Kick Ass

It seems every year, a studio tries to release a movie in the pre-summer season (March-April) that builds a ton of hype online. Sometimes that hype is overbuilt and you get a trainwreck, like Watchmen from last year. Other times, you get a film that can deliver on that hype, like 300 from a few years ago. This year, we get Kick Ass, and I can tell you that I was pretty into it.

The story focuses on geeky, High School student Dave asking himself and his friends why nobody has ever become a superhero before. He takes matters into his own hands when he is a part of crime and notices that a witness does nothing to intervene. After a video of one of his first heroic acts as Kick Ass surfaces on the internet, he becomes an icon in the eye of the public. He is eventually drawn into a vendetta between Big Daddy and Hit Girl and the drug empire ran by Frank D'Amico, the father of Kick Ass's arch-nemesis, Red Mist.

The movie is pretty faithful to its source material. I have read in an interview that the film rights for Kick Ass were sold before the first issue of the comic had even been published. Matthew Vaughn (Stardust), the director and co-screenwriter for the film, mentioned that the comic and the script for the film were written at the same time, so their was a lot of collaboration between the author and the screenwriter.

The story combines some of the elements from the popular teen-comedy and Tarantino-esque gore genres. It was an excellent combination of genres that allowed me to have fun for the entire two-hour runtime of the film. Also, I really liked how the superhero element really emphasized the urge all teenagers have to be something more than they are. *SPOILER ALERT (for those who care)* It was especially funny watching Dave play the role of his love-interest's gay bff, just to get closer to her. He eventually reveals his intentions and they get together.

There has been a lot of negative attention for the film concerning its obscene language, especially from the Hit Girl character who was only 11 at the time of filming. I was surprisingly not offended at all. I am open enough to know that most of the bad language in the film was used as a shock-value tool, especially when Hit Girl uses the c-word. It's funny to me that America will clutch her pearls at the drop of a four-letter word, but will hardly wince at the drop of a limb or the spraying of blood.

Overall, Kick Ass is a pretty *PUN ALERT* kick ass movie. I probably won't be adding this to my DVD collection, but I did enjoy it. If you get the chance, go and check it out, but I wouldn't make it one of your top priorities.