Having loved the first Kick-Ass movie, I was hopeful that a film adaptation for the sequel comic series would arise as well. 3 years later, Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl return now with their own superhero team on a new adventure just as fun but much more violent than the first film.
On the topic of the violence, I can now understand why Jim Carrey decided not to make promotional appearances for the film. However, my own feelings on the issue are the same as Kick-Ass creator Mark Millar and Hit-Girl actress Chloe Grace-Moretz, that one needs to view art as art and try to remove yourself from reality. That's what makes it fun though. Where else will you see a now 15 year old superheroine slicing, shooting, and stabbing people like a pro, as well as throwing people underneath vans. Not only that, but the film's main supervillainess, Mother Russia, was just as violent, just taking out cop after cop that showed up, even with a lawn mower. It made me think, "Okay, I really don't think more cops are gonna help stop her." Given both their violent streaks, the final fight between Hit-Girl and Mother Russia was a good one, especially when Hit-Girl after an adrenaline shot stabber her whole body with sharp shards of glass. Hit-Girl's older, but she's hasn't lost her touch.
While the first film mainly focused on Dave/Kick-Ass, the focus was shared with Mindy/Hit-Girl trying to retire her superhero life as a promise to her stepdad Marcus. In doing so, Mindy meets the archetype of the high school beauty queen who thinks she's better than everyone else. Of course, Mindy gets humiliated by her, but since everyone knows that's a bad idea, Hit-Girl level revenge was expected and delivered in vomit and diarrhea fashion. Accompanying this was a kind of social commentary I tend to agree with about such girls. A good personality guarantees a good future, not a good body. So just because you're pretty, it doesn't mean you're gonna be successful in life or give you the right to exclude or reject others. All that does is make you a bitch. Food for thought. Personally, I always try to look for the best in people, but don't realize that I'm wrong until it's too late.
Speaking of bitches, one aspect of the Kick-Ass 2 comic that I wondered how they would handle in the film would be the character Katie Deauxma. In the comics, Katie is Dave's crush, but they never got together like they did in the first film; without going into vivid detail, when Dave tells Katie he's not gay, it does not go well at all. So while Dave and Katie were together in the movies, I wondered how much focus their relationship would get in the film. What was depicted was a break-up based on Katie misunderstanding part of a conversation between Dave and Mindy, thinking he was cheating on her with a younger girl, and then she tells him she was already cheating on him with another guy. So with that, I have made this scumbag meme:
So it seems that Millar's bitch of a character finally got to appear in film. She didn't even come to Dave's dad's funeral. Don't feel bad for Dave though; at least he hooks up with Night Bitch. I seem to be saying "bitch" alot in this review. Oh well.Another Katie-related aspect that happened in the Kick-Ass 2 comic I wondered about the transition to the film was that she was raped by the Mother Fucker. In the film, the Mother Fucker attacks Night Bitch at her home and plans to rape her, but couldn't get it up. Considering the comics' over the top violence, the filmmakers probably handled this scene in the best way by not actually letting it happen. I mean, for the parents who didn't pay attention to the rating and took their kids to a "superhero" movie, it avoids an awkward conversation.
I really enjoyed Dave's character development. He got some training and was totally ripped by the end of the film. Not only that, but he's learning the hard consequences of being a hero by losing his dad. It was nice to see them interacting more. Dave's dad in the first one seemed like he was just there, but he actually served some purpose this time around. Speaking of his dad though, his death was really because of Dave's friend Todd, who tells the Mother Fucker Dave was Kick-Ass. Let me make that clear: he told the psycho with a huge mad-on for Kick-Ass whose crew just killed 10 police officers that his friend Dave was Kick-Ass and thought nothing was going to happen because of that. Sorry Todd, but you're dumb as shit.
As the main villain, Christopher Mintz-Plaase, the one kid from "Superbad" that doesn't annoy me, portrayed Chris D'Amico, now known as the Mother Fucker, very well. Becoming more and more crazy about Kick-Ass killing his dad and no one doing anything about it, I enjoyed watching him slowly develop his super villain persona and army. When I first saw a pic of his new costume, I was like "Oooookaaaay" but I was glad they explained the change in the film, that his mom threw out his Red Mist costume, and then he makes his Mother Fucker costume out of his mom's S&M clothing. I guess it kind of makes sense in a sick way why he decided to call himself the Mother Fucker now.
While Jim Carrey has distanced himself from the film, his character, Colonel Stars and Stripes, was a joy to watch and was the best character out of the Justice Forever group. He wasn't afraid to take down who need to be taken down, not to mention have his dog bite their genitals as well. It was just a shame he didn't last that long though.
A couple other notes I'd like to throw out:
* When Mindy visits Dave in his bedroom, the shirt he wears says "I HATE REBOOTS." I don't think anyone but comic fans will get a laugh out of that, given the constant reboots in both comics and movies.
* When Dave is reminiscing about his father, he's hanging a poster for another one Mark Millar's creator-owned series, "Superior." I like Millar, but sometimes he can have a big head. Putting up a poster for one of your books in a movie based on one of your other books is Michael Bay level douchiness (his Transformers films have referenced his other works like Armageddon and Bad Boys)
I enjoyed this film as much as the first one, so I wondered why critics were giving such harsh reviews to it. I have a theory though. While the first one was about people wanting to live out their fantasy, the second one is about the consequences. The premise of Kick-Ass are people without powers, high tech gadgets, or special training dressing up as superheroes and helping people in a grounded real world situation. Eventually, all the heroes will attract villains as well, and based on the evil acts we see in the real world, like theater and school shootings, it only makes sense for results to be just as tragic and worse. In the real world, you don't have evil masterminds that want to rule the world, plot out their every move of their grand scheme; just psychos that want to cause damage to make themselves feel good. That said, it would make sense for Mother Fucker to have his men attack Dave's dad's funeral. I just think some critics would rather focus on the fantasy and not think of the consequences, which is the opposite of the point this film makes. It's about growing up. Like Man of Steel, critics have missed the message or tone trying to be conveyed.
Right now, Mark Millar's Kick-Ass 3 comic has started and promised to be the end of Dave's story. As such, a third film will do the same. I hope that the negativity surrounding the second film doesn't mean no third and final film. Kick-Ass has an audience and I'd really like to see the film series have a proper ending like the comics will soon have.
RATING: 7.5/10
No comments:
Post a Comment