Movie Review: Kick-Ass

First of all, I'd like to welcome all of you kind souls to my blog. I really appreciate anybody who is reading this, and I'd like to encourage you to please take a minute or two to post comments on my articles, and give me some feedback. I'd like you to know that for my reviews, the highest rating that I give will be four stars, with the star-ratings going by increments of half a star. So, let's get on to the review, shall we?

Kick-Ass

Kick-Ass is certainly a difficult name for a film to live up to, but director Matthew Vaughn has succeeded in doing so, and has also cemented himself as one of the best movie directors in recent memory. (You should also check out his other films Layer Cake and Stardust if you haven't already)

The story of Kick-Ass begins with normal high school student Dave Lizewski, portrayed by Aaron Johnson, who does an incredible job of masking his native British accent. Dave has been pretty much average all of his life, but he begins to wonder what it would be like if somebody tried to become a superhero in the real world, so he creates a costume, and decides to fight crime. Johnson brings a lot to the role, and creates a character that you instantly care about, and sympathize with.

While Dave is starting up his career in crime-fighting, two other characters are also revving up to become costumed heroes: Big Daddy (Played masterfully by Nicolas Cage), and Hit Girl (The fantastic Chloe Moretz), Big Daddy's 11 year-old daughter. Big Daddy and Hit Girl's interactions with one another are excellent; their relationship should go down in the history books as one of the best father-daughter teams in the history of film. The character of Hit Girl has stirred up some controversy, as she is 11 years old, and is seen violently killing numerous criminals, but there is no real reason for controversy. This movie is not a particularly realistic film, and is clearly not meant to be promoting the use of excessive violence. Also, the film is rated "R," so young impressionable children shouldn't be watching it anyway. It is meant to be a fun and entertaining film, enjoyed in a theater with an audience of fans cheering as they watch in amazement as Hit Girl lays waste to drug dealers. And as far as fun goes, Kick-Ass has it in spades.

The main villain in the movie is drug lord Frank D'Amico, played by Mark Strong. He is the cause of much of the crime in the city, and is Big Daddy's primary target. Frank's son, Chris, is played by the very funny Christopher Mintz-Plasse, who you likely know as McLovin from Superbad, and while he doesn't have as much screen time as he did in that film, he is still a lot fun to watch here.

I really don't want to spoil any of the details of the movie, because it really is a film that you need to experience for yourself. Let me just say that the characters cross paths, and interact together in a variety of entertaining ways. Was that vague? Yes. Did I spoil the movie? No.

Kick-Ass has some of the best action sequences I've seen in a long time, a lot of laughs, and even several well-executed poignant moments. If you want to see an action-comedy movie, you'd be hard pressed to find a better one. It's a must-see movie, and it's the most fun that I've had in a movie theater in a long time.

**** 4 out of 4

Thank you for reading, and I'll try to be back soon with another review or article.