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Laramie Movie Scope: Kick-Ass

Hard core revenge movie

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by Robert Roten, Film Critic
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April 18, 2010 -- The advance publicity and marketing for this movie are misleading. You go into the theater thinking you are going to see an action comedy and instead it turns out to be a very bloody revenge movie with a few comic overtones. In addition to some comedy, there are also a lot of action comic touches, like shots dressed up to look like comic book panels. The film is based on a comic book of the same name and also seems to be an homage to some comic book superheroes, such as Batman and The Punisher. In other ways, the film is a very bloody coming-of-age story, with the emphasis on blood.

A turning point comes early in the film when the hero, Kick-Ass, is stabbed in the abdomen by a street thug and nearly dies, after also being hit by a car. The secret identity of Kick-Ass is mild-mannered high school student Dave Lizewski (played by Aaron Johnson of “The Illusionist”). He finds out you don't need special powers or abilities to be a superhero, all you need is the desire to help people. Being optimistic and naive also helps as well as a healthy dose of guilt for standing by and watching while bullies assault people. After being hospitalized for his injuries, Kick-Ass still wants to be a hero. With his new metal plates to repair his broken bones and his damaged nerve endings, he is not invulnerable, but can take a severe beating and still keep coming.

Even Kick-Ass realizes that he is in over his head when he delivers a warning from his girlfriend to a drug dealer, Rasul (Kofi Natei) and he is grabbed by a group of huge thugs. He is rescued by a 13-year-old girl named Hit-Girl (Chloe Moretz of “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”), who kills all the bad guys in short order, aided by her father, Big Daddy (Nicholas Cage of “Ghost Rider”) who is dressed like Batman. Hit-Girl (Mindy Macready) and Big Daddy (Damon Macready) are attacking the criminal syndicate of mob boss Frank D'Amico (Mark Strong of “Sherlock Holmes”). D'Amico and some crooked cops framed Damon Macready and ruined his life. He blames D'Amico for the death of his wife and has sworn to dismantle the crime boss's organization and kill him. To that end, he has turned his daughter, Mindy, into a deadly, remorseless killer. Kick-Ass, being a basically decent fellow, wants no part this. He is no killer. Events, however, trap him in the middle of the bloody war between the D'Amico family and the Macreadys. There is no escape for anyone, including Kick-Ass until the war is over.

There are numerous shootings, stabbings and body parts being chopped off in this film. One man slowly burns to death, another is microwaved to death. There is a great deal of blood and death. This is serious business, darker than the recent Batman movies. The child assassin, Mindy, is an especially troubling character. Her loss of innocence, and the utilization of her by her father as a tool for his own revenge is as immoral and manipulative as anything seen in popular entertainment recently. It is one thing for an adult to carefully weigh moral choices. It is quite another thing to train a child to maim and murder people, and for that child to show no signs of remorse for her actions. This is worse than a father turning his daughter into a prostitute. Not only do this father and daughter team seem to enjoy killing, they also profit from the deaths, scooping up bucketfuls of money from the drug dealers and mobsters. The only voice of reason in the film is provided by Sergeant Marcus Williams (Omari Hardwick of “Miracle of St. Anna”) an old friend of the Macreadys, but he seems to have little influence on them. Batman looks like a pillar of the community compared to the killers Hit-Girl and Big Daddy. The language used in this film is also unusually foul for something aimed at a young audience.

The action movie formula plays itself out with an all-out battle at the end of the film involving some high-powered weapons like a bazooka, a mini-gun and a rocket-powered suit. There is plenty of action and some humor to be found here. A couple of the characters are interesting, namely Kick-Ass and his girlfriend, Katie Deauxma (played by Lyndsy Fonseca of “Hot Tub Time Machine”). Both of these characters are not what they seem to be at first glance, unlike every other character in the film. Both Katie and Kick-Ass are altruistic and their relationship is truly touching. About the only actor in the film I recognized, besides Cage, is Christopher Mintz-Plasse, who plays Chris D'Amico and the Red Mist. Christopher Mintz-Plasse was unforgettable as “McLovin” in “Superbad.” Here, he is sort of a half-assed villain.

This is a very odd comic book action movie which remains stuck between comedy, romance and murder. It is certainly entertaining enough as an action film and it works well enough as a love story, but there are some serious problems with the dramatic portions of the film and its warped moral message. If you don't take it too seriously it is decent entertainment. This film rates a B.

Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in digital formats, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

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Copyright © 2010 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.
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Robert Roten can be reached via e-mail at my last name at lariat dot org. [Mailer button: image of letter and envelope]

(If you e-mail me with a question about this or any other movie or review, please mention the name of the movie you are asking the question about, otherwise I may have no way of knowing which film you are referring to)