Kick-Ass
R18, 117 minutes
If Quentin Tarantino had made Spider-Man the result may well have been something like Kick-Ass, an absurdly violent and profanity-filled romp that is definitely not a superhero movie for kids.
Dave Lizewsky (a nerdy-yet-heroic Aaron Johnson) is a New York teen obsessed with superheroes.
One day he
tosses on a colourful wetsuit and patrols his neighbourhood as the superhero Kick-Ass. Kick-Ass soon draws the attention of the local mob man (a sneering Mark Strong) and other vigilante heroes, including the menacing former cop Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage) and his whirling dervish of a daughter Hit Girl (Chloe Grace Moretz). Needless to say, things get out of control fast.
Kick-Ass prides itself on being a realistic look at superheroes - nobody has strange powers, and Kick-Ass - well, he gets his ass kicked.
Director Matthew Vaughan piles on the colourful carnage and comedy, with buckets of profanity, blood and slayings that are more for laughs than anything. But he also cleverly makes Kick-Ass feel topical with nods to internet celebrity and televised terrorism.
Kick-Ass is a heck of a lot of fun although it's kidding itself if it thinks it's really revolutionary. Johnson, in his first big role, makes a mark as Kick-Ass, making this rather clueless do-gooder believable. Cage is marvellous as Big Daddy and little Moretz as Hit Girl just about steals the movie.
But if you find the notion of a 12-year-old girl swearing like a sailor and killing gangsters in assorted inventive ways offensive, Kick-Ass is probably not the movie for you. It definitely pushes the edge of good taste.
