Movie review: Kick Ass
4/21/2010
By Dan Pickles
Staff Writer
I enjoy a good vigilante movie as much as the next guy, and judging by the number of recent entries in the vigilante super-hero genre, the next guy must enjoy them quite a bit. 2009 brought the Watchmen back from the 80’s, and 2010 brings us Defendor, Super, and the subject of this week’s review, Kick Ass.
So, why the popularity? Why does the public suddenly love the idea of the everyman superhero?
It could be any number of reasons, really. Perhaps it’s the over-saturation of negative media in our brains, making us paranoid and fearful of people; perhaps we’re all anxiety-ridden and our lack of control is starting to terrify us so much as a population that we have a collective fantasy of violently exerting control on the world around us. Or maybe, just maybe, a generation of comic-nerds is coming to power in Hollywood and vomiting all of their sad, lonely basement fantasies onto the silver screen (which I say with the utmost affection, for these, if any, are my people).
Whatever the reason, something is at work bringing these movies to the forefront of popular culture. With that said, let’s talk Kick Ass, since that’s why we’re all here.
First, let’s take stock of what the movie has.
Socially awkward, yet somehow endearing nerd? Check.
Eleven year-old female superhero/sociopath? Check.
Super-villain? Check.
Hackishly created teenage love story? Double check (murder me, please).
These are the major players and concepts, more or less. Mix them all together and you get a very strange brew. Oddly, though, the mixture failed to create the chemistry for which I was hoping. Hit girl, though an interesting character, is hardly sympathetic given that she’s painted as an emotionless murderer from the beginning of the film (though, in my opinion, she is the most interesting of the characters). Kick Ass gets a little more depth, but never really becomes anything other than exactly what you’d expect.
The violence, which is so frequent and powerful that it deserves its own paragraph, is, well...frequent and powerful. Whether it was intentional or not, I can’t say, but the movie’s tone made drastic shifts at several points when the violence kicked in. Many scenes left me a bit shocked, and I’m no stranger to a little video-nastiness. I don’t say this to chastise the film or its makers; I have no personal qualms with video-violence (in fact, I’ve often happily wallowed in it), but mention this only as a caveat for those that aren’t as emotionally dead inside as I am.
At the end, I had a hard time telling whether I enjoyed Kick Ass or not (not that it should matter to you, one way or another). I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it. I think my lack of strong emotion for the film mostly stems from the fact that the it all just seemed so ordinary. When the story you’re telling involves everyday people dressing up in costumes and fighting crime, you might as well take things to their weirdest possible conclusion if you ask me. This one just didn’t go as far as I’d like.
As a final note, and a plea to some brave soul that truly believes in the idea of life imitating art, I would like to send out my own call for superheroes. There’s been a situation developing in the parking lot of the Holden Building every Tuesday and Thursday, in which a super-villain I like to call Ticketor has been ruining my life, one parking ticket at a time. Perhaps some brave soul could become a superhero that plugs the meters of those citizens too unfortunate to have enough change (on Tuesdays and Thursdays, mostly - in the afternoon). I, for one, think “The Plugger” would be a good name, but I won’t complain if you choose something else.
Help me, Plugger. You’re my only hope.
So, why the popularity? Why does the public suddenly love the idea of the everyman superhero?
It could be any number of reasons, really. Perhaps it’s the over-saturation of negative media in our brains, making us paranoid and fearful of people; perhaps we’re all anxiety-ridden and our lack of control is starting to terrify us so much as a population that we have a collective fantasy of violently exerting control on the world around us. Or maybe, just maybe, a generation of comic-nerds is coming to power in Hollywood and vomiting all of their sad, lonely basement fantasies onto the silver screen (which I say with the utmost affection, for these, if any, are my people).
Whatever the reason, something is at work bringing these movies to the forefront of popular culture. With that said, let’s talk Kick Ass, since that’s why we’re all here.
First, let’s take stock of what the movie has.
Socially awkward, yet somehow endearing nerd? Check.
Eleven year-old female superhero/sociopath? Check.
Super-villain? Check.
Hackishly created teenage love story? Double check (murder me, please).
These are the major players and concepts, more or less. Mix them all together and you get a very strange brew. Oddly, though, the mixture failed to create the chemistry for which I was hoping. Hit girl, though an interesting character, is hardly sympathetic given that she’s painted as an emotionless murderer from the beginning of the film (though, in my opinion, she is the most interesting of the characters). Kick Ass gets a little more depth, but never really becomes anything other than exactly what you’d expect.
The violence, which is so frequent and powerful that it deserves its own paragraph, is, well...frequent and powerful. Whether it was intentional or not, I can’t say, but the movie’s tone made drastic shifts at several points when the violence kicked in. Many scenes left me a bit shocked, and I’m no stranger to a little video-nastiness. I don’t say this to chastise the film or its makers; I have no personal qualms with video-violence (in fact, I’ve often happily wallowed in it), but mention this only as a caveat for those that aren’t as emotionally dead inside as I am.
At the end, I had a hard time telling whether I enjoyed Kick Ass or not (not that it should matter to you, one way or another). I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it. I think my lack of strong emotion for the film mostly stems from the fact that the it all just seemed so ordinary. When the story you’re telling involves everyday people dressing up in costumes and fighting crime, you might as well take things to their weirdest possible conclusion if you ask me. This one just didn’t go as far as I’d like.
As a final note, and a plea to some brave soul that truly believes in the idea of life imitating art, I would like to send out my own call for superheroes. There’s been a situation developing in the parking lot of the Holden Building every Tuesday and Thursday, in which a super-villain I like to call Ticketor has been ruining my life, one parking ticket at a time. Perhaps some brave soul could become a superhero that plugs the meters of those citizens too unfortunate to have enough change (on Tuesdays and Thursdays, mostly - in the afternoon). I, for one, think “The Plugger” would be a good name, but I won’t complain if you choose something else.
Help me, Plugger. You’re my only hope.
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