"Kick Ass" Review Thread

[Too Much Fun]

This is one weird movie, tone-wise. It may be the first movie in which the level of violence really disturbed me, partially because of how vicious it was, and partially because its viciousness seemed out of place. I'm generally pretty desensitized to violence and I tend to enjoy really over-the-top violence. I laughed gleefully at how gruesome the kills in "The Thing", "Sin City", and "Kill Bill" were, but here, they just rubbed me the wrong way.

I especially hated the scenes where Kick-Ass is beaten by thugs, and the scene where he and Big Daddy are tortured live on the Internet (aside from Cage's screamed words, which were oddly both funny and sad at the same time). The violence was well-shot (with bits like knees going right into the camera), but sickeningly graphic. Kick-Ass taking a baseball bat to the groin sucked.

And those scenes where Hit Girl eviscerates henchmen while some ironically chipper song played in the background were so much better in trailers than they were in the movie. When they happened in the movie, I quickly got tired of the maiming and just wished I could hear the songs by themselves. I liked Hit Girl's costumes, her attitude, and her swearing, but her action sequences weren't the enthralling, Kill Bill-esque thrill rides I expected them to be.

The movie was funny at times and I liked all of the characters and actors (especially Nicolas Cage as Big Daddy) as well as the love story, but the violence was distracting in the worst way. I just didn't think its brutality fit in with the more cheerful, comedic tone of other scenes and the violence just made the movie feel off to me. The rocket launcher bit was cute, though. I think it ended nicely and a sequel would be unnecessary, even if the last line is setting one up. It's like the end of "Goldmember". Yeah, Scott Evil is clearly poised to take over as the new villain of the series replacing Dr. Evil, but does anyone really want to see that?

 

[Davros]

I like this movie more with each additional viewing.

 

[Admiral_Young]

I've seen it three times now and each time I get the same amount of enjoyment from it that I had when I first saw it. It in my top three most anticipated films of this year and will most likely be among my favorite films of the year. I was skeptical about the casting of "Mr. Wooden" (my own personal nick name for Nic Cage) as Big Daddy but his satirical take on the character is terrific. It was clear from his performance that he was really passionate about this role and it shows in the film. I just love everything about the movie.

 

[stj]

I thought the Kick Ass love thread could use a dissenting view pointing out how corny so much of the movie is. The observation that Hit-Girl's crudity and sadomasochistic sexuality is unpleasant in one respect is a matter of taste (not mine.)

The claim that issues about Hit-Girl's sexuality are purely imaginary are just flat out wrong. The movie itself makes a joke about one of the nerdlings getting hot for Hit-Girl. Yes, he quickly claims he'll wait a few years. That's another example of hanging a lantern as far as I'm concerned. The movie makes a preemptive strike on the issue of Hit-Girl's sexuality, trying to deflect it away from it's hero. This is not satire, this is not humor. Well, Hit-Girl killing and cursing is somehow supposed to be funny. The movie is dead serious about how cool Hit-Girl is. There is not one iota of satire or irony in the movie's admiration of Hit-Girl. The one thing you can not honestly claim is that there is no issue, not when the movie itself explicitly raises the question.

Part of the happy ending for conquering hero Dave is that he gets Hit-Girl in his HS with him. What for? Not to be his little sister, not (allegedly) to mentor him in superheroing. Perhaps to mentor him in family, to protect him, to admire him, in short to love him. Yeah, like a brother.

Nolan's Batfilms...were praised for their back-to-basics, serious approach to Batman.

Because you are making an erroneous claim that the film set out to be realistic, when that was clearly not the case.

It clearly is the case that Kick Ass starts with a comedic deflation of superheroes. And by the end Hit-Girl is defying gravity. The belief that anyone can be "trained" to defy gravity suggests your view of reality have been damaged by too many movie FX. Also, no one honestly thought dead nerve endings only made it possible to take a punch. Nolan's movies never, ever let the real world in. And they were too praised as realistic. There were only a handful of people who tried to distinguish what they meant.

People didn't think Dave was raped. They thought he was pimping himself out and a deal went bad.

However in the world is this different from thinking he was gay? The father thought so, the nasty little girl friend thought so. It's true the audience wondered when Dave tried to make an approach to Chris but that was just a gay joke.

However, that is a moot point, as you make an erroneous claim that she had sex with patients. I'd like you to point out the specific line in the film that states that. (Spoiler: it's not there).

You mean when she said that she felt sorry for him when he told her about her background? And that she left him after he started to beat her? She didn't go out finding him. He was at the clinic and she felt sorry for him.

The movie clearly assumed the girl was sexually active. We saw the boyfriend. Let me guess: That girl thought he had a guard on the door because he was too sensitive for the world. Or, when she hung with him, trying to heal his wounded nature with (surely nonsexual love) the gang retinue discreetly hid in the hallway. Did you people even see the movie, or did the images send you off into some reverie watching your own, internal screen?

Dude? What the fuck?!

The movie tells us an eleven year old girl killing people is the coolest thing ever, and a geek becomes a true hero when he kills a man. But you think it's amazing someone would have issues with this? "Dude? What the fuck?!" indeed!

 

[God Magnus]

I thought the movie was hysterical. Nic Cage as Adam West as Big Daddy was worth the price of admission alone.

That entire scene was brilliant. Everything about it from Cage's posture, his gestures to the way the shots were framed were absolutely perfect.

 

[Trekker4747]

I thought the movie was hysterical. Nic Cage as Adam West as Big Daddy was worth the price of admission alone.

That entire scene was brilliant. Everything about it from Cage's posture, his gestures to the way the shots were framed were absolutely perfect.

One thing I loved is after Big Daddy and Hit Girl meet KickAss in his bedroom -after the scene in the gangsters' den- they tell him to be more careful but say he has promise and wants him to team up with them. When the conversation is over Big Daddy in a very Adam West Batman-ian way tells to come along, it's time to get back to headquarters.

 

[Admiral_Young]

@stj you do realize that the entire point of "Kick-Ass" is that it is a satire on comic books and a social commentary on violence and sex right? You say you wanted to point out how corny the film...ummm dur...that's kind of the point of the film or at least one of the themes that is explored.

 

[omgahitsbritt08]

The film seemed fun. I enjoyed it. I was sad when the girls father died. I cried. I cant believe I admitted to that.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

This film sucked. It was supposed to a satire of comic books and excessive violence and pop culture. Aside from the fact that these things, particularly the "why has no one tried to be a superhero for real?" aspect, are particularly dry and uninteresting and hardly worthy of the effort of satirizing, the filmmakers did not approach the material with any sense of craftsmanship a real satire deserves.

Here is how you make a real satire.

 

[JacksonArcher]

Well, I personally loved Kick-Ass, but at the same time I also loved Thank You For Smoking. So...eh.... what does that make me?

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

Even if you liked Kick Ass, you have to agree, that, as a satire, it has nothing on Thank You For Smoking. It's like talking about basketball and comparing Matt Stone to Michael Jordan. Kick Ass depends on satire via sledgehammer- throw it all up there without care, and that is satire. Smoking was a work of real craftsmen, who understood things like tone and wit.

 

[JacksonArcher]

Well, I definitely think Thank You For Smoking is an insanely clever film. However, while Kick-Ass may be very blunt, it's also a comic-book movie so I can kind of forgive the lack of subtlety.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

But it was a satire. It should have been beyond being a comic book film, not just another one. It should know the material, comment on it, be above it, and part of it. Even though I thought it was devoid of wit, they could have kept the script for Kick-Ass basically the same and made a better film if the director was truly up to the task of doing a satire.

 

[JacksonArcher]

Kick-Ass is all about creating this hyper-realistic world of superheroes based on pre-existing superhero mythologies. It is completely self-aware and a satirical look at the impact superheroes and comic-books has had on the comic-book fan populace.

Take, for example, one trivial but in my opinion significant scene in Kick-Ass (the shooting script, and not the graphic novel or film). Our titular hero Kick-Ass and Red Mist are riding in the Mistmobile and the script describes them driving to “Danny Elfman music”. There’s a special significance to this because here are wannabe superheroes. They’re essentially kids, as the story points out on numerous occasions. They aren’t superheroes; they just want to be superheroes.

Kick-Ass isn’t just your typical superhero story, or origin story, where our heroic lead goes through some tragedy and is transformed, leading to a quest to become the inevitable superhero. Kick-Ass, in fact, pokes fun at that very familiar and often necessary part of the origin story. Our hero, Dave Lizewski (such an ordinary name for a superhero…), doesn’t get bitten by a radioactive spider, or become endowed with mutant abilities, or arrive from an alien planet. Heck, even when his mother dies, it isn’t due to a mugger in an alley, but due to an aneurism. Kick-Ass takes the mundane and normal lives we have and attempts to make them extraordinary not because they are but because we as people want them to be. We fantasize about wearing superhero costumes and fighting crime to Danny Elfman music. Therein lays the brilliance of Kick-Ass.

Kick-Ass is essentially an encapsulation of being a nerdy comic-book fan and imagining all of this stuff. This is like the ultimate film for any comic-book fan.

 

[omgahitsbritt08]

Well, I havent read any comic books. So from a newbie point of view, if you haven't read any comic books, it was a good watch.

 

[Admiral_Young]

Comparing "Kick-Ass" to "Thank You for Smoking" defeats the purpose of "Kick-Ass"...they're both satires but on totally different subjects and approaches. If you didn't like the film you didn't like the film. I thought it was brilliant, not as good as the comic book, but still very good and as Jackson Archer stated it's the ultimate comic book movie. Matthew Vaughn had a great quote describing the film...but I've forgotten it now.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

I think comparing the two films is completely justified.. The reason is that Kick Ass is clearly trying to be satire. it is not meant to be just a comedy, as there are no real jokes, as indeed, the story progresses in a rather serious and straightforward manner, nor is it a spoof (though the green outfit, dorky character, and almost everything else reminded me of Superhero Movie). But as a satire it just doesn't feel inspired. It feels more like another superhero film, something the studio can plug into their bottom line. Whatever idea they had to satirize in the film, it seems that the people involved weren't too inspired by the idea, they didn't let it catch fire. With TYFS, they had this gem of an idea, and they peppered it with a bit of cynicism, a bit of comic timing (without turning to dumb jokes) with the idea that they can still make the characters real and interesting, and they wrote their script to kick as much ass as possible. Kick Ass eventually was merely concerned about the plot itself, who the bad guys were, how they found out about stuff, etc. There have been a lot of comic book films, and instead of truly satirizing them, merely emulating them, and they congratulate themselves by inserting Superbad-type humor, or reminding us that constantly that the hero has "many youtube hits" and a "facebook page" - these ideas for satire are not that great on their own, and they lame in their delivery.

Take the main character in each film, for example. The kid in kick-ass fit the role as written, and he delivered an adequate performance. However, since this is a satire, the performance felt unusually mundane, and dull. Satires are tricky, you can't just "fit" the part and deliver an adequate performance, you have to grab the part, take it seriously, and yet somehow, without winking to the camera, rise above the part itself and know that it can't be a real person there, but is instead more of exaggerated idea... the character isn't a person so much as a commentary on the subject given form.

 

[stj]

The thread that will not die!

Initially, Kick-Ass is deflated by some realism. This is nothing but lantern hanging, a little self congratulatory schmoozing of the audience about how "we" are too sophisiticated to buy into this BS. But Hit Girl and Big Daddy are played as totally competent from their first scene. The rest of Kick-Ass' story is matching their competence, climaxing when he becomes a man by killing someone.

Kick-Ass gets public acclaim, the love and adoration of both girls (even the ones who cling to the feeble hope there's nothing sexual about Hit Girl must concede at least she loves him like a sister!) and even the respect (love? Red Mist is pretty ambiguous,) of his costumed enemy, who tries to persuade gangster daddy not to kill such a nice fellow. This is a standard conquering hero fantasy, and there isn't a shred of satire.

 

[Admiral_Young]

How is it feeble to cling to the notion that Mindy and Dave are romantically interested in each other at all? Far as I've read through this thread the only person who has attempted to cling to this notion is you. I already pointed in an earlier post that Dave probably sees Mindy as a little sister at the end of the movie, and that they have established in their civilian identities a sibling relationship, while in their superhero guise she is his mentor and teacher. I don't have any problem in this and see nothing sexual in it. You are entitled to your opinion but I really don't think that is where Mark Millar or Vaughn was attempting to portray that relationship.

I never said that comparing the films wasn't justified, what I meant to say is that they're two completely different films, yes they're based on satire but they deal with two different subjects. If you are attempting to claim that "Kick-Ass" as a satire isn't funny and is boring then that's fine...I disagree completely. I and most the of the theater laughed through two thirds of the film, got all of the jokes, and reacted where they were supposed to. Perhaps you should read the graphic novel...the satire and commentary comes across a lot better in the book.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

there isn't a shred of satire

See I agree with this. I thought it was a comedy, but in the first laugh once, and i looked at my watch. I still didn't laugh as it went through. The script was rather dry.

I pointed it out to my buddies and they said it wasn't a comedy it was a satire, and there is a difference.

I agree that there is a difference. But as a satire, the story seems too heavily-plotted.