Review of Kick-Ass (2010) by Collin P — 26 May 2017

'KICK-ASS' was directed by Matthew Vaughn, stars Aaron Taylor- Johson, Chloe Grace Mortez and Chris Mintz-Plasse and is the story of a teenage boy who tries to become a fully fledged superhero. As his story unfolds, he meets new, amazing friends, make new, despicable enemies and, ironically enough, gets his 'Kick-Assed' multiple times.

What can I say about this movie that hasn't already been said? It's a fast paced, ultra-violent comic book movie starring a bloke in a green suit, a psychotic 14 year old and Batman. It's a fun movie, no doubt about that. It's competently shot, acted, directed and written and I guess I can recommend it. Chloe Grace Mortez steals the show as Hit Girl followed swiftly and competently by Aaron Taylor-Johnson and even Nicholas 'Not the Bees' Cage, who gives a surprisingly great performance , specially considering his recent track record. I do really adore how this movie is essentially Matthew Vaughn flipping off the 'child friendly' genre Superhero films are now seen as today. While it was made a tad bit before films such as 'Guardians of the Galaxy' and 'The Avengers', it still echoes the sentiment of how childish superhero movies have become and did a hilarious satire of the genre, over 6 years before 'Deadpool'.

This movie is first and foremost an origin story and it does that job exceptionally well. I know NOTHING about Kick-Ass from any comics so I can't comment on accuracy but I can say it was a great origin that rivals that of 'Iron Man' and 'Batman Begins'. There are some plot threads that aren't solved throughout the movie, none of which I'll spoil but there are a few that, while maybe not needing closure, would have been nice to get closure on.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson provides his best performance as the titular character 'Kick-Ass' and made the character so much more interesting that he ought to be. Despite his efforts, Taylor-Johnson was outshone by Chloe Grace Mortez' amazing performance as Hit Girl and stole every single scene she was in. Hit Girl was, easily, the best character in the movie and I could even see a movie being made about her. Nicholas 'HOW'D IT GET BURNED' Cage was surprisingly great as Batman and played his character well. The Human Bear Suit provided a cheesy, fun performance and really smashed home the films tone. While Chris Mintz-Plasse was good as Red Mist, I don't think his character was less necessary to this movie than spray tan is to Supreme Leader Trump. Mark Strong was passable as Frank D'Amico but he wasn't too strong of a villain. Lyndssey Fonseca was very weak as Katie and provides less use than to this movie than the Death Stare did to Clinton's campaign.

This movie was mostly well shot and edited but I didn't like some rapid sequences of quick cuts which I personally think harmed the movie more than aided it. The effects in this movie were very mediocre. That costume design, however, is more on point than the costume design of Nazi Germany in WW2.

The action for this movie was amazing and it was genuinely hilarious. There were jokes in this movie were I laughed more than I did on 11th August 2014(what I was watching 'Aladdin'). In all seriousness, this movie achieved a genuinely great balance between sorrowful moments and funny moments.

One minor gripe I have with this movie is the music. None of the music fit in with the scenes and none of it actually worked well in the movie.

In conclusion, this movie is funny, action packed, contains sorrowful moments and is a solid 8/10. I do recommend you see this movie if you can take the ultra violence and enjoy this humour.

8/10.

Would Recommend.