Review of Kick-Ass 2 (2013) by Dwrlewis — 15 Aug 2013

The night before I went to see kickass 2 I was seriously getting concerned looking at the reviews being so low, so naturally I walked in a little sceptical. walking out though I realised critic reviews aren't as reliable as they may seem...

I'll start with what's good. The humour in the first was one of the best bits, and I really never expected it to get better, but if there's ones thing kickass 2 excels at, its making you laugh. Christopher Mintz-Plasse especially is brilliant throughout, I don't think a scene went by with him that wasn't complete gold.

Mindy's going through high school I initially didn't like the idea of after seeing the trailers, but you'll be surprised how well it works. It doesn't deteriorate into a crappy high school teen drama, and you still get your fair share of hit girl being a complete badass whilst getting some really good character development that she lacked in the first.

The fight scenes are mostly good (MOSTLY) and they don't make the mistake of over choreographing to the point it feels like its trying to be an actual super hero film (AGAIN, MOSTLY).

Aaron once again gives a good performance as kickass, and the edition of Jim Carey (although i'm still a little surprised at his change of support) was a much welcomed replacement for big daddy.

Now for the bad. The biggest problem I had with this sequel that just wouldn't stop bugging me was it walked the line of parody and actual super hero movie. there's times it just takes itself WAY too seriously, to the point where I thought I might as well be watching spider man, and it takes away a lot of the charm of the original kickass.

I mentioned the fight scenes were mostly good. MOSTLY. There's been some shaky camera use added to fight scenes that only makes it look like cloverfield, and there's also this one particular scene from the trailer where Mindy is fighting on top of a van. This is that one particular scene that definitely went too far with the choreography that just failed to work.

Finally, although a minor point, I felt like kickass 2 had too many characters. you get completely flooded with heroes to the point hey become generic, when they could have just used the colonel, night battle guy and doctor gravity as supporting cast, with the rest turning up for the final fight. in contrast the only really memorable supporting villian is mother Russia, so whilst the main cast is great, supporting cast wasn't well executed.

Overall though, I liked kickass 2. It lost some of its charm along the way, and occasionally borders a typical hero movie, but it compensates with exceptional humour, fight scenes and a decent story to boot. I'd definitely hope to see a sequel, and that, despite the critic reviews, the fan support will allow it to be made.