Review: Kick-Ass 2
Director: Jeff Wadlow
Cast: Aaron Johnson, Chloe Grace Moretz, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Jim Carrey
Running Time: 103 Minutes
For a comedic action flick like Kick-Ass 2, it's important to put the "fun" into "funny." Is it amusing to watch Christopher Mintz-Plasse dress up in his mum's gimp outfits and call himself a supervillain? Sure, why not. Is it amusing to watch Christopher Mintz-Plasse drop his pants and prepare to rape an innocent women? Er, not particularly, no.
That's part of the very unique problem with Kick-Ass 2: where its predecessor told the story of an average Joe-turned-hero, the sequel feels like an inane attempt to shock as much as possible, with the profanities, violence and outrageous criminal schemes turned up to eleven. Tonally, it's as imbalanced as its antagonists, with hilarious one-liners suddenly leading to dark, twisted results.
Still, for its target audience, that's all part of Kick-Ass 2's charm: it pushes the boundaries and luckily it keeps the development of its three central characters, Kick-Ass, Hit Girl and Chris D'Amico (a.k.a "The Motherfucker") moving forward positively. This is helped of course by the performances by Aaron Johnson, Chloe Moretz and Christopher Mintz-Plasse, and a sharp script that not only allows them to hit a huge range of emotions, but fully absorbs the audience into this modern tale of good versus evil.
It's with this trio that we find ourselves once more, as after the events of the first film, Hit Girl is now training Kick-Ass (or Dave) to be a better fighter, while Chris is still grieving and seeking revenge on Kick-Ass for his dad's death. As news spreads of his heroics, Kick-Ass soon joins a vigilante gang, Justice Forever, spearheaded by the eccentric Colonel Stars and Stripes (played hilariously by Jim "I want nothing to do with this movie after I've conveniently filmed it" Carrey), while Chris forms his own team of super villains.
Cue a barrage of ridiculously/hilariously (delete as appropriate) racist alter egos, with Genghis Carnage and Mother Russia leading the charge against Justice Forever. Meanwhile, Hit Girl finds herself up against a very different kind of villain - high school girls.
Escalation seems to be the idea here. Everything is bigger, faster and much, much more explosive as car chases, graveyard gun fights and martial arts-displaying drug raids are the name of the game. Throats are slashed in full view, and baseball bats collide with heads in the most brutal way possible, while the central and supporting cast are surprisingly stunt-efficient.
Speaking of which, Kick-Ass 2 boasts an enormous cast of lesser known acting greats, with Donald Faison, Clark Duke, Steven Mackintosh and Game of Thrones star Iain Glen making large appearances to swell up an already exciting ensemble.
That said, a great cast does not a movie make and while it's funny in places and action-packed in others, that third storytelling void is filled with darkly angry segments that don't quite fit in with the overall hopeful tone that Kick-Ass wishes to project. At any given time, there are three entirely separate side-plots moving at once and while this can be entertaining in broader stories, Kick-Ass 2 gives up far too much time to irrelevant bullet points. After a while, Kick-Ass 2 starts to feel like Hit Girl: The Movie and while that would actually be an exciting spin-off, it's not exactly what we came for this time around.
There's also a little too much repetition here and there as well, as Hit Girl (or Mindy) manages to fall out with both Kick-Ass and her legal guardian Marcus Williams, a friend of her deceased father. "I don't want you to be Hit Girl anymore," says Marcus. "I want you to keep being Hit Girl," says Kick-Ass. Arguments ensue at least five times.
The major story arc is brilliantly realised though, as Kick-Ass becomes the most unequivocally human hero that any comic book movie could ever offer. Couple this excellent character development with an enormous, edge-of-your-seat climax that rivals that of Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises, and Kick-Ass 2 slowly but surely edges ahead of its predecessor in terms of its action and humour.
It's with this trio that we find ourselves once more, as after the events of the first film, Hit Girl is now training Kick-Ass (or Dave) to be a better fighter, while Chris is still grieving and seeking revenge on Kick-Ass for his dad's death. As news spreads of his heroics, Kick-Ass soon joins a vigilante gang, Justice Forever, spearheaded by the eccentric Colonel Stars and Stripes (played hilariously by Jim "I want nothing to do with this movie after I've conveniently filmed it" Carrey), while Chris forms his own team of super villains.
Cue a barrage of ridiculously/hilariously (delete as appropriate) racist alter egos, with Genghis Carnage and Mother Russia leading the charge against Justice Forever. Meanwhile, Hit Girl finds herself up against a very different kind of villain - high school girls.
Escalation seems to be the idea here. Everything is bigger, faster and much, much more explosive as car chases, graveyard gun fights and martial arts-displaying drug raids are the name of the game. Throats are slashed in full view, and baseball bats collide with heads in the most brutal way possible, while the central and supporting cast are surprisingly stunt-efficient.
Speaking of which, Kick-Ass 2 boasts an enormous cast of lesser known acting greats, with Donald Faison, Clark Duke, Steven Mackintosh and Game of Thrones star Iain Glen making large appearances to swell up an already exciting ensemble.
That said, a great cast does not a movie make and while it's funny in places and action-packed in others, that third storytelling void is filled with darkly angry segments that don't quite fit in with the overall hopeful tone that Kick-Ass wishes to project. At any given time, there are three entirely separate side-plots moving at once and while this can be entertaining in broader stories, Kick-Ass 2 gives up far too much time to irrelevant bullet points. After a while, Kick-Ass 2 starts to feel like Hit Girl: The Movie and while that would actually be an exciting spin-off, it's not exactly what we came for this time around.
There's also a little too much repetition here and there as well, as Hit Girl (or Mindy) manages to fall out with both Kick-Ass and her legal guardian Marcus Williams, a friend of her deceased father. "I don't want you to be Hit Girl anymore," says Marcus. "I want you to keep being Hit Girl," says Kick-Ass. Arguments ensue at least five times.
The major story arc is brilliantly realised though, as Kick-Ass becomes the most unequivocally human hero that any comic book movie could ever offer. Couple this excellent character development with an enormous, edge-of-your-seat climax that rivals that of Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises, and Kick-Ass 2 slowly but surely edges ahead of its predecessor in terms of its action and humour.
Will there be a Kick-Ass 3? It seems almost inevitable at this stage that movies such as these come in threes, and luckily this sequel shows that Kick-Ass is no super-zero and his return would be very welcome indeed. Although we could probably manage without any Union J cameos next time.
Summary
Of course it's not perfect, but for its target audience of superhero loving movie junkies, Kick-Ass 2 ticks all the right boxes. Stand out performances from Johnson, Moretz and Mintz-Plasse keep us caring about the characters, while the final battle is truly gripping stuff, expertly executed by Never Back Down director Jeff Wadlow. Tonally it veers off in oddly dark, psychotic directions and there are some unresolved sub-plots that nag the continuity nerves, but overall Kick-Ass 2 is a kick ass sequel to its surprisingly excellent predecessor.
Sorry.
8/10 - Great
See it if you liked: Kick-Ass (2010), X-Men: First Class (2011), The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)
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