Kick Ass
Directed by Matthew Vaughn
Written by Matthew Vaughn Jane Goldman
Starring Aaron Johnson Christopher Mintz-Plasse Chloë Grace Moretz Nicolas Cage
Mark Strong
Let’s talk about this schizophrenic little movie for a moment.
The main theme of the movie is that of a masked vigilante. Now you’re thinking, this is hardly science fiction, but if I will review a Batman movie, this one is fair game as well. Plus there is some tech, ending mostly, that is clearly above and beyond what we have at present. Anyway, a nerdy high school student is tired of bullying, beating and muggings that seem to happen to him and others on a regular basis. He finally tries to do something about it ala Batman and winds up knifed and run over by a car for his troubles. Not to be deterred, after healing, he dons his outfit again and once again finds himself in a situation well over his head, only to be rescued by a duo that seems to be the real deal in the form of a tiny girl called Hit Girl and a Batman clone called Big Daddy. The pair are bloody violence on PCP, slicing and dicing in over the top mayhem. Kick Ass, though wildly popular, finds himself wildly outclassed, but is mistaken by the local crime boss, as the perpetrator of the deaths in his organization, vowing to put Kick ass’ head on a platter.
The schizophrenic portion of the movie comes from the director that anguished that if he made it too attractive to don a suit and fight crime, to some youngster, they might indeed do just that, So he made a point of showing the main character pummeled, knifed and run over, etc. Also the director in his commentary said that Big Daddy had brainwashed his daughter Hit Girl to think that she was just playing comic book characters, which until I heard his say it, had never seen that indication. I did get that daddy is a bit around the end because of betrayal and false imprisonment and the loss of his wife, but from Hit Girl I got the clear impression that she idolized her farther and wanted nothing more than his affection and to be acknowledged by him. That for fun they test out how effective their bullet proof armor in a rather unusual way was in my mind a manifestation of daddy’s mania. At this there is no one better than Nick Cage.
But in the end the opposing forces of the director’s reluctance to give the movie it’s head and the moments when the movie slips it’s leash and becomes wildly violent, instead of being entertaining, manage to cancel each other out. The wire work that Hit Girl does is probably the highest moments in the movie. But its not enough to make the movie even remotely memorable. Though I think the first few moments when we see Big Daddy and Hit Girl (in fact just daddy and Mindy in civies) training together with Nick Cage delivering the line “You’ll be fine Baby Doll!” in his own maniacal manner is wildly inappropriate and probably the only time you will EVER see anything close to this scene in another move, will stay with you for some time. The one thing that bothered me was the throw away role by Yancy Butler. (Witchblade & Mann & Machine) basically onscreen for less than a minutes and has what...1 line?! What a shame.
The extras on the blu ray are something to talk about though. commentaries, deleted scenes, artwork and blu ray specific extras, tells me that a LOT of effort went in to using the blu ray format and giving the renter or purchaser some excellent value added material. So I would give the extras on this disk a solid 10. If you liked the movie, then you are going to REALLY like the blu-ray. Though the movie in my mind is just not that good. Yes it was well cast and acted. The special effects were good without stealing the show. So that makes it a much better film that say Hot Tub Time Machine. However I really just didn’t have any solid reaction to Kick Ass. Nerdy guys is tired for being the brunt of all that is wrong in his world, decides to do something about it and fails in spectacular fashion, but manages to grow a pair in the last 15 minutes......you know the drill. I would be hard pressed to give it any more than 6....maybe 7 so that makes the movie an overall 8 or 8.5...... yeah that works for me. If you liked the movie in the theater, the blu-ray is for you. If you gave it a pass in the theater, do the same here.
Directed by Matthew Vaughn
Written by Matthew Vaughn Jane Goldman
Starring Aaron Johnson Christopher Mintz-Plasse Chloë Grace Moretz Nicolas Cage
Mark Strong
Let’s talk about this schizophrenic little movie for a moment.
The main theme of the movie is that of a masked vigilante. Now you’re thinking, this is hardly science fiction, but if I will review a Batman movie, this one is fair game as well. Plus there is some tech, ending mostly, that is clearly above and beyond what we have at present. Anyway, a nerdy high school student is tired of bullying, beating and muggings that seem to happen to him and others on a regular basis. He finally tries to do something about it ala Batman and winds up knifed and run over by a car for his troubles. Not to be deterred, after healing, he dons his outfit again and once again finds himself in a situation well over his head, only to be rescued by a duo that seems to be the real deal in the form of a tiny girl called Hit Girl and a Batman clone called Big Daddy. The pair are bloody violence on PCP, slicing and dicing in over the top mayhem. Kick Ass, though wildly popular, finds himself wildly outclassed, but is mistaken by the local crime boss, as the perpetrator of the deaths in his organization, vowing to put Kick ass’ head on a platter.
The schizophrenic portion of the movie comes from the director that anguished that if he made it too attractive to don a suit and fight crime, to some youngster, they might indeed do just that, So he made a point of showing the main character pummeled, knifed and run over, etc. Also the director in his commentary said that Big Daddy had brainwashed his daughter Hit Girl to think that she was just playing comic book characters, which until I heard his say it, had never seen that indication. I did get that daddy is a bit around the end because of betrayal and false imprisonment and the loss of his wife, but from Hit Girl I got the clear impression that she idolized her farther and wanted nothing more than his affection and to be acknowledged by him. That for fun they test out how effective their bullet proof armor in a rather unusual way was in my mind a manifestation of daddy’s mania. At this there is no one better than Nick Cage.
But in the end the opposing forces of the director’s reluctance to give the movie it’s head and the moments when the movie slips it’s leash and becomes wildly violent, instead of being entertaining, manage to cancel each other out. The wire work that Hit Girl does is probably the highest moments in the movie. But its not enough to make the movie even remotely memorable. Though I think the first few moments when we see Big Daddy and Hit Girl (in fact just daddy and Mindy in civies) training together with Nick Cage delivering the line “You’ll be fine Baby Doll!” in his own maniacal manner is wildly inappropriate and probably the only time you will EVER see anything close to this scene in another move, will stay with you for some time. The one thing that bothered me was the throw away role by Yancy Butler. (Witchblade & Mann & Machine) basically onscreen for less than a minutes and has what...1 line?! What a shame.
The extras on the blu ray are something to talk about though. commentaries, deleted scenes, artwork and blu ray specific extras, tells me that a LOT of effort went in to using the blu ray format and giving the renter or purchaser some excellent value added material. So I would give the extras on this disk a solid 10. If you liked the movie, then you are going to REALLY like the blu-ray. Though the movie in my mind is just not that good. Yes it was well cast and acted. The special effects were good without stealing the show. So that makes it a much better film that say Hot Tub Time Machine. However I really just didn’t have any solid reaction to Kick Ass. Nerdy guys is tired for being the brunt of all that is wrong in his world, decides to do something about it and fails in spectacular fashion, but manages to grow a pair in the last 15 minutes......you know the drill. I would be hard pressed to give it any more than 6....maybe 7 so that makes the movie an overall 8 or 8.5...... yeah that works for me. If you liked the movie in the theater, the blu-ray is for you. If you gave it a pass in the theater, do the same here.
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