Review of Kick-Ass 2 (2013) by Rick S — 04 Jul 2014

The first Kick Ass was memorable because it wasn't afraid to be predictable and go to places other movies hadn't gone to before. The violence was dark but comical at the same time and the characters were likable. However, the main character wasn't nearly as appealing as the supporting characters.

Kick Ass 2 goes to whole different levels. It isn't as comical, but still has its fair share of funny moments, and the violence seems much darker and, well, violent. There's much more emotion and the characters development is done well. However, the violence seems like too much at points. Instead of it seeming comical and totally relevant to the moment in the movie, the writers seemed like they just tried to amp up the violence to be crazier than the original, without it even fitting into the moment. Due to this, the violence seems like too much and out of place in many moments. It also never takes a moment to breathe when the ball gets rolling and gets a little too serious and realistic for a comic book movie that's making fun of serious, realistic movies. Kick Ass is also the least interesting character here, and when Hit Girl is off the screen, the movies seems much less interesting, even if Hit Girls side story seems a little out of place when it turns into "Mean Girls". Jim Carrey is also not used to his full potential and never really has a memorable scene.

In the end, I thought the violence was awesome in many moments and it was funny, but the movie doesn't change many of the faults of the original, and tries too hard to be serious the second time around with some violence that doesn't seem as comical or appropriate in many scenes. The hero's constantly losing gets tiring and predictable, and because it tries so hard to be unpredictable all the time, it falls into it's own cliches. However, I still mostly enjoyed it, but my biggest complaint was that some of the jokes (rape, beheading of dog, etc) seemed like it took it too far and that the comical violence didn't fit into the serious tone, and just seemed a little distasteful in some scenes. I'm a huge violent movie junky, and something about this movie irked me in the wrong way in terms of its violence at times.

Good: Strong perfomances.

Some good laughs.

Good new supporting characters.

Good villian.

Good action scenes.

Some good violence.

Bad: So unpredictable, it's predictable.

When hit girl is gone, so is the charm of the movie.

The tone of the violence compared to the movie makes the violence seem unpleasant in many scenes, not comical.

Too much like the first.

Takes it too far, even for a violent movie junky as myself.

Jim Carrey is good, but not used to his full potential.