Kick-Ass 2 Movie Review

The first Kick-Ass remains one of those little gems in the cinematic lexicon, a film most moviegoers stumbled across by accident or through word-of-mouth.  A matter of timing, subject matter, and a star-making role from a foul mouthed 11 year-old – Kick-Ass was that little comic-book movie that could.

Flash forward a few years and now comes the sequel.  This time, we see Dave (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) is still in High School and, after initially deciding to hang up his Kick-Ass tights, has decided to join up with the newly formed superhero group ‘Justice Forever’.  Leading this group is none other than an almost unrecognizable Jim Carrey as Colonel Stars.

Mindy (Chloe Grace Moretz), on the other hand, decides early on that she needs to retire Hit-Girl and fulfill a promise to her guardian, Marcus (Morris Chestnut).  Her promise to forget the teachings of her late father, Big Daddy, and enjoy the simple life of a normal teenage girl.

Of course, Chris D’Amico (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) will have none of this.  After his mother passes away quite conveniently, Chris and his right hand, Javier (John Leguizamo), set out to create the world’s first supervillain – The Mother F****r.  He also uses his vast wealth to pool together a crew of thugs, led by Mother Russia as Mother F****r’s sadistic avenger .  Their mission: To find and torture Kick-Ass for killing D’Amico’s father in the previous film, as well as every other Justice Forever member still standing.  The ensuing carnage springs from here, with plenty of surprises in tow.

The film departs from the comic in many ways, mostly for the better.  While the comic was dark and gritty, it also had a mean-spiritedness and vile nature that really took any ‘fun’ the film could have out. They kept the basic plot, left some of the dark, surprising elements, but tweaked the ending and eliminated the vile plot points, for good measure.

Like the first film, Moretz carries this movie.  As much as I like Taylor-Johnson as an actor, every time Moretz leaves the screen, the film slows down a bit.  For as much as everyone in the film pretends to be a superhero or villain, Hit-Girl always looks like she belongs in this world and Moretz is nothing if not confident in the role.  The film does try to spend a bit too much time showing Mindy attempting to be just a normal teenage girl, but when we finally break away from this tired subplot, the film gets back on track.

Taylor-Johnson is serviceable, but really brings nothing new to the role except an obviously heavy ab regiment.  The character given the most chance to really break out and shine is Mintz-Plasse.  His character actually has a strong arc that should be hitting the gas the entire time.  Unfortunately, for the most part, he just misses the turn.  For every scene where you can see the fire and anger burning within him, then comes yet another where he once again plays McLovin.

Of course, you really want to know about Jim Carrey as Colonel Stars.  As much as Carrey has tried to dismiss the film recently due to the excessive violence, ironically his character is directly adverse to it.  Colonel Stars is more about implying violence, than actual action.  The best thing about Carrey’s performance is that he plays it entirely straight.  There is no hamming, no Riddler maniacal laugh to be found, nothing but a guy who has seen a little too much, trying to give back just a little bit.  It is really too bad that Carrey went against this film so much as it really should give his career a much needed jolt.

The action, violence and ludicrous bloodshed are all in ample display here, even if director Jeff Wadlow is not nearly as adept at shooting action as Kick-Ass 1’s Matthew Vaughn.  The biggest issue I had with the direction was that the film felt more like a series of vignettes than a cohesive story, and Wadlow just could not seem to find a consistent tone for the film.  Where the first Kick-Ass knew what it was trying to be from minute one, Kick-Ass 2 feels a little too much like it’s striving more to pay homage to the first film than to be its own.  It finally came together well in the end, when Hit-Girl and Mother Russia square off in what is easily the film’s best fight sequence, but it took some time for him to find his footing.

The film is still fun, and every second Moretz is on the screen, you will not be bored.  Mother F****r and Kick-Ass need to take a sabbatical though and just let Hit-Girl handle it from here on out, perhaps in her own spin-off.  Because let’s be honest, that’s who you c***s really came to see.

If $10 is the full price of admission, this one’s worth $5.50

 

Aaron Peterson
The Hollywood Outsider Podcast
www.thehollywoodoutsider.com