Release Date: 8/16/2013
Director: Jeff Wadlow
Running Time: 103 Minutes
Budget: 28 Million
Screenplay: Jeff Wadlow
Rating: R
What I enjoyed the most about this movie was the character progression. Most of the movie shows not only the title character; Kick-Ass/ Dave Lizewski (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), but also just as much of Hit-Girl/ Miny Macready (Chole Grace Moretz). Mindy Macready, now being in the 9th grade, continues on her alternate life as Hit-Girl, while struggling with the growing pains of adolescence. Meanwhile Dave Lizewski reaches out as Kick-Ass, to find other normal people dressing up as superheroes with the intention of making a superhero team. The movie went back-and-forth between the two characters, while they dealt with their own struggles through out the movie.
Now some of you may have noticed that Jim Carrey also plays a role in the movie as well. He plays Colonel Stars and Stripes, an ex-mafia thug, turned born again christian. Although his role is just as a side character, I did very much enjoy seeing him play something other then his typical roles as an over-the-top comedic character. He looked like he put on some size for the role as well, which along with the facial scars and mask is why some people probably found it hard to recognize him. I found it interesting as well that Jim Carrey actually withdrew his support of the movie because of its violence after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting happened. He wrote this in response: I did Kick-Ass a month before Sandy Hook and now in all good conscience I cannot support that level of violence. My apologies to others involved with the film. I am not ashamed of it but recent events have caused a change in my heart.
What drew me to "Kick-Ass 2" was idea that normal people could make the decision to make a difference and fight evil. This movie does a great job of also showing the consequences of doing that and what could really happen. Real evil is no joke, and there would be severe repercussions for someone to try to fight it as a self proclaimed hero. Taking it to the next level, this movie also introduces the opposite; a super villain. The Motherfucker/ Chris D'amico (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), is a hardcore, coldblooded, filthy-rich, teenager who seeks revenge on Kick-Ass for what happened in the first movie. Although The Motherfucker is more funny then scary to the audience, the rest of his evil team are truly fearsome.
My biggest problems with the movie was the mostly unnecessary sexual and nude scenes. Now in some movies, sexuality is a necessity to the storyline, but in "Kick-Ass 2" I felt it was random and just thrown-in because of the known point that sex sells. My other issue I had, was the unrealistic emotional responses by many characters to certain situations. For example (SPOILER ALERT); there was a scene where many of the superheroes had just found out another superhero was killed and decapitated. Their response was just casual conversation about it. If I was them, I would be worried that I could be next, and that the consequences of dressing up in these costumes is severe and the threat real. They just sat around and talked about throwing money into a pot to buy flowers. Really? That's all these normal people would say? It's not like they're Superman or The Flash or something. They are normal people, with baseball bats and bricks in their purse. How can there not be more of a emotional response. Besides that point, I felt the humor fell short. The jokes were pretty cheesy, and I found that I only chuckled at a few parts.
Overall I would say that this movie is not a superhero movie for kids.....at all. It's not really a first date kind of movie either. If you're with a couple friends and want to see an action-packed, ultra violent, semi-humorous movie, then give it a watch, but don't expect it to be as good as the first. I would say that you could get the same effect from watching it in blu-ray, that would from the theater. So maybe save a couple dollars and wait a few months. In the end, "Kick-Ass 2" just didn't live up to it's predecessor.
RossBoss Performance Review: 6 out of 10
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