As luck would have it I was fortunate enough to snatch up a ticket to the premiere of Kick-Ass Tuesday evening at the ArcLight in Hollywood. Director, Matthew Vaughn (Stardust, Layer Cake), introduced Chloe Moretz (Mindy Macready/Hit Girl), Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Chris D’Amico/Red Mist), and Aaron Johnson (Dave Lizewski/Kick Ass) prior to the screening. Nicolas Cage (Damon Macready/Big Daddy), per Mr. Vaughn, was running to catch a plane and was unable to participate.
The film is based on the comic book series of the same name, written by Mark Millar and illustrated by John Romita, Jr. and unfolds from the point of view of one invisible high school student, Dave Lizewski, who up and decides one day to become a super-hero. Granted this out of the blue revelation is rather weak motivation for a protagonist, but Lizewski is a comic book fanatic and a kid who gets the crap beat out of him by bullies, so it is not too far a leap for him to begin pondering jumping into a scuba suit, nay, super-hero suit and fighting crime. The screenplay written by Vaughn and Jane Goldman (The Debt, Stardust) was a tad slow in the first act, but picks up so quickly by the second act that clutching the seat arm, or the stranger next to you, until the stuffing comes out of it is required to get through the turbulent ride.
The real scene-stealer in the film comes in the form of the smallest, but most violent character, Mindy/Hit Girl, played by the delightful Chloe Moretz. Ms. Moretz delivered Mindy/Hit Girl’s caustic sense of humor with such bite that it was hard to believe that she was a little girl under the disguise of the purple wig, mask, and kilt. But with Damon/Big Daddy’s endgame and their arsenal of weapons it was plain to see that Mindy never experienced childhood like a regular kid and, thus, she did not speak like one either. Mr. Cage, as Damon/Big Daddy was the anchor in the daughter and father chemistry, whose performance was, at times, uncompromising, but gained the empathy of this viewer during the scenes with his ex-partner. Mr. Cage has taken a few hits in the past years, so it was great to see him on screen and knocking the hell out of this performance. Over all, Mr. Cage and Ms. Moretz’s performances with the Macready’s plot provided a nice reprieve from Lizewski’s “relationship woes” subplot, which often felt tired and played out.
If there is one thing that can be said about the action in the film it is this, it’s a steroid induced pace that keeps hitting, shooting, and fighting with a dizzying effect. In the action genre quick editing cuts are what action films are now all about, because we all seem to suffer from short attention spans, but most of the time I like to see the hits, the contact, the ooze. I like to absorb it. But the editing made the action in Kick-Ass a lot more like a comic book, which served the film well especially since the crowd in the theater went nuts every time Hit Girl stabbed, maimed, or shot a bad guy. (And, yes, I was one of them.)
Kick-Ass was a violent and, yet, quite satisfying ride. It’s definitely in my top five for comic book adaptations – K.L.
8 out of 10
