Kick-Ass

I was there in the audience at last year’s San Diego Comic-Con when Matthew Vaughn revealed his little independent superhero movie, Kick-Ass, to a crowd of some six-odd thousand pop-art-culture fans, most of whom had braved the daunting line into the infamous Hall H that day to catch a sneak peek at a little 3D flick called Avatar. At that time, Kick-Ass, based on the comic-book by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr., had not even secured distribution by a major studio; heck, I’m sure most people in attendance had never even heard of it. But after being shown a few scenes from the movie, all of Hall H was cheering with enthusiasm. Distribution seemed assured. It was merely a matter of which studio would be savvy enough to offer enough money for the distribution rights.

Well, Lionsgate was the ultimate winner, but even with the response from Comic-Con attendees, whether Kick-Ass would be a success was, and still is, indeterminate. The film is possibly the most violent superhero movie to date. It depicts an eleven-year-old girl murdering dozens of bad guys in gruesome fashion. And after all it is called, well, Kick-Ass. Comic book geeks may go wild over it, but will it catch on among mainstream audiences?

The answer to that question seems to be… kind of. The weekend box office results are in, and Kick-Ass came in at what could be considered a disappointing number two, bringing in under $20,000,000. It would seem that movie-goers aren’t heading out in droves to see this very edgy, very bloody, very rated R comic book movie. And all I’ve got to say about that is… their loss.

Kick-Ass is extremely violent. I want to make that very clear right now. Some online critics that I follow have been saying on Twitter that the movie’s R rating has hurt the its chances at the box office. But I want everyone to understand that Kick-Ass earns every bit of it’s R rating. Yes, it’s a comedy, but it’s a very dark comedy. If you’re expecting Spider-Man or even X-Men (or even Hellboy, for that matter), you’re definitely at the wrong movie. But if you can stomach its strong content, it’s also a very entertaining experience.

SPOILERS BELOW

Some elements of the story were changed from the original comic book, but the overall plot remains the same. Kick-Ass is the story of Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson), a mild-mannered high-school student who loves comic books. Dave wonders why no one has ever tried to actually become a superhero. He decides to give it a try, donning a green and yellow, head-to-toe wetsuit and giving himself the very un-superhero-like moniker “Kick-Ass”. The answer to his question why no one has ever tried it before is soon answered when a couple of street hoodlums put Dave in the hospital. After a weeks-long convalescence, Dave ends up with metal plates in his head and other fabricated body parts that, he realizes, make him a little more able to take a beating. Eventually he decides to give his brand of vigilante justice another try, this time with moderately successful results. His efforts are caught on video and posted on-line where he immediately acquires a huge fan base.

When Kick-Ass finds himself in over his head once again, he encounters Hit-Girl (Chloë Grace Moretz), an eleven-year-old assassin who possesses the fighting skills to take out a half-dozen low level mobsters single-handedly. Her kung-fu is the best, and it saves Dave’s bacon. Hit-Girl, he learns, is the prodigious progeny of Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage), another superhero who kind of resembles Batman. Hit-Girl and Big Daddy are the real deal, and Dave begins to realize that he has been swimming in dangerous waters.

Unfortunately for Dave, a local mob boss, Frank D’Amico (Mark Strong), whose men Hit-Girl brutally slaughtered, thinks that Kick-Ass is responsible. In order to trap him, D’Amico enlists the aid of his son, Chris (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), setting him up as another superhero, Red Mist, to lure Kick-Ass in and ultimately to his demise. Dave’s situation spirals out of control, and he ultimately has to make a choice between running for his life (or, as he sees it, standing by doing nothing while people suffer at the hands of evil men) or “doing the right thing.” I put that last part in quotes because the situation in Kick-Ass is so extreme that determining what the right course of action would be is completely subjective. But in the end, it’s up to Hit-Girl and Kick-Ass to bring down D’Amico or die trying.

END SPOILERS

While the prospect of an eleven-year-old girl who would rather play with butterfly knives than Barbies and who commits murder (having been trained and encouraged to do so by her very own father) as easily as she might dispatch video game aliens, is a frightening and even downright offensive idea. And it should be. When I look at Hit-Girl, however, I see a hyperbolic example of how children are stripped of their innocence in violent (and also in subtle) ways every day. Big Daddy teaches (or as one character points out, “brainwashes”) his daughter to be a killer. It’s satire, but it’s not the end of the world. Does Big Daddy love his daughter? You and I would say no, not really. But in his twisted world he does because, in his mind, he’s teaching her to stand up (in a very extreme way, of course) to those who would oppress others with their abusive power. The movie doesn’t condone Big Daddy’s deplorable methods. Quite the opposite. If the audience is disgusted by Hit Girl’s vulgar tongue and itchy trigger finger, it should perhaps turn its scrutiny on its own hypocrisy (psssst, the audience = society).

I enjoyed Kick-Ass because it managed to show me characters that I cared about. Yes, it’s horrific the things that Hit-Girl does, and ultimately I wanted to see her rescued from that awful situation. In the end, I think she kind of rescues herself, with Dave’s help (sort of). There were some really funny moments in Kick-Ass, some intense moments and even a couple of really stirring scenes that surprised me. It’s one of those rare movies that keeps me thinking long after the credits have rolled. I think that Kick-Ass will be one of those movies that gains popularity as time goes on. It may not be a box-office smash, but it could become a cult classic. And just you wait until the DVD comes out. People may be hesitant to buy a ticket to a movie called Kick-Ass (I was mildly amused to see my neighborhood theater list the movie as “Kick A” on the marquee), but I predict they’ll be lining up to buy the DVD. We’ll just have to wait and see.

by Stuart Benedict