Juvenile justice
By John Esther
Oblivious to the last decade's incessant discussion of heroes, Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) wonders "How come nobody's ever tried to be a superhero?" Probably because it is dangerous and impossible and if you can become just a hero, then a zero of kid, by your own admission, should be happy with mere hero status.
Well Dave's not too bright so he purchases a scuba suit and tailors it to his own fashion and then begins roaming the streets fighting crime as his Super(hero) alter ego, Kick-Ass, picking up some wounds, "special" kills, publicity, the attention of the "real" superhero daddy-daughter duo, Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage) and Hit Girl (Chloë Grace Moretz), plus the wrath of crime lord Frank D'Amico (Mark Strong), who happens to be the father of Dave's schoolmate, Chris D'Amico (Christopher Mintz-Plasse branching out).
Clearly Dave is way in over his head yet he cannot escape the story he has chosen. He must see it through to the very violent end.
Hardly the kind of downer (or box office failure) of recent similar, superior superhero stories such Special and Defendor, directed with style by Matthew Vaughn Kick-Ass is quite entertaining in its bloodbath kind of way as long as you ignore the fact that the superheroes in the film are playing judge, jury and executioner with impunity. This is extremely problematic with regard to Hit Girl.
Raised by her father's rage, Hit Girl has never been to school or kissed a boy with her foul mouth, but she does have quite the comical wit for her age and many murders under her purple wig. The tiny target avoids the might of men and their guns as she, rather unscathed, shoot and boots, slices and dices her way up the organized crime ladder. We are talking about a young teen who plays suit up and slaughter and her trails of assassinations is not for the squeamish, but it is hard not to laugh at a little "flying" girl killing all the big bad men, too. (Start ordering you Hit Girl Halloween costume now.)
Destined to put many bottoms in theater seats, Kick-Ass is going to be awful pain in the arse for all those concerned parents whose kids want to see the R-rated movie where a little girl kills and kills and kills.
