Quick Review: Kick-Ass

The trailers left me, and a lot of others, interested in "Kick-Ass," the story of an average teenager who decides to don a costume and fight crime, and meets others doing the same. I think the movie lived up to its hype, but it didn't break out to become a huge hit at the box office. I'd like to think it was the R rating (this is a very violent movie filled with foul language) that kept honest people under 17 -- "honest" as in unwilling or unable to buy a ticket for a different movie and sneak into "Kick-Ass" -- from seeing it, but I get the feeling it also didn't catch on with average moviegoers who aren't into superhero flicks unless they feature the well-known DC or Marvel Comics characters.

"Kick-Ass" is similar, yet different. Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson), the average kid who wonders why no one in real life becomes a superhero like they do in comics, then does so, has no powers. No one does, of course. When he tries to stop a crime the first time, he takes a brutal beating, but the surgeries to repair him at least left him better able to tolerate pain. His next attempt to fight crime is more successful, is recorded and put on YouTube, and a sensation is born. Then Kick-Ass meets others in costume: Hit Girl (Chloe Grace Moretz, who is amazing), who has mad fighting skills and a foul mouth while in costume, but otherwise is a sweet little girl who loves her father (Nicolas Cage, who, when he gets into costume as Big Daddy, becomes Adam West), and Red Mist ("McLovin" himself, Christopher Mintz-Plasse). As the plot thickens, Kick-Ass finds himself getting in over his head.

One subplot to discuss: a girl Dave has a crush on wants nothing to do with him, until the rumor somehow spreads after his hospitalization that he's gay. So he decides to play along so he can spend time with her. A movie critic for Entertainment Weekly found herself offended by this...

Even his best friends tease him mercilessly. (In the screenwriter’s hypocritical nod to propriety, Dave’s classmates call him a “lame duck,” rather than anything more offensive.) Indeed, the pretty girl Dave pines for, a popular cutie who otherwise wouldn’t give him the time of day, adopts him as a close friend because he’s harmlessly, tee-hee, gay! The two even share sleepover dates — which is funny because we know Dave is a horny heterosexual!

Well. What if the rumor spread that Dave was Muslim? Or Puerto Rican. Or left-handed. Or deaf. And he had to protest that he wasn’t. Is that funny, too?

It's an interesting read. Although it didn't bother me when I saw the movie, upon reflection I have to agree, and knock the grade down a bit as a result. My grade: B-plus.