Film 37/52: Kick Ass/Kick Ass 2 (2010/2013)

 


Considering how much I like Matthew Vaughn's films Stardust and The Kingsman, I'm surprised it has taken me so long to make time for his Kick Ass films. When we considered this for one of our 52 Pick-Up selections, it seemed a perfect opportunity to schedule another double-feature, so we could take in the sequel right after finishing the first film.

Based on a comic book of the same name, Kick Ass is the story of a high school kid (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) who decides it's time someone take on the mantle of a super-hero, and he adopts the name "Kick Ass" for his alter ego. He soon finds himself over his head, getting his ass routinely kicked, when he stumbles across a pair of similar super heroes who are far more prepared than he is: ex-cop "Big Daddy" (Nicholas Cage) and his pre-teen daughter who goes by the name "Hit Girl" (Chloe Grace Moretz in a scene-stealing role). They eventually team up to fight a local crime lord (another fantastic performance by the great Matthew Vaughn regular Mark Strong), and his wannabe (hero? villain?) son, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, who I'm not much of a fan of. Like Michael Cera, he seems to give the same performance in every film I see him in, and it always seems to detract from the film. 

Kick Ass contains over the top violence and vulgarities (as you would reasonably expect from the writer/director of The Kingsman. This time out, it's particularly entertaining from the mouth of the not so innocent 11 year-old Hit Girl. The film is a lot of fun in the way many of Vaughn's films are, though I still think The Kingsman is his magnum opus. 

The sequel, which Vaughn produced but did not direct, is like The Kingsman sequel (The Golden Circle), a lesser effort. It's not without its charms, including the now teenage Chloe Grace Moretz' "Hit Girl," who is not just a scene-stealer this time out; she's far more interesting than Kick Ass himself, or the parade of would be super heroes that team up under the guidance of an almost unrecognizable Jim Carrey's "Colonel Stars and Stripes." There are a few other notable performances (John Leguizamo as Javier, Lindy Booth's "Night Bitch," and Daniel Kaluuya's "Black Death"), but writer/director Jeff Wadlow is less successful at balancing the character drama with the ludicrous antics of his characters than Vaughn. 

That said, I'm really glad we followed up the first film with the sequel, as it was worth following Hit Girl's story, while we were still riding the high of the first film. Had we spaced them out, I think Kick Ass 2 would have been a more disappointing experience. 

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