3SR: Raucous, ultra violent fun as teen superhero Hit Girl faces her most evil enemy yet – the US High School system.
Kick-Ass 2
Starring: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Chloe Grace Moretz, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Jim Carrey
Directed by Jeff Wadlow
Written by Jeff Wadlow from the comics by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr.
Action, comedy, thriller. 1hr 43mins. R16 for graphic violence, sexual references and offensive language.
****
Mark Millar’s comical take on the tights and flights genre of comics, Kick-Ass played with the idea of what it’d be like if ordinary people really did don masks and capes, to take to the streets and defend the defenseless.
The answer was pure (hilarious) carnage, of course.
Kick-Ass 2 continues where the first film left off, picking up the tale of dorky teen no-one, Dave Lizewski (Aaron Taylor Johnson) and his secret identity as ‘‘real-life superhero’’ Kick-Ass, but switches focus to a fan favourite from the first film, Mindy Macready, aka Hit Girl.
In the hopes of getting back into the superhero-ing game and ‘‘teaming up’’ with someone, Dave starts training with Mindy who has never given up stalking the night as a lethal, foul mouthed pre-teen vigilante.
But when Mindy is forced to turn in her nunchuks by her cop fosterdad, Kick-Ass ends up joining a gaggle of misfit superhero wannabes called Justice Forever and drawing the attention of superhero-turned-supervillain, Chris D’Amico (Christopher Mintz-Plasse).
As the violence escalates, and Dave’s life ends up on the line, Mindy has to decide if she’s going to conform to the world’s (low) expectations for a teenage girl, or get back to doing what she does best – kicking bad guy’s asses.
Kick-Ass 2 is the most brutal, gory, foul-mouthed film to ever bust you over the head with some high morals.
With themes of friendship, honestly and being true to yourself, the story plays out like an incredibly violent and endearingly earnest coming of age film, only with decapitations, four letter words and Christopher Mintz-Plasse in a gimp suit.
Mindy is a girl trained to get the gun and kill the baddies from the time she could walk, and as she struggles to rationalise that with her blossoming womanhood (the scene in which she’s introduced to 1 Direction ciphers Union J is hilarious, and as someone who was once a teenage girl, fairly accurate) she finds out who she really is.
It’s refreshing to see an action film focusing on a well rounded, dare I say realistic, teenage girl who’s sympathetically written.
But don’t let that fool you. There’ is nothing PC or wishy-washy about Kick-Ass. It delivers its moral core like a round house kick to the side of the head and follows it up with a knee to the funny bone.
A joyful, exciting and raucous addition to the League of Superhero Cinema.
Related articles
- Kick-Ass 2 Movie Review (shockya.com)
- Film Review: ‘Kick-Ass 2’ (variety.com)
- From Ballsy Outsider to the Coattails: Kick-Ass 2 (noframeof.com)
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