Kick-Ass (Lionsgate)
A Movie Only A Fan Boy Could Love
Despite all the hype and hoopla Kick-Ass is a movie aimed at a niche group of viewers and will not be welcomed by audiences across the board. It isnt just the stream of profanity from an eleven year old girls mouth, or the fact she gets beaten up by a man twice her size and weight, or that the violence is extreme; what really matters is that the movie overall is just lackluster entertainment.
The premise is promising. An ordinary teenage boy named Dave (Aaron Johnson) decides the world needs a super hero to help out those who are being attacked by the lower elements of society. Dave has no super powers but he does have a lot of heart, so he dons a costume of sorts and goes out to save the world calling himself Kick-Ass.
When he does this he discovers there are two other ordinary folk acting like super heroes. These are Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage) and his eleven year old daughter Hit Girl (Chloe Moretz). The object of their anger is a Mafia type crime boss named Frank DAmico (Mark Strong).
The film shows Kick-Ass going into battle and mostly getting beaten up. At one point he lands up in the hospital. His best moments come when he thinks he is partnering with Red Mist (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), but that hero is actually Frank DAmicos son.
The most controversial scenes in the film have Hit Girl spewing the dirtiest words she can wrap her mouth around. These are handled nonchalantly by her father, but not by the audience. It is also shocking when later in the film she is beaten up by Frank DAmico. Seeing a grown man attack and battle an eleven year old who has no super powers is not entertaining.
Still the main problem with the film is it drags in spots. An action movie should keep the audience engaged ninety per cent of the time and this film doesnt maintain that ratio. There are too many scenes set in the comic book shop and too much time wasted on the budding relationship between Dave and his girlfriend Katie (Lyndsy Fonseca).
The film is rated R for profanity and violence.
It is a certainty that the niche audience for which this film was intended will be satisfied and more. However in too many ways this movie is like Watchmen. That movie aimed for a broad audience but only was a hit with a select few (in relative terms). The internet may buzz about how excited fans are to see a movie like Kick-Ass but if it doesnt enjoy broad support then the dreams of high box office are just not going to come true.
I scored Kick-Ass a non-heroic 4 out of 10.
