Review: Kick-Ass Is Just That
- May 11, 2018
- 2 min read
It’s a coming age with a super, not so super twist. A film that perfectly captures the teenage fantasy alongside the cruel reality of life. And it’s incredible.
Dave (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) is just your ordinary everyday teenager with big dreams. His dreams however, have little to do with future jobs, girls, or any of the usual stuff. Dave wants to be a superhero. So he buys a spandex suit and becomes Kick-Ass, a less than stellar individual. While some heroes have powers, and others have various gadgets, Dave has heart, and nothing else. But, following a viral video hit, Kick-Ass becomes an internet sensation. And with great fame comes no responsibility. However, while attempting to do some good, Dave comes across a dynamic duo, Hit-Girl (Chloe Grace-Moretz) and Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage), a father daughter crime fighting team, taking on crime boss Frank D’Amico (Mark Strong). And so Dave is pulled into a world far more violent than the one he thought he was in.
Kick-Ass is a film I can watch repeatedly, and never grow tired of. It’s so contagiously enjoyable in every way. From Nic Cage’s show stealing performance as a more lethal Batman, Chloe Grace’s Hit-Girl who is a stark contrast to every 12 year old girl ever put to film. Between the clever writing, excellent action and bright colours, it really does feel like it’s pulled from the pages of a comicbook. Director Matthew Vaughn has made a name for himself in the theatre of over-the-top parody style film, most recently with the Kingsman films. Kick-Ass however, is very different to his other work. While it retains the hyper-realism of Kingsman, along with the excessive violence, it features something that the majority of his films lack, an emotional centre.
The characters of Kick-Ass are more than the caricatures of Kingsman in that they’re real, actual people. Dave has all the issues you might expect from a teenager suddenly confronted with a brutal version of reality. Big Daddy and Hit-Girl have a far more complex relationship than things first appear, indeed it would seem that he has indoctrinated her as a child soldier. And it means that when things go wrong, you feel it, and it makes the climax all the greater for it.
With no power comes no responsibility. But that’s not written in stone. Kick-Ass may just be the greatest superhero film of all time. Not because of huge action scenes of deep villains but because it takes a simple concept, and executes it to near perfection. Kick-Ass is an undeniably fun film with some surprisingly emotional moments that make it so much more than what it says on the cover.
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