Kick-Ass (2010)

I've only been reading comic books for about two years now, but I'd loved superheroes long before then. Even as a kid, I was enthralled with the idea of having incredible abilities and using them to save the day. I'd tie a blanket around my neck and run around my house, pretending I was Batman or Superman. And I know I wasn't the only kid like that, either.

But it's been a long time since I was a kid, and in that time, superheroes have become a lot more mainstream. With superheroes having tons of success in movie theaters and on TV this past decade, it's become cool to be a fan. It's even reached the point where people are putting on their own colored costumes and performing citizen's arrests of muggers and drug dealers.

However, the idea of these real-life superheroes didn't really make any sort of real impact on the comic book industry until 2008, when writer Mark Millar and artist John Romita Jr. created the book Kick-Ass. Published by Icon Comics, an imprint of Marvel Comics dedicated to creator-owned books, Kick-Ass tells the tale of a comic book fan who chooses to follow in the footsteps of his favorite characters and become the first real-life superhero. It's a fun read, and when it was eventually translated into a movie, that element of fun was carried over to the adaptation as well.

Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) is your average high school student. He doesn't fit in with any of the usual cliques or teenage stereotypes, and is invisible to practically everyone outside of his small circle of friends. While perusing the shelves of the local comic book shop, he begins wondering why nobody's ever tried becoming a superhero before. You don't absolutely need superpowers to help people, right? His friends have a good laugh at the idea, but Dave can't let it go. He ultimately chooses to take a little initiative and become a hero himself.

Donning an ugly green wetsuit and mask he bought online, Dave hits the streets looking for a crime to stop. His first outing, though, is a miserable failure. He is badly beaten, stabbed, and hit by a car. Dave spends weeks in the hospital being pieced back together, but emerges undeterred in continuing his new life as a masked vigilante.

His next time out, he succeeds in saving a man from a gang's attack. A video of Dave battling the gang ends up on YouTube, quickly becoming an Internet sensation and making Dave a folk hero known as Kick-Ass. The popularity of the YouTube video prompts others to become superheroes as well. Among them are Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage) and Hit-Girl (Chloë Grace Moretz), a lethal father/daughter duo systematically killing anyone and everyone involved with the drug ring overseen by mob boss Frank D'Amico (Mark Strong).

Blaming Kick-Ass for the attacks on his operations, D'Amico tasks his thugs with killing the green-suited hero. However, his son Chris (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) has a different idea. Adopting the superhero persona of "Red Mist," Chris sends Dave a message about forming a partnership in order to lure him out. Big Daddy and Hit-Girl soon become involved as well, leading to a series of events that culminate in a bloody war where asses will most definitely be kicked.

I will confess that I hadn't heard of the Kick-Ass comic book prior to the announcement that the movie's production had begun. I quickly hunted down the comic and loved it, and between it and the movie's trailers, I was super-excited to see some live-action Kick-Ass. I was a bit worried, though, that it might follow in the footsteps of Wanted, another movie based on a Mark Millar comic. Wanted was a joyless, mean-spirited disappointment of a movie, so I was hoping that Kick-Ass wouldn't end up being more of the same.

However, I'm proud to say that I was wrong. Kick-Ass definitely does kick ass. It is a tremendously fun movie that I can't say enough good things about. It's everything I could have wanted out of a movie based on that particular comic. It's funny, violent, exciting, and treats superhero conventions with both respect and irreverence. While fuddy-duddies like Roger Ebert are getting on their high horses and calling Kick-Ass a morally reprehensible piece of crap, the movie actually is an over-the-top dream for fanboys, geeks, and lovers of action and dark comedy.

Helming Kick-Ass is Matthew Vaughn, who I felt did a fantastic job in bringing the comic book to life. He gives the movie an energy than never lets up once it gets rolling. The movie's brisk pace doesn't allow it to become boring, and with the efforts of cinematographer Ben Davis and the rest of the production crew, the movie is a treat to watch.

The music is equally awesome too. Vaughn puts a rocking soundtrack and cues from movies like For a Few Dollars More, 28 Days Later, and Stardust to excellent use, and also gets a fabulous original score from Ilan Eshkeri. Eshkeri's music is nothing short of excellent, and really suits the movie well.

One of the trickier parts of making Kick-Ass, though, had to have been in writing it. The comic's initial run hadn't yet ended by the time the movie entered production, with its final issue not hitting store shelves until this past January. Yeah, it took them two years to release eight issues, during which time the movie had already been made. So I'm sure that writers Vaughn and Jane Goldman had a rough time actually putting it together. (Unless, that is, they had a little help from Mark Millar during the writing process.)

However, Vaughn and Goldman have knocked it out of the park. Naturally, there are some differences between the movie and the comic book, but these changes don't have any negative effect on the movie. They all fit within the tone and scope of the movie they were making. Even the insane moments they added to the climax make things even more exciting and just plain awesome.

The best part of the script is that Vaughn and Goldman actually put the focus on the primary characters, shining a light on who they are and not just what they do. This is most evident in the handling of Kick-Ass, Big Daddy, and Hit-Girl. Obviously, it should be Dave who gets the lion's share of the character development, since it's technically his movie. But Big Daddy and Hit-Girl are given plenty of time to shine as well, and as they develop, they become more likable and entertaining. It's not hard to enjoy them and Kick-Ass, as Big Daddy and Hit-Girl represent the excitement of superheroics, and Kick-Ass is whom many within the movie's target audience will relate to. And that just shows how well the writing works.

What also works well is another tricky part of making the movie, the casting. Each of the actors hired for the movie bring their A-game, all of them playing their roles to perfection. In the lead role of Kick-Ass is Aaron Johnson, a British actor who is a relative unknown here in the United States. He's perfect for the part, playing the role with both the courage and cluelessness that the character needs. Kick-Ass is the movie's emotional center, a regular kid who finds himself neck-deep in a situation even he knows he could have avoided. Johnson is believable, making the character's fear, exhilaration, and fake bravado look 100% natural.

Playing our villains are Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Mark Strong. While Mintz-Plasse will probably be forever recognized solely as the dorky "McLovin" from Superbad, his performance in Kick-Ass goes along way in establishing another character he could be known for. You could argue that he's basically playing McLovin if he were the son of a mob boss and pretending to be a superhero, but Mintz-Plasse is funny and entertaining in the role.

Strong is also very good, playing his second consecutive villain after coming off Sherlock Holmes this past December. Strong is vicious yet charismatic, giving the movie exactly what it needed in a bad guy. He does a fine job, even if the other characters are the movie's primary focus.

But as good as everyone else is, the movie is completely stolen by Nicolas Cage and Chloë Grace Moretz. If the entire movie had been about them and their characters, I wouldn't have minded at all. (In fact, they kinda end up becoming the focus of the movie towards the end.) Cage may be dressed as Christian Bale's Batman, but he talks like Adam West's Batman, which makes him infinitely more amusing. He's obviously having the time of his life here, and it's contagious. Cage is tremendously funny when he has to deliver dialogue, and totally badass when he has to get down to business, which is why I'd call him one of the best parts of the movie.

If anyone can top Cage, though, it's Moretz. Only twelve years old when the movie was filmed, Moretz is tasked with playing a foul-mouthed tyke who racks up a rather impressive body count. Her fight scenes are some of the most memorable parts of the movie, and her dialogue is some of the funniest. I don't know what's so funny about a 12-year-old girl in a bright purple wig swearing like a sailor, but I laughed my head off nearly every time Moretz said a word. She is wonderful as Hit-Girl, giving a performance that is charming and straight-up cool.

The party poopers can say what they want about it, but I'm here to tell you the truth: Kick-Ass kicks ass. It serves notice to the entire superhero genre: you don't have to be lame like Hancock, and you don't have to be bleak and depressing like The Dark Knight or Watchmen. It's a movie that any adult who calls themselves a fan of the genre should see. On my patent-pending Five-Star Sutton Scale, I'll gladly give Kick-Ass four stars and my proud seal of approval. And if anyone wants to make a spinoff starring Hit-Girl, I wouldn't argue with that.

Final Rating: ****