Being a comic book fan I’m always somewhat hesitant about hearing how Hollywood is adapting a favorite series for the big screen. Luckily there have been some great movies, but far too many were well… not so great. Wanted was one of those in the latter. Mark Millar had a great mini-series but when it was adapted to the big screen it was an absolute mess. Terrible would be a kind description of Hollywood’s version of Wanted, and to make matters worse it got an endorsement from Millar. Maybe it was the money speaking, but having a work decimated like that would never garner an endorsement from me. So when I heard that they were going to adapt Millar’s latest mini-series, Kick-Ass, into a movie I became very skeptical.
Let’s forget the fact that the mini-series, some eight issues long, was not even completed until a few months ago. Well after filming was completed, or that Millar gave it his full endorsement. I was weary because part of me had the abomination of a movie called Wanted in the back of my mind. I was just thinking of the ways they were going to ruin Kick-Ass. Luckily many of my fears were alleviated after watching the movie, but there was one thing that stuck out that really bothered me.
Kick-Ass is about Dave Lizewski, played by Englishman Aaron Johnson, your stereotypical comic book geek in high-school. Invisible to girls, but attracting all sort of thugs who routinely mug him, Dave wonders why there are no real superheroes. After having his fill of muggings Dave decides to enter the superhero realm and creates Kick-Ass. Using a scuba suit and a pair of night sticks, Kick-Ass decides to take on crime around his neighborhood. Unfortunately it doesn’t go so well on his first outing, getting stabbed by his everyday muggers and then ran over by a car. Still, this doesn’t keep him down and a couple months later Kick-Ass is back patrolling the streets.
After gaining some notoriety Kick-Ass starts attracting all sorts of attention, and unfortunately some of it is from people who have no problem killing others. Kick-Ass also inspires others to take up the role of a superhero and we meet the father and daughter duo of Big Daddy, played by Nicholas Cage, and Hit Girl, played by Chloe Moretz. To say that Big Daddy and Hit Girl take vigilantism to the extreme would be an understatement. Hit Girl is as lethal as can be and has no problems putting a few rounds in the goons who work for Frank D’Amico, played by Mark Strong.
Adding to the mix is the Red Mist, played by Christopher Mintz-Plasse, who’s actually D’Amico’s son Chris. Trying to gain his dads favor and enter the family business Chris becomes the Red Mist in order to get to Kick-Ass, who they believe is destroying D’Amico’s drug business. Now I wouldn’t want to ruin more than I may have already so I’m going to leave the rest of the story alone so you can enjoy it. Instead there were a few things I wanted to touch on.
The acting, it was great. From Kick-Ass to Hit Girl and all the characters in between. Moretz really shined as Hit Girl, and yes even Nicholas Cage did a good job. Johnson’s debut to American audiences couldn’t have gone better, he really captured the comic book geek look well. From top down the acting was top notch and really added a more realistic, and not some over the top feel to the characters. This helped make the movie a bit more grounded, unlike some other movies where the villains are too over the top.
Director Matthew Vaughn was able to take a serious tone with Dave without making him farcical and that made the movie a little more believable, well about as believable a movie like this could get. He’s able to inject a ton of fun throughout the movie, balancing it finely with a ton of violence. It was surprising to note that while it’s super violent we never really see a lot of blood. You’ll see a lot of dead bodies, but the most blood you see is after Kick-Ass gets his ass kicked.
While I’ve been heaping praise on the movie I just need to nitpick for a minute. Having read the comic you get a little more background into the characters and you’re used to them acting a certain way. Obviously the transition to the big screen will have some differences, luckily nothing really changed during the transition. Unfortunately what did change was the last 3 issues of the series, which is basically the entire second half of the movie. The final fight scene, while great, was nothing like the comic. There were individuals who did things, specifically kill people, which totally felt cheap to me. Kick-Ass was about a kid who tried to be a hero, but ultimately failed at the physical part but succeeded in inspiring others. Here he crosses the line and actually does things you’d never thought him possible of doing. For some reason it didn’t feel right for me, but I digress. Thankfully it didn’t ruin the movie for me.
Yes, Kick-Ass is super violent, but get over it Robert Ebert. The previews show exactly what kind of movie this is, so if anyone goes into it thinking anything else they’re just fooling themselves. Kick-Ass is just that, a kick ass movie. It’s a fun movie where you get exactly what’s advertised. It doesn’t pretend to be anything different. Hell, even fans of the comic will enjoy it.
