The film is about Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson), a nerdy comic book loving outcast living in New York, who decides after being mugged one-too-many times that he shall become a costumed super-hero, and names himself Kick-Ass. One of his first crime-fighting excursions is caught on a video-phone and he soon becomes an internet phenomenon, attracting the attention of gangster Frank D'Amico (Mark Strong), and father-daughter team of masked vigilantes Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage) and Hit-Girl (Chloe Moretz). See the trailer below.
Kick-Ass really delivers a great comic-book film that is thoroughly entertaining. The film effortlessly blends humour, violence and even very dramatic scenes. Matthew Vaughan's direction is fantastic, showing the failings of other comic-book films, for example Vaughan shoots New York in a way that has never been achieved in the Spider-Man trilogy, and the fight scenes are far more dramatic and interesting that in last year's Watchmen adaptation.
There are some faults in the opening, as the story takes some time to get going and there is a lot of jumping between present and past events, however as in all superhero films the payoff makes this only a minor complaint, in fact the opening set-up is what sets out so many of the parameters for what’s to come.
The soundtrack and score are great however there are some times in the film where it feels like there is a conflict between the two, and some of the soundtrack choices are slightly uninspired like the growing film cliché that whenever a girl is fighting "Bad Reputation" has to be played.
The film has numerous nods to other comic-book films, which is fitting in a film that so much plays on the conventions established in other superhero films, one of the most obvious homage is that Nicolas Cage as Big Daddy (a character who's outfit is modelled on Batman's) impersonates Adam West while in the costume.The performances are all outstanding, and the interplay between the actors is great, and Chloe Moretz as Hit-Girl shows why she is a rising star, with a performance which shows a tremendous amount of maturity in what is a very demanding role. Aaron Johnson also performs well giving a very convincing American accent, and working well with the actors playing his friends.
The storytelling is brilliant, allowing for moments of great comedy amongst tragedy and the variation in style is also achieved well, and it also makes the balance between the light-hearted moments of the film and the darker portions work.
Overall the film is entertaining, thrilling, thoroughly engrossing and hugely impressive.
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