This is a review of the film Kick Ass 2. It is in the vein of Kill Bill in terms of action. If you like that movie or the first Kick Ass, you will like it for sure. Read more below if you want to know more. Kick Ass 2 3 / 4 If you haven’t read Mark Millar’s other graphic novels besides his sequel here which gets adapted to the big screen, he is like a cross between Garth Ennis and Alan Moore; however, he has only Ennis’s mean streak but with heart and soul along with Moore’s rooted out of reality mentality but with a down to earth probability. Jeff Wadlow directs and adapts Millar’s Kick Ass 2 and has wisely toned down the gore and amped up the action. He takes certain arcs in the graphic novel that would be unfamiliar to those who haven’t seen or read Kick Ass 1 and allows easy access for newcomers to Millar’s universe here. Kick Ass 2 is an action splatter fest along the lines of Kill Bill and while it doesn’t have Tarantino’s cinematic wisdom behind it, it stays faithful in all the right ways to the comic series and gives us one of the more unique action heroines in recent memory. Sometimes it’s too gross and bizarre for its own good, but if you are one to judge a film based on staying true to its source material, this movie deserves a high score. Starting off of the conclusion of its predecessor, Hit Girl (Chloe Moretz-Grace) and Kick Ass (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) are engaging in training sessions to get Kick Ass’s fighting skills up to par with his reputation. When Mindy’s (aka Hit Girl) adopted father (Morris Chestnut) who was the former friend and law enforcement partner to Mindy’s father (aka Big Daddy) from the first film, straps Mindy’s life aim to school and family, she puts Hit Girl’s attire in the closet. Meanwhile, David (aka Kick Ass) gets involved with a real life Justice League super hero group in Justice Forever led by the former mobster turned patriotic leader in Colonel Stars and Stripes (Jim Carrey). As Red Mist (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) takes up a new super villain name in the Motherfu#$er and recruits his own group of supervillains, Kick-Ass and his team slowly get dismantled to the point where retaliation is required. We’ve seen Saoirse Ronan play a convincing action hero in the recent Hannah despite being in reality a young girl. I must say that Chloe Moretz-Grace at only 15 years old or so, not only makes for perhaps the most convincing little girl action heroine ever, but she instilled in me an anticipation of her return in the finale that is quite rare and even disturbing for myself as a viewer to want a little girl to come and kick the bad guys asses and save the day. Aaron Taylor-Johnson brings a perfect sense of self abuse to represent heroism to the streets. John Leguizamo plays the Alfred to Mintz-Plasse’s evil Bruce Wayne as Red Mist puts it and his heartfelt presence is good. It is Jim Carrey who despite his brief screen time, gives the film its most impressive acting performance. He is practically unrecognizable with a New Yawkish or Boston accent and prosthetics to depict Italian heritage. Carrey is the film’s big name brand star that replaces Nick Cage’s Big Daddy from part 1 and kudos to director Jeff Wadlow for recognizing the crucial casting of Carrey’s part or from reading the graphic novel himself. This movie might appear to be too gory or grotesque to be entertaining, but in reality, these elements are toned down tremendously from the graphic novel. Wadlow and company wisely stay as faithful as can be and yet allow the action and violence to be as digestable as possible without bastardizing the comics. Hit Girl’s battle with Mother Russia in the comics was a one sided beat down ending in mutilation. Here, it’s like watching Robin’s sister take on a female version of Bane and the ending is still true but tweaked appropriately. Red Mist’s costume in the book was still red but fashioned in gothic style. Wisely, the filmmakers keep the costume design but give the correct color to it in black. Kick Ass’s girlfriend wasn’t familiar to me in reading the second book because I hadn’t read book 1. Here, she is his fu$k buddy with mutual affection and I ended up caring more about David’s unofficial girlfriend here than I did in the comic. Even the death of an immediate family member isn’t as chilling here as it was in Millar’s creation. The side arc with Mindy playing a meaner version of Lindsay Lohan in Mean Girls is a bit off putting and disgusting at times but it is filler if anything for the running time. I suppose you could call Kick Ass 2 a superhero movie that is too mean, grotesque, violent and disturbing. However, Jeff Wadlow is only adapting what is essentially in the comics and even lightens up these elements. I suppose you could ask why the great Jim Carrey or the other endearing or likeable characters get cut too short. Again, Wadlow is only adapting from a source material that had these shortcomings anyway. Ennis’s The Boys series was about the absurdity and insanity of superheroes and how they would exist in the real world. Moore’s Watchmen was about incorporating superheroes into our historical existence. Millar’s Kick Ass, both parts 1 and 2, brilliantly take the concept of putting on a costume and trying to make a difference. He’s just showing us that it isn’t all good looking, cleanly heroic and sharply choregraphed. It’s more about taking a beating because you can’t fight or giving a beating with no skill; and the bottom line is that wearing a costume represents hope and not superpowers.
Posted on: Tue, 20 Aug 2013 15:49:19 +0000
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