‘Kick-Ass’
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Starring: Aaron Johnson, Chloe Grace Moretz, Nicolas Cage, Mark Strong
Rating: 4/5 popcorns

Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Kill Bill’ (2003) may well be one of the only films released in the last quarter-century to rival the degree of desensitizing violence in ‘Kick-Ass,’ a superhero film that shames the meek and meaninglessly stylized releases of late. ‘Kick-Ass’ is one of the most shocking studio pictures to invade the market in a very long time. Retaining the most vital qualities of the genre in its ability to entertain and inspire wonder, the picture is downright revolutionary in its deconstruction of the superhero ideal.
   
By day, the titular superhero is the nerdy Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson), an average high school student who pals around with his loser friends, Marty (Clark Duke) and Todd (Evan Peters), with no discernible purpose to his life. However, after an incident in which a bystander does nothing to intervene in a mugging, Dave decides to attempt to become a real-life superhero. For Dave, the first step toward realizing his dream is, naturally, purchasing a green scuba suit and nunchucks online.
   
Dave is beaten mercilessly in his first crime-fighting escapade but morphs into an Internet phenomenon after fending off three hoodlums outside a convenience store. From this, the title ‘Kick-Ass’ is born. His burgeoning fame leads him to come into contact with superior superheroes. ‘Hit-Girl’ (Chloe Moretz) is an adorable 11-year-old who wields a double-edged blade like Bruce Lee. Her father, ‘Big Daddy’ (Nicolas Cage), a former cop with a dark sense of humor, joins their ranks as well. The mismatched bunch band together to take down crime lord Frank D’Amico, whose son Chris (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), a superhero himself, might be fighting for the wrong cause.
   
Where comic book adaptations such as ‘Sin City’ depend on their ultra-stylized aesthetic to affect their audience, ‘Kick-Ass’ is slyly disorienting. Director Matthew Vaughn fashions a more familiar universe in which to stage the action, amplifying the degree of graphic violence while grounding it in the realm of possibility. Unlike Alan Moore’s ‘Watchmen,’ one of the most overrated and unrightfully treasured works of its time, ‘Kick-Ass’ wisely steers clear of philosophical blabbering. Vaughn’s goal is to make an action picture that sizzles like a classic John Woo action film, which he achieves with style to burn.
   
Rather than shy away from the source’s controversial subject matter, Vaughn fully embraces the graphic qualities of the comic and instills them with raw force. It is impossible not to consider the ages of the characters committing the violence, which makes it even more captivating than the likes of ‘Kill Bill’ and ‘Saw’ (2004). Here is a film in which a preteen kills an army of mafia henchmen single-handedly, only to have the boss beat her senseless. Here is a film in which a father shoots his daughter in the chest at point-blank range to test the durability of a bulletproof vest. Here is a film that mocks modern media’s depiction of violence as effectively as any film since Oliver Stone’s ‘Natural Born Killers’ (1994).
   
However, this innovative work is not without inconspicuous faults. Star Aaron Johnson is mediocre at playing a normal teenager, much of the action is borderline preposterous and the picture is at least 15 minutes too long.
   
Whether ‘Kick-Ass’ aspires to greatness is never quite clear. Perhaps that ambiguity is what makes it so oddly charming. The actors, Chloe Moretz chief among them, are so engaging that the audience comes to care for them as they would the players in a lavish drama. The picture is violent, bloody and brutal as hell but never numbing. It might desensitize, but the meticulousness with which Vaughn softens the action with moments of tenderness ensures that the picture keeps its head, even if it might be on the verge of combusting.

smlittma@syr.edu