Review - Kick-Ass (2010) & Kick-Ass 2 (2013)

            Hey guys, Chuck here. Well, I recently rewatched a comic book movie that not only mocks the idea of comic book superheroes, but serves as a deconstruction of the comic book superhero genre itself. That movie is the 2010 superhero comedy Kick-Ass, based on the comic book by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr, starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Chloe Grace Moretz, Mark Strong, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Lyndsey Fonseca, Clark Duke, Sophie Wu, Evan Peters, Omari Hardwick, Garrett M. Brown, Michael Rispoli, and Nicolas Cage, and directed by Matthew Vaughn. 

           The movie introduces is to Dave Lizewski, who is a pretty ordinary teen from Staten Island, New York, who after being fed up by the injustice all around him, with people getting mugged left and right, and drug trade run amuck by crime boss Frank D'Amico (John Genovese in the comics), decides to mask up and become a crime fighter. While his first attempt lands him in the hospital, resulting in him having metal plates and damaged nerve endings, his second attempt goes much better, resulting in a bunch of teens recording him fighting off a trio of muggers ganging up on a random individual. After the muggers take off after hearing sirens approach, the teen recording the event asks who Dave is, and re answers: "I'm Kick-Ass." 

             While Dave starts getting his own superhero gig off the ground, we meet a father-daughter duo of Damon (an ex-police officer) and Mindy Macready working to go after the Frank D'Amico's criminal empire as the vigilante duo of Big Daddy and Hit-Girl. Frank has started to take notice, especially after one of his men, Tre, alludes to being attacked by a guy that looked like Batman. Hit-Girl and Big Daddy eventually meet Kick-Ass, while the latter goes to respond to a request (via MySpace) for help from Dave's crush, Katie Deauxma, to make a man named Rasoul leave her alone. Hit-Girl single handedly slaughters a Rasoul and hit goons, saving Dave and taking off into the night. Later, both Hit-Girl and Big Daddy show up in Dave's bedroom, and encourage him to keep up being Kick-Ass and if he ever needs their help, to list his MySpace page as "on vacation," and they'll call contact him. 

              Frank, meanwhile, has come to a false conclusion that Kick-Ass is taking out all of his men, and decides to end Kick-Ass. After killing a Kick-Ass impersonator in the streets, his son, Chris, makes a suggestion. Chris, who is a major comic book nerd, concludes that the only people that a superhero can trust are other superheroes and by suiting up as a superhero, Chris can lure the real Kick-Ass to Frank, but to do so may require screwing someone over, when Frank's number two, Joe, suggests offering up Tony Romita to the police. Chris, under his new superhero guise of Red Mist, leads to Tony's arrest, and later on reaches out to Kick-Ass to meet one night. The two meet up, and Chris offers to team up with Dave, taking him to Frank's lumber warehouse, finding it engulfed in flames, Chris recovers a teddy bear, and later returns home. Chris, who reveals that the teddy was a nanny cam, shows footage of Frank's men being killed by Big Daddy, who also sets the warehouse on fire. 

            Dave finally decides to quit being Kick-Ass, but first decides to suit up one more time to reveal his identity to Katie, and to dispel a ridiculous rumor that, due to his first encounter in the movie that put him in the hospital, he was gay. Now, this is where the movie and the comic differ. In the comic, Katie is disgusted by Dave, and ends their friendship. However, in the movie, she sees how much he really cares for her and the two become boyfriend and girlfriend. Dave later suits up to meet Red Mist, who had been trying to reach him quite frequently, and warn him that the two of them are now on a serious hit list. Christ then asks if Hit-Girl and Big Daddy could possibly help, and Dave sets his MySpace page as "on vacation," leading Big Daddy, whose been working on a new piece of equipment, to send a meeting location to him. Dave and Chris drive there, and meet with Hit-Girl and Big Daddy. Unfortunately, the tables turn when Chris shoots Hit-Girl out of a window, and Frank's thugs take both Dave and Big Daddy. 

            Frank sets up a live stream, which is set up for the public to believe that Kick-Ass is unmasking and announcing his retirement, but is actually a streamed event of Dave and Big Daddy being beaten to a pulp, and eventually burned to death by Joe and the.rest of Frank's goons. The tables turn, however, when Hit-Girl shows up to save them, but Big Daddy gets burned and dies. Hit-Girl takes Dave to her father's safe house, where she convinces him to help her finish off Frank and the last of his thugs. The two succeed, as Hit-Girl easily mows through Frank's men, Dave takes down the rest with that piece of equipment that Big Daddy was working on, which turned out to be a jetpack fitted with miniguns. So, the final showdown commences, and we get Mindy vs. Frank and Dave vs. Chris. Dave and Chris, both essentially being dorks, have probably the lamest fight of the two fights, but Mindy and Frank really beat the hell out of each other. Just as Frank is about to kill Mindy, Dave tells him to "pick on someone your own size," and blasts him through the window with a bazooka. Dave and Mindy take off and reveal their true identities to each other. The movie ends with Mindy being taken in by her father's former partner on the police force, Marcus Williams, and Dave steps down as Kick-Ass while others who were inspired by him suit up as superheroes, while Chris hints at soon becoming a supervillain.  

        Okay, so ultimately the humor of this movie is very crass and very adult. There is a lot of very adult language, and a lot of it does come from Mindy/Hit-Girl. And, of course, there is an excessive amount of violence in this movie. Now, admittedly, a lot of it does come from the comic, but I do understand that there are some out there that may be a bit squeamish in regards to the high levels of violence and adult language in the movie. 

         The performances of the cast are all fantastic, especially with Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Dave, Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Chris, and Chloe Grace Moretz as Mindy. Clark Duke and Evan Peters do very well as Dave's best friends Marty and Todd, as do Lyndsey Fonseca and Sophie Wu as Katie and Erika. But the two biggest stand-outs are Mark Strong as Frank and Nicolas Cage as Big Daddy. And while they he didn't have a prominent role, Omari Hardwick was really good as Marcus, as was Garrett M. Brown as Dave's father. 

       Ultimately, Matthew Vaughn made easily one of the more entertaining comic book films of 2010. And what's most fascinating is that, be a studios we're reluctant to finance the film, Vaughn pretty much got the $30 million needed to make the movie himself, which gives the movie a independent feel, which is part of the movie's charm. What's even more unique is that Matthew Vaughn and Mark Millar pretty much collaborated on developing both the movie and the comic simultaneously.  I absolutely love the movie Kick-Ass, and I give it a rating of 5/5. Seriously, if you love comic book movies, definitely check this one out. 

         And now, we come to the sequel. 2013's Kick-Ass 2, directed this time by Jeff Wadlow, was not independently financed the way the original was, and also is given a new distributor. While the first Kick-Ass was released in the United States by Lionsgate Films, Kick-Ass 2 was financed and produced by Universal Pictures. Returning actors from the first movie include Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Chloe Grace Moretz, Clark Duke, Garrett M. Brown, Yancy Butler,  Lyndsey Fonseca, and Sophie Wu, with both Omari Hardwick and Evan Peters being replaced in the roles of Marcus and Todd by newcomers Morris Chestnut and Augustus Prew. Other newcomers include Donald Faison, Lindy Booth, Daniel Kaluuya, John Leguizamo, Iain Glen, Robert Emms, and Jim Carrey. 

            The movie has two major plot lines, as it actually adapts two comics. One of those comics is "Kick-Ass 2," and the other is a "Hit-Girl" comic. So, let's talk about the two stories separately, and then we'll get to where they converge later.  Starting with Dave's story, he is pretty much bored after having given up on being Kick-Ass, so he turns to Mindy to team up, and she agrees to train him to be a much better superhero than he was in the first movie. Unfortunately, after her legal guardian, Marcus, finds out, she is forced to give up being Hit-Girl, and ends her partnership with Dave, who also gets dumped by Katie due to a misunderstanding. Dave, after suiting up once again as Kick-Ass, decides to team up with Doctor Gravity, who is one of the new wave of superheroes to have suited up since Dave first became Kick-Ass. Doctor Gravity even mentions how he knows of another superhero putting together a team, and the two go to meet this team the following night. It's here where we're introduced to Justice Forever, led by ex mafia enforcer turned born-again Christian superhero Colonel Stars and Stripes. Among the ranks are Insect Man, who, as someone mocked for years for being gay, fights crime to stand up for the little guy, the husband-and-wife duo Remembering Tommy, who suited up after the disappearance of their child, and Night Bitch, who allegedly fights crime to ease the pain of losing her sister. We also meet a superhero named Battle Guy, who turns out to be Dave's best friend Marty, and the Colonel let's Marty off the hook for pretty much lifting his made-up origin story of his parents being shot in an alley coming home from the opera from "Batman." Although, he does add one piece to make it less plagiarizing, by mentioning that the killer maxed out their credit cards on porn sites. Dave agrees to join the team, and Justice Forever is official. 

         A lot of what the team does primarily consists of patrolling the streets and performing acts of community service such as volunteering at local soup kitchens and homeless shelters. The one time we see the team actually busting a gathering of bad guys, it when they go after criminal Jimmy Kim, who makes a profit on prostitution. Jimmy Kim is revealed to be on the payroll of the D'Amico's. 

         Speaking of which, you may be wondering what the hell happened to Chris D'Amico. Well, his mother, Angie, moved the pair of them into a lavish house in Long Island, tossed out his Red Mist costume, and tried to get him to give up his crusade of revenge against Kick-Ass. After accidentally frying her in her tanning bed, Chris goes through her stuff and finds his dad's old handguns, as well as his mom's BDSM gear, and he decides to use them for his new costume as the first-ever supervillain, calling himself "The Motherf**ker." Chris, with help from his pseudo assistant Javier, puts together a team of wildcard supervillains called the "Toxic Mega Cunts," which consists of a former UFC trainer called "Black Death," a short-statured mafia enforcer called "The Tumor," an ex-triad gang member called "Genghis Carnage," and ex-KGB agent (and the only woman on the team) "Mother Russia." Yeah, there's a lot of casual racism when it comes to Chris coming up with supervillain names in this movie. And, no, it's not okay. 

         Anyway, Dave has been doing really well as part of Justice Forever, and he's entered into a relationship with Night Bitch. On top of that, more masked superheroes join up on the team's patrols, which leads Dave and Marty to offer their friend Todd the opportunity to join them. Unfortunately, Todd's superhero persona, "Ass-Kicker," is a blatant ripoff of Dave's alter ego of Kick-Ass, and his yellow spandex suit is extremely tight. Adding insult to injury, Marty even jokingly calls Todd "Ass-Licker," leading Todd to angrily leave to join another team. 

         Mindy's story, meanwhile, is her struggling to fit in at school, and attempting to be friends with popular girl Brooke, who gets upstaged but Mindy at a dance team tryout, and Mindy eventually asks out a guy named Simon. Brooke uses this to get back at Mindy, and has Simon driver out into the woods to get left behind, humiliated and upset. The next day, Mindy gets her revenge by using a very extreme riot control device her father acquired and dubbed the "Sick Stick" to give Brooke and her friends upset stomachs, leading to a hilarious scene of these three shallow as hell teenage girls expelling projectile vomit, as well as having a severe case of diarrhea. Mindy is suspended, and Marcus grounds her. 

            Chris and his crew of villains, meanwhile, kill Colonel Stars and Stripes, and attack Night Bitch, real name Miranda Swedlow, in her home, putting her in the hospital. When the police show up, Mother Russia easily mows through all ten of them, even killing two of them with an actual lawn mower. This results in two things. First, Chris puts out a call to recruit an evil army, which The Tumor assures won't be a problem given the news about Mother Russia killing ten cops. Second, the police start cracking down on everyone who is wearing a mask, meaning both superheroes and supervillains. Marcus, despite his desire to not have Mindy mask up as Hit-Girl, does speak on behalf of Kick-Ass, as he and the rest of Justice Forever do community service. The police captain is undeterred, however, as his only goal is putting an end to all masked heroes and villains simultaneously. Dave's father, who learned about his superhero gig, turns himself into the police, claiming to be Kick-Ass, and begs Dave to never suit up as Kick-Ass again. Chris, however, is unconvinced, as he remembers the real Kick-Ass being about the same age as Chris himself. Todd, who joined the evil army, reveals to Chris that Mr. Lizewski is the father of Kick-Ass, ultimately outing Dave as Kick-Ass to Chris, who has a pair of thugs kill Mr. Lizewski and text the photos to Dave. 

       At the funeral for his father, Dave is joined by the unmasked members of Justice Forever, Dave for Night Bitch who is still recovering from the attack. Marcus also brings Mindy to give Dave her condolences as well. The funeral is attacked by Genghis Carnage and a crew of thugs, who take Dave and try to force him to suit up as Kick-Ass. Mindy, using Marcus' gun, kills Genghis Carnage and his men, and forces The Tumor to pull the van over, demanding him to tell them where Chris D'Amico's lair is. Mindy and Dave suit up, and Dave puts out the call to all of the other superheroes to join the fight against Chris's evil army. Mindy also calls Marcus to warn him of Chris's plan to have his evil army destroy the city with fertilizer bombs. 

         So, the final showdown in the villain's lair is set. Dave, Mindy, and all the heroes against Chris and his army of villains. We see a lot going on, we the Remembering Tommy working well together as a team, Doctor Gravity, Insect Man, and a fully recovered Night Bitch taking down some guys, and Mindy, after an adrenaline injection, easily mowing through Mother Russia, who is at least twice Mindy's size. Finally, we see the rooftop showdown between Chris and Dave, with Dave landing three major hits (one for the Colonel, one for Night Bitch, and one for his dad), and Chris falls through a skylight as it shatters. Dave tries to save Chris's whiny ass, but Chris refuses, as he'd "rather die." Dave tries to get through to him that this is real life and not a comic book, and when he's dead, that's it. No sequel. Chris knocks himself free, and as he fall, starts to regret his actions. Upon landing in the water of a shark tank, Chris tries to apologize to Dave, but gets devoured by his own shark. Dave and the rest of the team decide to formally disband, and joined by both Todd and Mindy, give out one final cry: "Justice Forever!" 

          The movie ends with Mindy deciding to leave New York, knowing that she won't get a free pass for her actions. Mindy bids her farewell to Dave with a kiss, and takes off for parts unknown. Dave starts to get himself in much better shape, and plans to make the ultimate upgrade to his Kick-Ass costume. 

         Now, while the first Kick-Ass did have that indie charm to it, Kick-Ass 2 definitely feels like a few studio mandates came through and did affect the movie. In particular, in just how evil Chris/The Motherf**ker was in this movie. In the comics, Chris is waaayy more intense and irredeemable as far as his villainous actions. Hell, there's a scene where he and his crew of villains all literally r**e Katie Deauxma. Now, the movie alters this to where he attempts to r**e Miranda/Night Bitch, but he can't get hard, so he has The Tumor beat her up really badly instead. Regardless, Christopher Mintz-Plasse is great in this movie as Chris D'Amico once again. 

        As for the other cast members, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Chloe Grace Moretz are terrific once again, and Clark Duke and Garrett M. Brown get a lot more to do in this movie. Now, I will admit that I do enjoy Morris Chestnut as Marcus just a bit more than Omari Hardwick from the first Kick-Ass. However, I don't like Augustus Prew as Todd. Honestly, nothing against the guy, but he just pales in comparison to Evan Peters in the first movie. As far as newcomers go, I thoroughly enjoyed both Donald Faison as Doctor Gravity and John Leguizamo as Javier. Lindy Booth is definitely a favorite of mine as Night Bitch. Jim Carrey's performance as Colonel Stars and Stripes was also a highlight for me. And, honestly, I admit that Iain Glen, appearance as Chris's uncle Ralph was pretty forgettable. Hell, I even forget sometimes that he's in the movie. 

        Now, the violence and adult language is definitely turned up quite a bit more in this movie. If you didn't like it in the first movie, you're definitely not going to like it here. Hell, as someone who enjoyed the first movie, even I have to admit that the violence goes too far in this movie. Jeff Wadlow, while doing a good job, certainly made a movie that does fairly well, but doesn't feel nearly as earned in terms of the violence and more adult themes as the first one. I'm giving Kick-Ass 2 a rating of 3.95/5. Not as good as the first one, but still fun. 

       Now, it's recently been revealed that Matthew Vaughn is possibly planning a reboot of Kick-Ass after the rights to the franchise revert back to him and Mark Millar. Will I see this reboot? Possibly. I mean, now that we live in a world with the Deadpool movies, and we're at a point where superhero cinema is easily the big draw at the box office, maybe we can see major reboots of comic book properties like Kick-Ass be successful among hardcore comic book fans. So, we'll have to see what happens there. Anyway, this is Chuck signing off, and I'll see you guys next time.