'Kick-Ass' Was Kick-Ass In More Ways Than One

By Kyle Centers
Rotunda ReporterFair warning, anyone who seriously loved the graphic novel-and I know there are purists out there, there are some huge freaking differences in the film adaptation that could ultimately piss you off or ruin your entire theater experience. That being said, "Kick-Ass," directed by Matthew Vaughn, is the second-best comic book super hero movie I have ever seen. "Iron Man" comes first, and sorry Batman, but I didn't check my watch while watching this.

We start with a Spiderman-esque self narration by mild-mannered wussy nobody, Dave Lizewski played by Aaron Johnson ("The Illusionist," "The Greatest"), who tells us about his pathetic life. Thankfully, his pathetic life is incredibly funny. Ultimately, he asks his wussy friends why nobody has ever tried to be a super hero. Ridicule aside, he can't get the thought out of his head so he buys a wet suit, dons some work boots, and Kick-Ass is born.

I, thankfully, have not read the graphic novel (now I have something good to read), so I had no idea just how graphic this was actually going to be. True to form, these reality-based super heroes bleed realistically when wounded. Of course, so do the bad guys-who tend to bleed a lot, and often.

One excellent aspect of the film is the action scenes. There are only two stylized action shots, amongst the many in the entire film and both are well executed and make it simple. "Kick-Ass" doesn't toy with our eyes like Chris Nolan did with "Batman Begins"; it shoves the action in our face and just when we suspect we're about to get a face full of black screen, we're shown everything-gore and all.

Vaughn keeps the plot simple by eliminating many of the subplots of the novel, but do not let that deter you from the best 117 minutes of whatever day you happen to watch it on. Keeping it simple means more time to develop the major plot of the film.

While Christopher Mintz-Plasse ("Super Bad," "Role-Models"), wins the award for best awkward villain, almost the entire film is stolen by Chloe Moretz' ("Diary of a Wimpy Kid," "The Eye") performance as Hit Girl. It's an amazing thing when a film centered on a bunch of nerdy guys wanting to be macho is constantly upstaged by an 11-year-old girl.

Moretz has the only character in the movie that shows any kind of finesse in her action scenes. Mintz-Plasse admitted in an interview that he was embarrassed by how tired he was after his ridiculously less-intense fight scenes, when she didn't even break a sweat.

The only thing that ever took me out of the experience was some of the music choices. While all of the film's songs were epic and all worked well with their scenes, it got distracting when the title track to Danny Boyle's zombie masterpiece was blaring, when I'm trying to watch some baddies get taken out.

Even Nicolas Cage ("Con Air," "Adaptation"), who has a tendency to disappoint me (especially lately), was surprisingly entertaining in his role. Instead of modeling his speech after the gravelly Christian Bale-version of Batman, Cage mimics Adam West.

This movie sets up simple perimeters and delivers to the edge of every single one, including an excellent sequel begging end-shot. Hopefully this is just the beginning of an excellent box office season, but until "Iron Man 2" hits theaters, don't rule out this flick.

"Kick-Ass" has everything a comic geek could ever want. From bazookas to girls who only want to hang out with you and watch "Ugly Betty" DVD's because they think you're gay: this movie has it all. Don't be just one more wussy loser who wonders why nobody tries to be a hero. Grab your tights and head to the theater today.