knight Trilogy
or watchmen then this is a must watch. After watching this movie for an
uncountable amount of times it’s safe to say it’s one of my favourite superhero
movies. When compared to other movies of the same genre to me it feels the most
realistic as in the fight scenes you can see blood, you can hear the breaking
of bones, and the recovery of cuts and bruises feel like they have taken
sometime, this movie is definitely not for the faint hearted as seeing 11 year
old girls get thrown around a room by a man twice her size isn’t everyone’s cup
of tea. But it’s not all doom and gloom in Kick-ass the movie, as even the
comical side of the comics have been transferred onto the big screen. We see
actor Christopher Mintz-Plasse (best known for his role in Superbad) play
another Chris, Chris D’Amico, the son of big time drug lord Frank D’Amico
(Played by Mark Strong), just like Dave, we feel that Chris is also just an
ordinary boy who longs for more. For the first half of the movie Christopher
isn’t seen as much as his fans would of liked him to be, which leads audience
members to believe that his Character doesn’t play a major role in the whole
film but as the plot thickens we see Chris take on the identity of Red Mist,
another wannabe superhero whose intentions seem to be to help out Kick-ass on his
quest to cleanse New York’s streets of scum.
Some scenes after the introduction of
Dave we’re brought to a scene which seems to be set in an abandoned ship yard
somewhere on the out skirts of New York (which was actually shot in a sewage
plant in east London). In this scene we see ex-cop Damon Macready (Nicolas
Cage) shoot his 11 year old daughter Mindy (Chloe Grace Moretz) at point
blank range, but don’t worry, Mindy’s wearing a bullet proof vest and Damon is
only teaching her how being shot is just ‘like a punch to the chest’. Damon and
Mindy form a very odd father and daughter relationship as their strange love of
guns and all things dangerous make the pair something to look out for,
especially when they become Big Daddy and Hit Girl, who were also inspired by
Kick-ass’ actions and also taken up arms against crime. Unlike Kick-ass these
two are well trained and much more brutal than his amateur-self , while he has
two wooden sticks that make him look like an awkward bird when flaps them in an
attempt to fight, Big Daddy and Hit Girl use a wide array of weapons ranging
from small flick blades to jetpacks mounted with mini guns. Although violent,
this pair bring a sense of dark comedy into the film as Damon has brought up
Mindy in a surreal world for an 11 year old girl to be in. Instead of having a
normal upbringing, Damon has somewhat brainwashed and moulded Mindy into an
effective killing machine, all because of Frank D’Amicos actions many years
before which put Damon in a very bad place. To lessen the brutality of Hit
Girls fight scenes upbeat music is played, at one certain scene we see the
little hyper active bundle of violence stab, shoot and flip her way through a
corridor crowded with thugs to the beat of ‘Bad reputation’ By Joan Jett. This
is what Kick-ass is about, making moments that are normally frowned upon
watchable and sometimes funny.
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