I have read comics since I was a kid. Like any other kid I have fantasized about having powers, what those powers would be and how I would use them. I have wondered what real life heroes would be like, given that powers just aren't real. What are the limits of what a person can do. Mark Millar used this as his central premise in creating Kick-Ass. It was created as a comic and a movie simultaneously, and I have read the comic and I was curious to see if the movie would confirm my suspicions. To me the story need to be realistic. If you are going to tell a story that takes place in my world then I want to believe it is happening in my world. Unfortunately this never really plays out and comes across more like a parallel world that exists somewhere between ours and the realm of heroes.
Dave, a geek, decides that the world needs heroes and so orders a wet-suit off the internet, dons a mask and becomes Kick-Ass. The scene brilliantly parodies the Spider-Man origin from a few years ago. From there Dave tries to help people in trouble and shows, as the big bad in the movie says, you should have been called, "Ass-Kicked". The thing of it is, Dave never really gets better at it. Coincidence and Deus Ex Machina elevate him slightly but he never truly show that he has the brawn to match the brave in himself. Along the way he meets other "heroes" Big Daddy and Hit Girl, the more controversial characters of the film. Imagine if the vigilante hero Punisher had an 11 year old daughter and trained her to be lethal in a million ways. This is where most people will get uncomfortable if they are going to get uncomfortable in the film. Hit Girl slices, she dices, she has a mouth like a trucker and childhood innocence is assassinated along with myriad drug dealers. It is played to be funny, but on film its just plain creepy/weird/inappropriate. I am a moderate guy, I see a lot of films that push the boundaries, but this just failed for me. She gets beat on towards the end of the film and there is just no way to appropriately show a 40+ trained martial artist punching an 11 year old girl in the face… a lot. It goes beyond disconcerting.
The reality issues come up in a few other areas as well. First of all, if you want to convince me that this is my world how about you don't use one of the most clichéd bad guy groups in film history. The mob? Really? That was the best "real world" villain you can come up with? YIKES! Second, I am not one to nitpick on bad language in a movie but swearing is used to such a degree in this movie that it makes you weep for the English language. Its amazing there is room for plot development and exposition in between the curses.
I liked a lot of the movie, and that is the weird thing. It is stylistically made. There are moments the premise plays out well, and the relationships between Dave and his friends are genuine and believable. I loved the hilarious storyline where Dave fails to correct a girl on the notion that he's gay in order to stay close to her. At times it was very funny and paid off well later on in the film. The acting was done well, with the exception being Christopher Mintz-Plasse of McLovin fame playing Red Mist. He never seemed to fit in the world for me.
It always sucks when you are really looking forward to a movie and it fails as this one did for me. I am glad I saw but I wont be rushing out to see it again.
No comments:
Post a Comment