Violence doesn't merely escalate in the film, it consumes all. Chris refashions his mother's S&M gear into a costume, and reinvents himself as the world's first super-villain, adopting a name which, in the '80s, would have been dubbed on British television as "The Melon Farmer." These three plots plod along in a tale of vengeful one-upmanship to eventually converge in one of the least interesting action scenes of recent times.Īt its most basic level, the film feigns concern towards how revenge can be a bottomless pit. Meanwhile, Mindy joins a group of her own when she hangs up her purple Hit-Girl outfit, and starts to attend high-school: a triumvirate straight out of " Mean Girls," who take her under their wing for "re-education."Ī further subplot involves Chris D'Amico ( Christopher Mintz-Plasse), former sidekick to Kick-Ass, who has gone into the family business after Dave murdered his mob-boss father in the previous film in a particularly spectacular manner. When he is finally turned down, Dave joins with Colonel Stars and Stripes ( Jim Carrey)-an ex-mobster turned crime fighter, around whom a ragtag group of vigilantes has mobilized in an orgy of self-affirmation. The 17-year-old high-schooler Dave Lizewski ( Aaron Taylor-Johnson) still midnights as the titular hero, all the while trying to convince the orphaned 15-year-old Mindy a.k.a. Written and directed by Jeff Wadlow, the film kicks off a few years after the end of the previous film.
What sinks "Kick-Ass 2" from the level of a merely terrible end-of-summer movie to the depths of utter junk is its wanton disregard of the very basic difference between right and wrong. On the whole, though, "Kick-Ass" wasn't a very good movie. This father-daughter team of benevolent psychopaths was a highlight not necessarily because of the characters, but because of the obvious quirkiness of the actors and their chemistry. Equally interesting was the pairing of Nicolas Cage and the then pre-teen Chloë Grace Moretz as Big Daddy and Hit-Girl, respectively.
The film's philosophy and its approach towards justice was problematic, but Vaughn had a deftness of touch that propelled the story. Superheroes overpower their opponents with brute force, and as such are the most hideous display of power-worship.ĭirected by Matthew Vaughn and based on the work of former enfant terrible of comics, Mark Millar, 2010's " Kick-Ass" was a transgressive take on the superhero concept, exploring a world where comic book nerds of various ages and intellects donned skin-tight costumes to fight mobsters. The word fascist is frequently misapplied, but it does fit with the superhero aesthetic, which is about one thing and one thing only: violence. The various shades of grey that line the surface of apparently "deeper" superhero films, such as Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy, are mere distractions from the utter ridiculousness of the core concept: a man in a costume fighting crime! As such, taking superhero fare seriously amplifies both its absurdity and fascist overtones. The superheroes present a very simple solution to the complexities of the modern world. Why is it possible to soberly dissect melodramas, thrillers, even comedies-is it because they rank as "high culture," and are therefore immune to petty, juvenile arguments? Or is it because superheroes have somehow become the embodiment of popular culture and consequently impossible to doubt, for fear the whole lot may crumble away? If a critic takes a superhero movie seriously and chastises it for its shortcomings, fans pounce with the age-old mantra: "It's only a comic book film!" But if the critic dismisses a superhero movie, the fans shout: "There is real meaning to this work, and you are biased." As such, the critic can't win. These films have a tightly knit audience.
But don't see this reprehensible movie.Ĭriticizing superhero films tends to put the reviewer slightly lower on the ladder of popularity than the bloke that shot Bambi's mother. the target audience of this movie, I feel it is my duty to say: Don't see this film. But for those with horrid taste in cinema, questionable politics, and terribly short attention spans, i.e. I would like to get that pertinent fact out of the way before we discuss it properly. "Kick-Ass 2" is one of the year's worst films.