Kick-Ass

Based on the ongoing comic series, Kick-Ass follows put-upon teenager Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) as he spontaneously decides to become a masked vigilante named Kick-Ass – with his transformation paving the way for a quirky survivalist (Nicolas Cage’s Big Daddy) and his foul-mouthed daughter (Chloe Grace Moretz’s Hit-Girl) to join the crime-fighting fray. Filmmaker Matthew Vaughn captures the viewer’s interest right from the get-go by effectively poking fun at the superhero genre, with the admittedly familiar setup primarily employed as a springboard for a fresh, thoroughly irreverent take on the standard comic-book origin story. Johnson’s personable turn as the central character is matched by an eclectic supporting cast that includes Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Jason Flemyng, and Mark Strong, yet there’s little doubt that Moretz stands as the film’s most valuable asset – as the diminutive actress offers up a commanding and flat-out captivating performance that ultimately leaves the viewer wanting more of Hit-Girl (and less of Kick-Ass). It’s only as Vaughn bogs the proceedings down with a steadily increasing number of subplots and side characters that one’s interest begins to wane, with the narrative’s decidedly overstuffed nature – ie it’s almost as if a superhero trilogy has been compressed into one seriously uneven movie – inevitably wreaking havoc on the film’s momentum and ensuring that the first and third acts are far more engrossing than the flabby second. The strength of the spectacularly violent climax ultimately makes it easy enough to overlook such problems, however, and it goes without saying that the novelty of such brutality within the context of a progressively standard superhero movie alone cements Kick-Ass‘ undeniable success.

*** out of ****