Kick-Ass

Starring:  Aaron Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Chloë Grace Moretz, Nicolas Cage, Mark Strong 

Year: 2010

Running Time:  117 minutes

I somehow missed this movie when it was first released back in 2010 and recently discovered it while doing an inventory of my Marvel-based films, specifically what is outstanding from my collection.  I was drawn to the film's premise, namely the idea of ordinary people trying to be superheroes in a corrupt and evil world, an idea that the film's protagonist, David "Dave" Lizewski, has pondered a lot.  He is an average high school whose only super power is "being invisible to girls".  He questions why heroes only exist in comic books while bad guys exist in real life.  He points out that "we see someone in trouble and we wish we could help, but we don't."  After experiencing some trouble firsthand, he decides to step up and do something to help those in need.  So he orders a scuba suit online and begins his "preparation" for his superhero persona, Kick-Ass.

His first job is intercepting two thugs attempting to steal a car.  This does not go well, however, and he is stabbed by one of them before being hit by a car.  After a stint in the hospital and the addition of multiple metal plates throughout his body, Dave resumes his superhero work.  He intervenes in a gang-related attack which is recorded by onlookers.  The footage goes viral and soon everyone is talking about Kick-Ass (and making Kick-Ass-themed merch).  Kick-Ass then confronts bad guy Rasul who has been harassing Dave's crush, Katy, warning him to stay away from her.  The confrontation is about to go very badly for Kick-Ass until Hit Girl (wearing a mask and purple wig) shows up and takes care of the thugs one by one, with a little help from Big Daddy (played by Nicolas Cage).  While the vigilante duo saves Kick-Ass, their decimation of the thugs also puts a target on him because the men who were taken out worked for vicious crime lord Frank D'Amico, who believes that Kick-Ass was responsible for the attack.

We then learn, through Big Daddy's comics, that his real identity is Damon Macready, a former police officer who was framed as a drug dealer by Frank and spent five years in jail as a result.  In that time, his wife committed suicide, leaving behind their daughter Mindy.  After his time in prison, Damon was ready for revenge and began preparing Mindy for his plan to burn Frank's organization "to ashes" by training her to be the ruthless vigilante, Hit Girl.  This explains a shocking earlier scene in which Damon shoots Mindy (wearing a bulletproof vest) at close range.

In the meantime, Frank's son, the weasely Chris, who is eager to be involved in the foul family business, volunteers to lure Kick-Ass into a trap by posing as another masked superhero, Red Mist, looking to be Kick-Ass' side-kick.  An aside:  The scene in which they are driving in the Red Mist Mobile while jamming to Crazy by Gnarls Barkely is brilliant.  Unfortunately, Kick-Ass realizes too late that Red Mist is not his friend...

While some might consider the movie problematic at times (see: Dave pretending to be gay to get closer to his crush, Katy) and the fight scenes, especially those involving the 11-year-old Mindy, are exceptionally violent, there is something appealing about the film's take on the superhero genre, its dark humor and pop culture references.  The edgy and at times disturbing content is not for the faint-hearted.  Peter Bradshaw from The Guardian concluded his review with the following, which I think sums up my thoughts on the film: "Perhaps I shouldn't have enjoyed it as much as I did: but with more energy and satire and craziness in its lycra-gloved little finger than other films have everywhere else, Kick-Ass is all pleasure and no guilt".