"Kick Ass" Review Thread
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Stone_Cold_Sisko
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I like the movie much better than the comic book.
First off, while it's very faithful, the movie loses the Mark Millar cynicism and tones down the 'nasty' vibe to everything. That might not be the right word, but I don't know how else to describe it, it's just a general tone that permeates his "shocking in your face moments". The movie makes a lot of these moments endearing.
Secondly, the movie did something really clever, I thought, which reminded me of the movie 'Adaptation'. The comic felt like more of a straight send-up of superhero stories... while the movie, as it went on, slowly but surely *became* the movie it was lampooning - and i'm pretty sure this was a deliberate choice. Big Daddy's comic book-y origin, bazookas, and eventually jetpacks. By the end, when Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl are jetpacking through the city, it's the equivalent of Spider-Man wooshing through NYC, it's the "hero has arrived" moment. Kick-Ass really can fly. Metamorphosis complete. It's not "putting down" superhero movies, it's lovingly embracing them by the end.
First off, while it's very faithful, the movie loses the Mark Millar cynicism and tones down the 'nasty' vibe to everything. That might not be the right word, but I don't know how else to describe it, it's just a general tone that permeates his "shocking in your face moments". The movie makes a lot of these moments endearing.
Secondly, the movie did something really clever, I thought, which reminded me of the movie 'Adaptation'. The comic felt like more of a straight send-up of superhero stories... while the movie, as it went on, slowly but surely *became* the movie it was lampooning - and i'm pretty sure this was a deliberate choice. Big Daddy's comic book-y origin, bazookas, and eventually jetpacks. By the end, when Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl are jetpacking through the city, it's the equivalent of Spider-Man wooshing through NYC, it's the "hero has arrived" moment. Kick-Ass really can fly. Metamorphosis complete. It's not "putting down" superhero movies, it's lovingly embracing them by the end.
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I think Stone_Cold_Sisko best summarizes how the film gradually becomes more and more comic-booky.
I don't know. Chris was played as a wimp in the comic-book, but that was at the very end, whereas in the movie he sort of starts off as a wimp and gradually becomes more and more confident, even though at the end he was as ill-equipped to face Kick-Ass as Kick-Ass was to face Red Mist, which I thought was well-done. I mean, even at the end of the story, I didn't exactly get that he was menacing, but still the same wimpy presence that he always was. That might be attributable to the performance, and I guess you can say the stigma of Christopher Mintz-Plasse's McLovin reputation, but I think it can also be attributable to the writing as well. Chris/Red Mist was always just some comic-book fan dressing up as a hero or villain. He didn't have the transformation of "geek/wannabe" to "hero" that Kick-Ass did in the movie.
I guess it worked in the comic-book because Kick-Ass was a send-up of comic-books in general (especially Marvel comic-books, whose motto is always to create somewhat believable superheroes in a naturalistic setting) but I very much agree that it would have not worked at all in the movie version. In the film, Damon/Big Daddy became a relatable and empathetic character, whereas in the comic-book he was, like you said, a crazed killer.
See, I enjoyed the emotional moment after Damon/Big Daddy died in the movie because it was the one moment where we got to see Mindy as an eleven year-old girl. For the majority of the film, she's this trained killer, but for that moment she was just your average, ordinary person, with frailties just like anybody else. I feel like for that moment, right after he died, that moment was necessary. I think in the context of the film, had they kept that moment after the job was done, it might have come off as superficial or not have the required emotional impact. It needed to happen right after Damon/Big Daddy died, to capitalize on the emotional impact of that scene.
I'm talking about a contemporary edge that was relatable to normal, modern audiences. The addition of MySpace, YouTube, Kick-Ass taking pictures of himself with his camera phone, all of that stuff was missing from the book yet added for the film. The comic-book is relevant for comic-book fans, but that isn't enough for regular audience members, so I liked the added touches of those things to help make it more relevant to people besides the ardent comic-book reader.
Absolutely. This is a big reason why the movie works so well. If you look at some of the best satires, they very much embrace the wacky inconsistencies or trademarks of the genre the particular satire is lampooning. For example, Edgar Wright's Hot Fuzz follows the formula of a traditional action film in the last act, which is part of the humor. For a satire to work well, you need to acknowledge these things, and by sort of embracing them, it allows you to be different than any other comedy which just presents the same things and tries to make them goofy or tries to simply make fun of them, but by satirizing in a way that follows the formula but amplifies it in a slightly more outlandish way, in my opinion that's the genius of satire and that's what Kick-Ass does so well.
But the MySpace and YouTube stuff was in the book. In fact, the reason Kick-Ass has issues with Red Mist at first was because RM was being credited as the first superhero with a MySpace though KA did it already.
YouTube was connected with Kick-Ass before the first issue came out as a viral "home video" of a costumed hero helping someone to generate interest in the comic.
The movie didn't add those things. They were already there. Reread issues 2 & 3.
That would be helpful if I could find issue 3. I can't.
It's around here somewhere...
^ Why didn't you just pick up the hardcover? Or did you and are referring to the issue within the hardcover? If so just ignore me.
It featured and 11-year-old girl saying "cunt" that's "edgy and daring" enough for the prudes. Me? I laughed my ass off.
As a fan of the comic I found that Goldman and Vaughan took the core of the book and were able to craft a well rounded adaption from it. The creative changes they made to the movie didn't bother me that much in fact I would say that they enhanced my enjoyment of the movie. I love both the book and the film.
I was referring to the issue within the hard cover (which would align to the individual issues).
^ I know I was just bugging Jackson LOL
Coming in as someone who didn't read the comic nor is a fan of American comics in general, I was blown away by what I saw. It was without a doubt my favorite movie of the last year and if it stands up to repeat viewings it might wind up as one of my favorite movies period. I'm seriously considering buying the comic to give it a go in its book form 
I finally saw this movie at the discount theater last night. I thought it was interesting, although a bit nasty & mean spirited for my tastes. I had so many of my own awkward high school moments. Now that I'm past that, I'm often very uncomfortable watching someone else's. It speaks to the sort of disaffected, directionless young men who, in another country, would probably be recruited to be suicide bombers. Still, there was a solid vein of humor here and an important sense of self-awareness that is sadly missing from Frank Miller movies like 300 & Sin City.
A little thread necrophilia, but I only saw this last week, from Redbox.
I don't know whether the movie bid farewell to all realism when Kick Ass enthused over his X-rays, or when Hit-Girl started to bounce around. Cavilling at a jet pack retrofitted with Gatling guns is gagging at a gnat by comparison.
The so-called realism of the beginning is partly comedy aiming at deflating Kick Ass. Since the movie concludes with Kick Ass stepping up and actually killing somebody, the story logic says killing is what makes you worthwhile. This should at least give some one pause. The answer to the questions, why is watching an eleven year old girl murder people so much more entertaining than watching the usual college graduate "teenager" do so, should do so as well.
There is a phrase, hanging a lantern on it, when the writers will throw in some scenes or dialogue about how absurd something is. Then, audience duly clued in that the writers don't think they're idiots, they proceed to do something foolish with the movie. This practice is not satire. Camp, maybe, but not satire. When Adaptation turned into the silly plot explicitly rejected earlier in the movie, it did so as a confession of the artistic failure but commercial success of such hackwork. That's satire.
Kick Ass is Cornball Express. The blaring music cues give the game away. How it makes it less corny to have a little girl say cunt is a mystery to me. If you like Kick Ass, you like the corny ending.
The funniest part was how convincing Aaron Johnson was as best gay friend. The girl friend was actually a skank, but the movie pretended otherwise. The implicit ending was Kick Ass and Hit-Girl are HS boyfriend/girlfriend, which is also kind of creepy.
I don't know whether the movie bid farewell to all realism when Kick Ass enthused over his X-rays, or when Hit-Girl started to bounce around. Cavilling at a jet pack retrofitted with Gatling guns is gagging at a gnat by comparison.
The so-called realism of the beginning is partly comedy aiming at deflating Kick Ass. Since the movie concludes with Kick Ass stepping up and actually killing somebody, the story logic says killing is what makes you worthwhile. This should at least give some one pause. The answer to the questions, why is watching an eleven year old girl murder people so much more entertaining than watching the usual college graduate "teenager" do so, should do so as well.
There is a phrase, hanging a lantern on it, when the writers will throw in some scenes or dialogue about how absurd something is. Then, audience duly clued in that the writers don't think they're idiots, they proceed to do something foolish with the movie. This practice is not satire. Camp, maybe, but not satire. When Adaptation turned into the silly plot explicitly rejected earlier in the movie, it did so as a confession of the artistic failure but commercial success of such hackwork. That's satire.
Kick Ass is Cornball Express. The blaring music cues give the game away. How it makes it less corny to have a little girl say cunt is a mystery to me. If you like Kick Ass, you like the corny ending.
The funniest part was how convincing Aaron Johnson was as best gay friend. The girl friend was actually a skank, but the movie pretended otherwise. The implicit ending was Kick Ass and Hit-Girl are HS boyfriend/girlfriend, which is also kind of creepy.
Since the thread was necroed, I'll add my $0.02.
I just saw it Sunday night. I really didn't expect to like it at all but was completely blown away.
It was just so absurd that I couldn't help but like it. I usually don't like over-the-top excessive violence (Why I don't like Tarantino films and why I expected not to like this.), but here it was used as a means to a point.
It was the first movie where Nick Cage being Nick Cage was actually a good thing.
I was really impressed Moretz. She's got chops. I think she could easily become what Fanning was supposed to be.
I also noticed that Vaughn and Millar have caved and announced a sequel. Everyone's story in the first was told. I don't really see the point.
I just saw it Sunday night. I really didn't expect to like it at all but was completely blown away.
It was just so absurd that I couldn't help but like it. I usually don't like over-the-top excessive violence (Why I don't like Tarantino films and why I expected not to like this.), but here it was used as a means to a point.
It was the first movie where Nick Cage being Nick Cage was actually a good thing.
I was really impressed Moretz. She's got chops. I think she could easily become what Fanning was supposed to be.
I also noticed that Vaughn and Millar have caved and announced a sequel. Everyone's story in the first was told. I don't really see the point.
There's going to be a sequel to the comic-book, but a sequel to the film version is as of yet unsure. Matthew Vaughn is busy working on X-Men: First Class, which will tie him up until summer 2011, and at that point he might not want to do a third consecutive comic-book movie in a row. However, Kick-Ass has exploded on DVD, so there might be more pressure for a sequel, depending on studio interest.
Also just saw it. It was one of those movies that seemed like two different flicks that got fused together in a nuclear accident.
As it starts off, it's a sort of funny, mildly intriguing spin on superheroes, the current superhero movie bonanza and young men's fascination with them, and exploration of where such fantasies might lead a kid with poor judgment.
Then Big Daddy and Hit Girl show up and things take a turn for the bizarre. By the end the absurdity of the premise - now revealed to be that superheroes have nothing to do with real life - oh, and that they are coolest if they are murderous vigilantes, lost my interest completely.
Yes, Moritz managed to carry a lot of the movie with great screen presence. Sadly this was way offset by both Kick-Ass and Red Mist having annoyingly squeaky voices and being entirely unconvincing as anything other than geeky high schoolers.
It might have been worth something had it found a consistent tone. As it was, the result was confused and fairly forgettable.
As it starts off, it's a sort of funny, mildly intriguing spin on superheroes, the current superhero movie bonanza and young men's fascination with them, and exploration of where such fantasies might lead a kid with poor judgment.
Then Big Daddy and Hit Girl show up and things take a turn for the bizarre. By the end the absurdity of the premise - now revealed to be that superheroes have nothing to do with real life - oh, and that they are coolest if they are murderous vigilantes, lost my interest completely.
Yes, Moritz managed to carry a lot of the movie with great screen presence. Sadly this was way offset by both Kick-Ass and Red Mist having annoyingly squeaky voices and being entirely unconvincing as anything other than geeky high schoolers.
It might have been worth something had it found a consistent tone. As it was, the result was confused and fairly forgettable.
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