Kick-Ass 2
3.5/4
Starring: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Chloe Grace Moretz, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Morris Chestnut, Jim Carrey, John Leguizamo, Lindy Booth, Clark Duke, Donald Faison, Olga Kurkulina
Rated R for Strong Violence, Pervasive Language, Crude and Sexual Content, and Brief Nudity
"This isn't a comic book! This is real life!"
My main criticism with the first "Kick-Ass" was that while it while it provided a more realistic view of superheroes, they still seemed immune from the law. That's changed here. Not only do these costumed vigilantes (that's what they are, and they know it) face physical danger, they face personal and legal trouble for their actions.
Dave Lizewski (Taylor-Johnson) has hung up the Kick-Ass costume for good. But he's bored, so he begins training again with Mindy Macready (Grace Moretz). When he looks online, he finds out that someone is gathering superheroes to form a league. Dave thinks that this is the best thing ever, and he wants in. There, he meets Colonel Stars and Strips (Carrey, who withdrew support for the film after the Sandy Hook massacre), an ex-mafia enforcer turned born-again Christian, Doctor Gravity (Faison), a physics teacher, the White Bitch (Booth), who is into Kick-Ass, gay Insect Man (Robert Emms), Battle Guy, whom Dave immediately knows is his friend Marty (Duke) and a middle-aged couple (Steve Mackintosh and Monica Dolan) whose son Tommy went missing.
Meanwhile, Chris D'Amico (Mintz-Plasse) is vowing revenge against Kick-Ass. After his mom dies (in a gag that is pretty funny), Chris enlists the help of his butler, Javier (Leguizamo), to help him become the world's first supervillain, The Motherfucker. The battle lines are drawn, and when The Motherfucker goes to war, Kick-Ass has to decide where to draw the line.
"Kick-Ass" took a superhero to the next level by both embracing and mocking the conventions of the superhero genre. "Kick-Ass 2" does the same thing with almost equal success. Mark Millar (who wrote both comics) and co-writer/director Jeff Wadlow mine new territory by employing familiar stereotypes in a real world setting. The characters reflect on what they're doing and the consequences for them.
In this way, the film resembles Christopher Nolan's masterpiece "The Dark Knight." Although Nolan's film is an altogether stronger film, it took place in it's own world. "Kick-Ass 2" doesn't do that. It stays in our world and postulates legal and moral questions about being a superhero, and answers them as realistically as possible. Considering that the film carries over the irreverence of its predecessor, that's pretty far.
The cast slides easily back into their roles. Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Chole Grace-Moretz and Christopher Mintz-Plasse are all in fine form. Grace-Moretz's role (and by de facto, Morris Chestnut's, since he plays Marcus, her new guardian) has been expanded. While Dave has his adventures with the new gang of superheroes, Mindy hangs up Hit-Girl's costume to save what is left of her childhood (as a favor to Marcus). Millar and Wadlow have a lot of fun putting a firecracker like Mindy Macready in a high school setting (which is pretty dead-on in its portrayal).
Director Jeff Wadlow creates the askew tone of the first one to the extent that one probably won't notice that it's not made by the same director (Matthew Vaughn stayed on as a producer). It also has so many in-jokes and skewers so many of the superhero conventions that it's impossible to remember them all. But like the first one, it has something to say. The first one asked what it would be like to be a superhero in real life. This one asks if it's really worth it.
If I have made this film seem like a philosophical art-house film, rest assured that it is most definitely not. It's a hyper-violent (absolutely not okay for kids) and frequently hilarious superhero movie. I can't wait for "Kick-Ass 3."
Starring: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Chloe Grace Moretz, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Morris Chestnut, Jim Carrey, John Leguizamo, Lindy Booth, Clark Duke, Donald Faison, Olga Kurkulina
Rated R for Strong Violence, Pervasive Language, Crude and Sexual Content, and Brief Nudity
"This isn't a comic book! This is real life!"
My main criticism with the first "Kick-Ass" was that while it while it provided a more realistic view of superheroes, they still seemed immune from the law. That's changed here. Not only do these costumed vigilantes (that's what they are, and they know it) face physical danger, they face personal and legal trouble for their actions.
Dave Lizewski (Taylor-Johnson) has hung up the Kick-Ass costume for good. But he's bored, so he begins training again with Mindy Macready (Grace Moretz). When he looks online, he finds out that someone is gathering superheroes to form a league. Dave thinks that this is the best thing ever, and he wants in. There, he meets Colonel Stars and Strips (Carrey, who withdrew support for the film after the Sandy Hook massacre), an ex-mafia enforcer turned born-again Christian, Doctor Gravity (Faison), a physics teacher, the White Bitch (Booth), who is into Kick-Ass, gay Insect Man (Robert Emms), Battle Guy, whom Dave immediately knows is his friend Marty (Duke) and a middle-aged couple (Steve Mackintosh and Monica Dolan) whose son Tommy went missing.
Meanwhile, Chris D'Amico (Mintz-Plasse) is vowing revenge against Kick-Ass. After his mom dies (in a gag that is pretty funny), Chris enlists the help of his butler, Javier (Leguizamo), to help him become the world's first supervillain, The Motherfucker. The battle lines are drawn, and when The Motherfucker goes to war, Kick-Ass has to decide where to draw the line.
"Kick-Ass" took a superhero to the next level by both embracing and mocking the conventions of the superhero genre. "Kick-Ass 2" does the same thing with almost equal success. Mark Millar (who wrote both comics) and co-writer/director Jeff Wadlow mine new territory by employing familiar stereotypes in a real world setting. The characters reflect on what they're doing and the consequences for them.
In this way, the film resembles Christopher Nolan's masterpiece "The Dark Knight." Although Nolan's film is an altogether stronger film, it took place in it's own world. "Kick-Ass 2" doesn't do that. It stays in our world and postulates legal and moral questions about being a superhero, and answers them as realistically as possible. Considering that the film carries over the irreverence of its predecessor, that's pretty far.
The cast slides easily back into their roles. Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Chole Grace-Moretz and Christopher Mintz-Plasse are all in fine form. Grace-Moretz's role (and by de facto, Morris Chestnut's, since he plays Marcus, her new guardian) has been expanded. While Dave has his adventures with the new gang of superheroes, Mindy hangs up Hit-Girl's costume to save what is left of her childhood (as a favor to Marcus). Millar and Wadlow have a lot of fun putting a firecracker like Mindy Macready in a high school setting (which is pretty dead-on in its portrayal).
Director Jeff Wadlow creates the askew tone of the first one to the extent that one probably won't notice that it's not made by the same director (Matthew Vaughn stayed on as a producer). It also has so many in-jokes and skewers so many of the superhero conventions that it's impossible to remember them all. But like the first one, it has something to say. The first one asked what it would be like to be a superhero in real life. This one asks if it's really worth it.
If I have made this film seem like a philosophical art-house film, rest assured that it is most definitely not. It's a hyper-violent (absolutely not okay for kids) and frequently hilarious superhero movie. I can't wait for "Kick-Ass 3."
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