DIRECTOR: Jeff Wadlow
CAST: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Chloe Grace Moretz, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Jim Carrey, Clarke Duke, Olga Kurkulina, Lindy Booth, John Leguizamo, Morris Chestnut, Garret M. Brown, Donald Faison, Augustus Prew, Claudia Lee, Robert Emms, Yancy Butler, Lyndsey Fonseca
RUNNING TIME: 103 mins
CERTIFICATE: 15
BASICALLY… As Kick-Ass (Taylor-Johnson) and Hit Girl (Moretz) join forces with a group of amateur superheroes led by Colonel Stars and Stripes (Carrey), former Red Mist Chris D’Amico (Mintz-Plasse) forms himself into the world’s first supervillain to avenge his father…
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NOW FOR THE REVIEW…
Adapting for film is more difficult than it may sound, especially when you’re dealing with a source material that can be so nasty and unpleasant that it’s almost impossible to translate well into film. Kick-Ass 2, the sequel to 2010’s breakout hit, has a much more difficult job than its predecessor because Mark Millar’s comic series follow-up features no less than animal murder, gang rape, and at one point the cold-blooded murder of young, innocent children. None of them appear in the film version, thankfully, but it’s clear that newcomer Jeff Wadlow – who writes and directs, replacing Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughn respectively – saw that not one of those would sit well with a paying audience and has made some drastic changes.
What we are given as a result is a film that feels smaller and safer than the first one, but it shouldn’t matter as long as it’s fun to watch. Happily, Kick-Ass 2 is entertaining to watch with a series of well-choreographed fights, the right amount of humour – although its levels of wit are significantly down than before – and high-octane energy. Out of all the superhero films this summer, this takes second place to Iron Man 3 for the Best In Show prize, but there is one major element that keeps it from reaching the top: it has no idea what it wants to be.
Primarily a comedy about people who dress up as superheroes, it makes some drastic u-turns in its tone when something big has happened and all of a sudden it becomes either a drama or a thriller which we know we’re not supposed to laugh at. For instance, when Dave Lizewski/Kick-Ass (Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who does fine but is still the least interesting character in his own movie) visits a fellow superhero in hospital, the conversation they’re having about whether they’re doing good or worse work for the community is meant to be taken seriously and isn’t played for laughs. There are many other moments like that which feel roughly out of place amongst the film’s much funnier scenes, and they all add up to something that is indecisive and unconfident in itself.
Some of the film’s sub-plots don’t exactly go anywhere, and are at times handled awkwardly. One features Mindy Macready (Chloe Grace Moretz, who is one again awesome) shunning her Hit Girl disguise and trying to fit in with a popular clique in a sub-story not dissimilar to Mean Girls. The scene in which she is basically ousted from the group seems to be missing a scene, like a humiliating prank or something; instead she’s just verbally bullied and left out in the woods for no real reason. How she confronts them the next day will get laughs for its unexpected nature and shock value, but the method is straight out of an American Pie film. From there, it’s pretty much over and the rest of the focus goes into the main plot. Speaking of which, it introduces the costumed Good Samaritans Justice Forever who are not only surprisingly likable – including a couple fighting for their missing child, a gay man who refuses a mask to show he has nothing to hide, and Jim Carrey’s excellent turn as their born-again Christian leader Colonel Stars and Stripes – but are also more interesting than Kick-Ass himself.
As for its drastic changes from the nastier source material, they are not only altered but humorously acknowledged at the same time. When asked if he wants a character’s dog murdered, Chris D’Amico/The Mother F**ker (devilishly played by Christopher Mintz-Plasse) recoils “I’m not that evil!” whereas in the comics he IS that evil. Aforementioned gang rape is implied at first, but is called off when it turns out he can’t “perform”, so to speak. Some of these provide the film’s biggest laughs, but it also shows its regard for safety and censoring for a much larger audience. For a sequel to a film which involved children with sailor mouths, bazookas and death by jetpack machine gun, it’s a major step down but a necessary step down.
SO, TO SUM UP…
While not entirely up to standards with its predecessor, Kick-Ass 2 is still an entertaining fun ride that packs enough humour and action to be enjoyable even though it is not clear as to what it wants to be to its wider audience.
