Review of Kick-Ass 2 (2013) by Chris B — 02 Jul 2015

The first Kick Ass was well, kick ass. Mainly because of Big Daddy and Hit Girl. And let's be honest, mostly because of Hit Girl. The rest of the heroes? Ehhh not so much. Let's face it, they are no match to Hit Girl and Kick-Ass was pretty much a geek with a mask. Imagine Urkel or Screetch taking to the streets to fight crime, and that's pretty much what it's like.

Chloe Grace Moretz and Aaron Taylor-Johnson reprise their roles ass Hit Girl and Kick Ass respectively. The only new hero I liked was Colonel Stars and Stripes, played by Jim Carrey. The fact that you really can't recognize him as Jim Carrey throughout the movie is a credit to his acting. Carrey is a better actor than most give him credit for.

In this installment, Kick Ass and Hit Girl are considering hanging up the mask and purple wig. This plays out rather dully and is a huge disappointment. The reason why? Because you have Hit Girl trying to fit in at school rather than stabbing and killing people. That's the bread and butter of Kick Ass, watching a fifteen year old take out people double her size and triple her age.

And I found this movie leaning too hard on immature humor, i.e. poop jokes, morning wood, and anal beads (Ok, the anal beads were funny). They are gearing up for the younger audiences, even though the movie is rated R. I don't know if that means anything today, but I remembered when I was a kid, if it was rated R, I wasn't allowed watching it. Today, it's the exact opposite. Kids want to see it because it's rated R.

Do the ticket salesmen at the movie care about the ratings? Do they let teenagers in to see Rated R movies? This is something I don't know. But if it's anything like one of my local cineplexes, teenagers themselves sell the tickets. So I doubt they care who's seeing the movie.

So when an R rated film tries to cater to young audiences, I find that offensive. You know what else is offensive? Not Hit Girl, that's for sure. And so lies the problem. If you thought the first movie was violent, this makes that movie look like a Comic-Con convention. And therein lies another problem. With so many ruthless murders, stabbings, and ridiculous lawn mowerings, who really wins this battle? It isn't the audience, that's for sure.

So to sum it all up, immature humor, aimed at a younger audience, check. Nerds and a pair of parents trying to fight crime. Check. Over the top killings? Check. Tons of Hit Girl action. Uncheck. There was honestly one scene that gave me the satisfaction of watching Hit Girl taking on her foes. The rest of the movie, quite frankly, didn't kick ass.