Kick-Ass – Review (SXSW)

I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t excited about seeing this movie. As I waited in line at the Paramount to find out once and for all if the hype surrounding the movie was well deserved I realized that it was possible that I wouldn’t like the flick. I asked myself if I’d built it up in my head to be something that it could never live up to. Thankfully, the flick delivered on the promise of its title character’s moniker and kicked-ass!

For those of you reading this that by some unbelievable twist of fate might not know what Kick-Ass is about, let me give you the skinny. Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson), a comic book nerd, starts to wonder to himself why no one has tried to become a real life superhero before. This question burns in his mind until he decides to suit up and fight crime like the heroes he reads about in his favorite comic books and Kick-Ass is born. It doesn’t take long for Dave to get his ass-kicked, causing him to question his new hobby. He realizes he’s out of his league when he crosses paths with Hit-Girl (Cholie Moretz) and Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage), which inadvertently puts him in the cross hairs of a local crime lord.

In a nutshell Matthew Vaughn has created a movie that never takes itself seriously, resulting in a fun filled moviegoing experience. His cast does a stellar job of bringing the characters to life. Especially Cholie Moretz, whose portrayal of the foul mouthed Hit-Girl raised the bar for her fellow actors.

Comic book movies have recently become a staple of American cinema in the last decade. Studios rush to turn every property they can get their hands on into the next cash cow. Kick-Ass isn’t one of those movies. Sure, it’s based on a popular comic book, and it has costumed heroes in it, but it is also one of the most politically incorrect movies I’ve seen in a a long time. It combines dark humor and solid story telling in an almost seamless way that makes the film easy to watch.

While I did enjoy the movie, it did have one flaw that bugged me a bit. I wish a little more time would have been spent on getting to know the characters a little better, but I’m guessing the multiple story-lines made that a difficult task. Small complaints for a big movie.

If like me, your tired of the same old superhero fare, then do yourself a favor and check out Kick-Ass when it makes its way into a theatre near you on April 16th, because it is positively a killer film.

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