The
original Kick-Ass is all high-octane
violence, outrageous twists, and a sly blend of the insane and ridiculous with
the ordinary. It’s definitely an
experience, and I don’t think the sequel matches it. It’s not a bad movie – many a follow-up has
failed to deliver on the promise of its predecessor – but the tone isn’t
handled as well, and it doesn’t use its best asset, Chloë Grace Moretz’s
Hit-Girl, nearly as much as it should.
In the
years since the first film, masked crime-fighting has become the latest fad,
and the streets are full of DIY heroes.
Dave starts out with the intention of training seriously under the
punishing tutelage of Hit-Girl, but when certain obligations force her to get
out of the game, he finds himself lending the Kick-Ass mantle to a poor man’s
Justice League. As in the previous
movie, though, his notoriety in the criminal underworld is much bigger than his
competence strictly merits, and his presence on the team soon makes them the
target of a super-villain.
Obviously,
sidelining Hit-Girl for a big chunk of the movie does it no favors. Watching her attempt normal teenage stuff and
deal with the Mean Girls at school is fine, but it’s not nearly as much fun as
watching her acrobatically dispatch lowlifes while she curses like a sailor and
shows off her swagger. So, her own plots
are less entertaining, and many action scenes fall short of top-tier without
her unique brand of deadly, balls-to-the-wall fighting. For narrative purposes, I can understand it;
if she was helping out Kick-Ass and his less-than-impressive comrades, all
their problems would be solved a lot sooner.
Still, from a viewer standpoint, it’s disappointing.
Aside
from that major sin, though, it’s pretty enjoyable. I don’t find it quite as funny as the
original – at times, it seems to take itself a bit too seriously – but it still
has a lot of irreverent humor, and I like the gallery of new heroes and
villains. (Jim Carrey’s Col. Stars and
Stripes and Donald Faison’s Dr. Gravity stand out among the good guys, and for
the baddies, Olga Kurkulina’s Mother Russia is the clear MVP.) The animosity between Kick-Ass and the main
villain is believably established, and while none of the big action set pieces
match the ludicrous heights of Hit-Girl’s introductory fight in the first film,
there’s some cool fighting to be had.
Just a
bit more on Hit-Girl, because even when they don’t use her to her full
potential, I still love her. I like
that, among the snapshots of trial-by-fire high school stuff she gets, we see
her discovering her sex drive. Don’t get
me wrong – I love that she was a little girl in the first movie, totally
desexualizing the usually hyper-sexualized role of the BAMF female assassin,
but this scene is focused on her
feelings, not anyone else’s feelings for her.
Hard, detached Hit-Girl is bowled over by a sensation she’s never
experienced before, and this isn’t a moment we usually see for teen girls. We see them crushing and loving, requitedly
or otherwise, and sexual feelings can go hand in hand with this, but it’s rare
to see a girl feeling turned-on for the first time, especially in a scenario
that’s wholly separate from romantic attraction. Very interesting.
Warnings
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