KICK-ASS follows Dave Lizewski (Johnson),
a teenage comic-book fan who is nothing special, and he asks why there are no costumed heroes in the real world. He decides to become one called Kick-Ass only to become an internet sensation and be way over-his-head. Enter Damon Macready (Cage) who has been training his daughter Mindy to be an
unstoppable 13 year old killing machine. Damon wants to bring down big New York
crime boss Frank D’Amico (Strong) who framed Damon for a crime that he didn’t do which resulted in Damon losing
his job as a police detective and his wife overdosing on pills. Damon has
become a sociopathic vigilante and he trains his daughter by shooting bullets at her while she is wearing a bulletproof vest
and giving her weapons for her birthday. They are Big Daddy and Hit Girl as they
strike at D’Amico’s operation bit by bit.
Hit Girl piles up the bodies as she is
the unstoppable girl. She is like an anime/ comic book hero by the way of what
if Batman had a daughter he trained for years. Hit Girl might be the result if
Batman had a twisted sense of values when it comes to taking out bad guys. Big
Daddy dresses up in a Batman-like costume and is just as deadly as his daughter. Hit
Girl is the embodiment of everyone who loves a film where the female kicks ass with style.
She is the character you expect to see in a Hong Kong/ Chinese action martial arts film. She is the character who steals the movie first
with her toughness and her vunerability at times.
Dave Lizewski gets himself in the
middle of Big Daddy’s and Hit Girl’s war against the D’Amico crime operation. Dave wants nothing of it- he just wants the girl who mistakes him for being gay (the only part of
the story that I didn't full warm up to). KICK-ASS has humor and tons of
carnage. It is an action movie fan’s wet dream. It uses colors not usually associated with a comic book movie.
It bucks conventions while also taking cues from comic books and Asian action films.
It does get over-the-top towards the end, but then costumed heroes are over-the-top anyway. It is based on the comic book series by Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr.
I would love to see another film in the
KICK-ASS universe. Also the music score rocks in addition to the excellent
direction by Matthew Vaughn who has outdone himself since his last comic book adaptation (STARDUST). See KICK-ASS and prepared to be blown away by it’s in your face humor and action.
SPECIAL FETAURES:
Feature audio commentary by director Matthew
Vaughn
IT’S ON! THE COMIC BOOK ORIGIN OF
KICK-ASS: writer Mark Millar and artist John Romita Jr. talk about the making
of the comic book. Also included are interviews with the inker and colorist of
the comic series.
THE ART OF KICK-ASS is split into Storyboards,
Costumes, On-Set Photography, John Romita Jr. Art For the Film, and Production Design galleries.
Also on the disc are the North American
theatrical trailer and the Redband Hit Girl trailer in addition to marketing posters for North America
and international countries.
FINAL ANALYSIS: KICK-ASS is one of my favorite movies of the year. It’s
in my top ten for 2010. It is a fun action film that turns the superhero
comic upside down.
This DVD review is ©8-6-2010 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission. Send all comments to lord_pragmagtic@hotmail.com
