Viewed in
2010
Premise
Based on the comic book (that I never read) about regular people attempting to become superheroes.
Loved
The thoughtful plot and writing.
Liked
The cast.
Thoughts
Even with the hype from my friends, I found the film to be quite excellent.
Based on the marketing, I thought it was simply about superhero wannabes, like a teenage version of Mystery Men. What surprised me was the complicated, thoughtful, in-depth dramatic story about people who want to make a difference that drove the film. In addition, the characters had human, believable behaviors and motivations. This took me by surprise, and soon I was emotionally invested in these interesting characters. I loved the moments when Dave (Aaron Johnson) realizes even as Kick-Ass, he was still physically, mentally and emotionally mortal.
Not only were the characters grounded in realism, so was most of the physical action. During fights, people got cut, shot, bruised, and proved to be mortal. The blood and gore had that comic book flair. Which was a good choice. It was believable without bringing the audience down with grittiness. My only gripe was one of the character's action scenes were a bit too slick. I understand it made a great contrast to Kick-Ass' beginner skills, but the bullet-dodging skills of that character was unrealistic at times.
Overall, the cast was solid. Aaron Johnson was excellent as the main character, as a teenager who steps into a world he did not expect. Since he played John Lennon in Nowhere Boy, I kept getting distracted by the eerie facial similarities. As the only "big name", the underrated Nicolas Cage easily could have tried to steal the show or ham it up, instead he melded with the film. The most interesting choice was Christopher Mintz-Plasse. Clearly he chose it to prevent himself from being pigeonholed as McLovin, but also because it could be a very challenging role if there are sequels. I would be interesting to see if he could succeed.
What bugged me was the music choice. I liked it because it was a very kinetic collection of songs. My feeling was that the choices were a little too obvious for their scenes, and it drew attention to the music instead of the moment. Also, I fear the pop songs will cause the film to be dated a decade from now. Clearly not a deal-breaker, but a distraction nevertheless.
Anticipating a silly superhero satire, Kick-Ass turned out to be a thoughtful, engrossing story full of drama, action, sprinkled in with some fun humor. Easily a candidate as my favorite film of this year.
What I would change
Nothing.
Personal
As a huge While You Were Sleeping fan, I was amused to see the guy who played Joe Jr. as a antagonist's right-hand man.
