Kick-Ass: No Power, No Responsibility
Matthew Vaughn pounds a memorable nail into his directing career with the latest superhero romp, Kick-Ass. Erasing the often cumbersome line between mediums, the film gulps down audience and critic praise with Vaughn’s surprisingly polished tour de force.
Kick-Ass (Lionsgate) rocks the big screen by providing moviegoers with quite the enticing concoction. Aaron Johnson guides the story as Dave Lizewski/Kick-Ass, a high school nerd whose head throbs with the perfect balance of “optimism and naivety,” and quickly encounters noted talents such as Nicolas Cage (Big Daddy), Mark Strong (Frank D’Amico), and Xander Berkeley (Detective Gigante). Boldly, Kick-Ass pairs the household likes of Cage with that of the up-and-coming Chloe Moretz (Hit-Girl), who gives a knock-out performance that rivals those of the better known actors. Such a streamlined mix of experienced Hollywood names and promising young underdogs works undeniably in the movie’s favor. Even Nicolas Cage proves an unusually smart choice, knitting endearing facets into his character with sheer language and expectation-bending quirks. Christopher Mintz-Plasse excellently portrays Chris D’Amico/Red Mist, a son who, hungry for paternal approval and individual acceptance, tumbles into accidental villainy. Despite the role, each character dutifully fulfills his purpose on-screen.
Plus, the thoughtfully chosen music sifts between dramatic and hilarious with enviable ease, but regardless of the ephemeral context, the soundtrack’s direction rarely fails. Although the exposition drags at first before powering through its remaining length, just shy of two hours, it’s almost easy to forget why: Kick-Ass doesn’t imitate real life, but rather channels it. And that entails all the slow-burning or unpleasant qualities of our time.
In fact, the film delivers more brilliance than casual viewers might be willing to swallow. Kick-Ass surpasses most superhero movies not because of budget or special effects, but because of its hard-hitting human connection. When the stuff of comics bleeds into the real world, the emerging issues devour new power. The film mixes child-driven violence and swearing with its reciprocal. Hit-Girl, spewing foul words one moment, gains an intimate understanding of death the next. Scenes rapid-fire between the hilarious, the charismatic, and the explicit with terrifying comfort. The film slams shut the invaluable but tiny window of childhood innocence, and heroes become fueled by the needs we, everyday people, can understand if only the situation were ours.
We tap into Kick-Ass‘ world through the shared link of pop culture: Youtube, the internet, news reports, comics. As the television show Lost sidelongs imminent execution, the real world and the fantastic crash together. In turn, Kick-Ass achieves morbidly realistic heights, a level of success that other extraordinary superhero productions can barely touch.
Overall, the film communicates one striking message: When violence terrorizes our society, we contentedly watch. Even as heroes die, we quietly observe from behind windows, cameras, and computer screens. As Kick-Ass himself iterates, “And three assholes, laying into one guy while everybody else watches? And you wanna know what’s wrong with me? Yeah, I’d rather die.” Kick-Ass turns its own audience into test subjects who laugh at gut-wrenching, heartbreaking scenes in which desperate widows burn alive simply because a teenage outcast triumphantly feels up a pretty girl between takes.
We mistakenly believe that we know, not merely idolize, the film’s heroes: That kid at the local comic store, the renegade cop, the new girl at school. As much as we think the film allows us to feel at home with them, our own hypocritical reactions distinguish us. We are still the ones behind the television screens: the cowards, the wannabes. We are the ones giving high-fives to Kick-Ass on the street. We are not Kick-Ass himself, a realization that starkly contrasts against the likes of, say, Batman. While The Dark Knight nurtures that inner heroism and encourages citizens to act righteously, Kick-Ass establishes why in real life those masked avengers are, as Dave Lizewski ponders, absent.
Pulsating with entertainment, Kick-Ass soars as an outstanding movie experience, but we should appreciate the underlying substance, as well. D’Amico’s painting transforms for the watchful eye, and the blood red underlining the multiple guns ultimately emphasizes merciless violence. The film’s startling perspective on our society’s indoctrinated, trigger-happy lust for violence soaks the very fabric of Kick-Ass and cements its paramount success.
