When I thought that Nick Cage couldn't be a good actor anymore, he managed to fool me by giving a great performance as a father who has an addiction to weapons and violence that his daughter takes a liking to as well. Kick-Ass, on the other hand, is the opposite, having a lack of knowledge on anything outside of a comic book. Making him a target for misinterpreted intentions and comedic situations.

The transformation of characters in this movie is a true spectacle. One of the better "super-hero" and "anti-hero" movies of late that really makes you feel for the protagonists. Chloë Grace Moretz is just great in this movie. An outstanding child actor who gives a perfect performance as a tough as nails and bad-ass kid who has quite an emotional scene that she did quite well.

For the story, as I said the transformative narrative is very likeable and even though it has done before, it hasn't been done quite like this. It is really well done and is very well shot to help with the comic feel of the movie. There is hardly any shaky-cam as the action is beautifully done with some nice artistic elements that don't distract from the emotion, but instead add to it. The comedy is also well done, though it does fail to deliver some lines for some reason or another. But most of the comedy has to do with slapstick or embarrassing moments, so it doesn't get harmed too much from the dialogue.

A really good super-hero/anti-hero movie that ticks almost every box.

Has this become obsolete because of _Deadpool_ and _The Boys_? Maybe, it’s certainly not as effective when it comes to deconstructing superhero tropes. However, there’s also this 2000s indie feel to this that still makes it stand out, half of the time you’d think Edgar Wright directed this in between his _Scott Pilgrim_ lunch breaks. The style and action are the two things that definitely still hold up, the editing is very sleek and the lighting/colour grade have that distinct Matthew Vaughn vibe. The action is also very well put together, lots of good, visceral choreography and the scenes with the scene stealing Hit-girl are easily the film’s best moments. In fact, whenever Moretz and Cage are on the screen, the movie really comes to life to me. I’m less into the material that’s given to Taylor-Johnson and Strong, both of those characters fit a lot of typical tropes and the performers aren’t bringing anything special to it. They should’ve pushed a little further, because half of the time it isn’t satirizing or twisting the thing, it’s just conventionally doing the thing. For example, you could cut out the romance subplot without losing much of note, as there’s nothing special about those scenes. Overall, this is perhaps not aging as well as some of Vaughn’s other work due to how exhausted this genre became in the years following it. Still, I do prefer it over the vast majority of modern superhero films because it feels like something that’s made for a specific audience and doesn’t look like grey sludge.

6/10

I thought this movie was a super comedy movie but I was wrong. I didn't know it was a pretty serious movie with real killings and stuff. It was like Kill Bill minus the really gross things. It was not a silly movie after all.


The character Kick-Ass was pretty stupid. I mean a high school nobody trying to be somebody. Of all the things he could think of, it's being a super hero. And then there's Big Daddy and Hit Girl who had the real stunts. Their characters were pretty funny. I mean I can't think of any words to describe Nicolas Cage's character. A good daddy who doesn't know how to bring up a girl. And then there's Chloe Moretz. Wow. She did all the action in the movie. I mean this girl is only 13 years old. I'm a fan. And then there's Red Mist who I think is very silly like Kick Ass as well.


My rate for this movie is A.

Geeky "Dave" (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and his two pals go through life at high school being bullied and reading comic books. Finally fed up being put upon, he buys a superhero suit online and heads out into the night hoping that his green lycra will deter the city's nasties. After his umpteenth beating he is rescued by a like-minded father and daughter team who take him under their own wing and set about training him. Meantime, the kingpin of crime "D'Amico" (Mark Strong) is running the town with a ruthless rod of iron, watched adoringly by his hapless son "Chris" (Christopher Mintz-Plasse). Surprisingly, the former trio start to have some success against this arch-baddie so battle lines are soon drawn and, well you can guess the rest. Up to a point, this works. ATJ (especially with glasses and curly hair) is very easy on the eye and there is a degree of chemistry between his character and his cohort "Mindy" (Chloë Grace Moretz) all under the tutelage of a rather underplayed Nicolas Cage as her dad "Damon". Sadly, the initially quirky start that sees real people aspiring to make their community better - without the ability to fly or laser things with their eyes - peters out quite quickly and the jokes that are quite attitudinally sharp at the start just become a little more puerile and expletive-dependent. Mr. Strong isn't really much of a baddie and the combat scenes are well and truly prolonged to the point where they end up a bit repetitive and dull. It has it's moments, this movie - it's generally quite entertaining but at all but two hours in length it just runs out of ideas around the half way mark and only just struggles over the line.