Review: Kick-Ass

When I began this blog I decided that I would try to post real reviews. Reviews that would be as professional and well thought out as possible. They would be considered, thorough and above all else would not descend into crass, nonsensical hyperbole.

With Kick-Ass such restraint isn't possible. It will literally melt your face.

Just as Mark Millar's already classic comic book series was a giant love letter to comic books, Matthew Vaughn's adaptation is an ode to comic book movies. It is a comedy but it is never a parody, never a spoof. It is a bonefide superhero movie, homaging, borrowing from and celebrating what came before it.

And it Kicks Ass.

The story (gleefully aware of how familiar it is) is your typical superhero origin story, but it begins with everyteen Dave Lizewski asking a question; Why aren't there superheroes in real life? It's a good question. So good in fact that Dave directly challenges the audience, demanding that you admit you've either thought about it or indeed fantasised about it. Tired of waiting Dave tries it himself and after quickly and painfully finding out EXACTLY why people don't fight crime in spandex, simply carries on and discovers that he may not be the first to try it after all.

In a perfect alternate world Aaron Johnson would have been cast as Peter Parker in Spiderman. Dave openly admits that he is Peter Parker without "the radioactive spider" and Johnson is hilarious in the role. Dave is as typical a geeky teen as you can find, awkward, uncertain, invisible to girls but he has conviction and determination. What starts as just fantasy soon becomes an addiction. When he takes on a trio of gang bangers beating somebody, and furiously tells them he would rather die than walk away you believe him, and in that moment he stops pretending. It's Uncle Ben dying, it's Tony Stark getting captured, it's Thomas and Martha Wayne getting shot. Johnson pulls off the transition and crucially keeps the balance throughout the film.

Director Matthew Vaughn does the same. Kick-Ass was a labour of love for Vaughn, after every studio he pitched to demanded the violence be toned down he raised the money himself. The film is uncompromising and the enthusiam shining through the screen is almost tangible. Kick-Ass plays as if John Woo directed a Judd Apatow movie. The film is hysterical but at the same time Vaughn proves himself a formidable action director. Some of the set pieces in this film need to be seen to be believed; bullets fly as do kitchen utensils, legs are severed and heads explode. What is remarkable is how he ably ramps up the action throughout the film. Far too often with films like this they race through the third act having delivered the big set piece at the end of the second typically leading to a disappointing anticlimax. Not so with Kick-Ass, Vaughn sets the pace expertly with each action beat eclipsing the last right until the closing minutes, leaving you salivating for the next installment.

Of course the main attraction is a foul mouthed, blood thirsty eleven year old named Hit-Girl. Played with astonishing gusto by Chloe Moretz, Hit Girl (or Mindy Macready) lands like a hydrogen bomb, instantly becoming one of the most iconic film characters in recent memory. One part Uma Thurman in Kill Bill, one part Abigail Breslin in Little Miss Sunshine she is a five foot whirlwind in a purple wig. Certain, more conservative organisations have already voiced their outrage at the violence and profanities circling her (and make no mistake, there are profanities. I'm even convinced a decision was made to reign back everyone else's language to make hers all the more noticeable) but that's the point. Hit Girl is meant to shock, she's supposed to be controversial. When people take the bait like that it makes a character like Hit Girl all the more entertaining. What annoys me so much is that such a controversy might over-shadow Moretz's incredible performance. I would imagine that John Morrisey of The Australian Family Association hasn't seen Kick-Ass, if he had he would see that Moretz is a mature, intelligent young actress fully aware of the role she is playing and the darkly comic tone of her character. Nobody is laughing at Hit Girl because she is a sweary eleven year old, we're laughing because Chloe Moretz is very funny and remarkable in the role.

And welcome back Nic Cage. Where the hell have you been? Looking back over his filmography these days could reduce you to tears but dry those eyes, because he's returned with avengeance. He plays Hit-Girl's superhero father Darren Macready and it is absolutely his best performance in years. Darren and Mindy have, to say the least, an odd relationship, when we first meet them he puts her in body armour and shoots her in the chest, then he takes her bowling. The dynamic is adorable and as their backstory is revealed, heartbreaking. Macready is quite clearly insane but he loves his daughter dearly and will do anything to protect her. As Macready, Cage turns in a soft gentle performance, when he dons his costume and becomes Big Daddy however he takes it to another level completely. Everybit as entertaining as Hit Girl, Cage plays Big Daddy like Adam West if he was playing the Punisher. It's an astonishing dual performance both eye wateringly funny and yet fearsome, perfectly in keeping with the tone of the film.

This film is just about perfect. Are there any downsides? Yes, having seen Kick-Ass the knowledge that Matthew Vaughn didn't direct X-Men 3 now physically pains me rather than just irks me. I love this film unreservedly. When I finished watching it I would have happily walked straight into another screening. I can't remember the last time I came out of a film everybit as excited as when I went in.

Never has a movie's title been so apt.