May be neck and neck with The Dark Knight as my favorite Super hero movie!
Kick-Ass (2010)
Directed By: Matthew Vaughn (Layer Cake)
The Prologue
I think we have made it well and clear that I am a nerd right? I read comics, I watch wrestling, and I have a movie blog so clearly I’m among the fellowship of the nerd. And I have of course read the comics of Kick-Ass well before this little movie here ever came out. So I knew what should happen in the movie given that the issues I have read were to be the plot of the movie. And I’m happy to report that for the most part the movie did follow along with the comics.
Of course there’s a few minor gripes I have I can’t get into without spoilers but I will say that this movie does indeed Kick-Ass..sorry for the bad pun.
The Movie
Dave wants to be a super hero. Dave also wants to win the heart of Katie. However he lacks any powers and nobody really knows who he is at his school. But that’s all hopefully about the change for Dave as he decided he IS going to be a super hero anyway. This of course leads to more trouble than the poor guy ever bargained for. Especially when he runs across two heroes that are way better at the job than he is. If you want a good comparison to how Kick-Ass is, think what it would have been like had The Punisher went at the mob without having a clue what he was doing.
The charm of the Kick-Ass comic book is more or less kept in the film and I am very happy of that. Dave Lizewski isn’t a kid with super powers of any kind. He is just a normal guy way in over his head. The movie keeps to that. The only major grip I have with this film is the way it altered the story of Katie, the girl he is head over heels in love with. Sure once his first attempt at being a hero ends up with him found naked and laid out in the street, Katie hears the rumor he’s gay and wants to make him her “gay best friend”. However there are other parts that added to the charm of the character of Dave that gets a little “Hollywood” do over in the film version when it comes to this part of the plot. I just wish they had kept that like it was in the comics.
Besides that folks we have a AWESOME film packed with great characters and great dialogue. Nickolas Cage as Big Daddy is just fine and may be the best role I’ve seen the man play in many years. McLovin himself Christopher Mintz-Plasse does a great job of finally playing a character that isn’t McLovin Lite and everyone else does just fine to. But the person to who hands down takes the cake is Chloe Moretz who play Hit-Girl, the foul mouthed bad ass kid in the film! Hit-Girl isn’t as childish in the movie as she is in the comic but it’s better here rest a sure as this kid can act her ass off.
As a matter of fact from the handling of Big Daddy to the way Hit-Girl acts, I actually like the movie more so than I do the comic. Like I said above, the storyline with Dave and Katie was the only change I didn’t care for. But that doesn’t hold this movie down as it’s action packed, fun, and full of blood and guts! I hate that this film didn’t do as well as it should have when it was released because I think the majority of people missed out on a new classic. Perhaps when the film comes out on DVD/Blu Ray in August people will finally learn to appreciate Kick-Ass.
Now the movie may be a little too violent for some considering there’s like a 12 year old using foul words and poppin’ bad guys in the head. There’s for sure a % of folks that won’t like that and won’t care for that. However for people like you and me you’ll be re-watching this film time and time again as well as showing it to your friends who may not be “in the know” when it comes to Kick-Ass.
It makes you laugh, it holds your attention, and it has enough suspense to make you wiggle in your chair a bit so what’s not to like about this film? Next to The Dark Knight this is my favorite comic book movie. I love it more than I do the comic, and that’s a lotta love considering how I feel about the comic. One way or another folks, if you have yet to see this film go see it. This could perhaps be the best film of the year period.
The Conclusion
WOOOoooooo! What a movie! Like I said it’s set to be out on the DVD shelf in August so I hope you people are all cool and form a line around mid-night to snatch yourself a copy of this. Maybe it went under the radar when it was released but this is a film that will be talked about for years to come. I think down the road when it comes to comic book movies you’ll be hearing Spider-Man 2, The Dark Knight, and Kick-Ass.
To hell with Superman, I hate that bastard.
The Rating (9.5/10)
Chucks website
