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Released by: Lionsgate Films
Released on: August 3, 2010
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Cast: Aaron Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Mark Strong, Chloe Moretz, Nicholas Cage
Year: 2010
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The Movie:
Based on the popular Marvel Comics series of the same name by writer Mark Millar and artist John Romita Jr., Matthew Vaughn's 2010 big screen adaptation of Kick-Ass proved to be a good bit of ultraviolent and socially irresponsible fun. By taking the standard superhero formula, which society as a whole often delegates as children's entertainment, and giving it a darkly humorous real-world slant, Vaughn and company took a character without the long lasting and established continuity of something like Batman or Spider-Man and, without the aid of an A-list star, created a really entertaining film.
The story follows an awkward teenage boy named Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) who hangs out with his comic collecting buddies and dreams of getting a shot with the cute girl whose locker is next to his own. This doesn't seem likely, however, so Dave spends a lot of his free time stroking it to internet porn. Then, one day, Dave decides that it's time someone took the idea of a superhero and ran with it. Inspired by the comic books he loves, he orders some gear off the internet and before you know it he's calling himself Kick-Ass and running around in a wetsuit with some Kodiak boots on ready to make New York City a safer place. His first attempt at crime fighting goes horribly wrong and he gets beaten so badly that he's rushed to the hospital where many of his bones are replaced with metal plates and he's told he's suffered nerve damage. This turns out to be a blessing in disguise when he realizes that he's got a very high tolerance for pain. As Kick-Ass, he finds the confidence he lacks as Dave and after he takes on some thugs and a video makes its way online, he becomes a bit of a cult hero.
Unfortunately, he winds up pissing off a local gangster, Frank D'Amico (Mark Strong), and the son of the mob boss in question, Chris (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) decides he'll get in his father's good graces by helping him stop this new thorn in this side. Kick-Ass won't be going at it alone, however, because there exists a more experienced crime fighting duo to help him in the form of Big Daddy (Nicholas Cage) and his eleven year old daughter, Hit-Girl (Chloe Grace Moretz).
A reasonably loyal adaptation of the comic book source material, Vaughn's Kick-Ass is chock full of action and humor and loads of sequential art inspired style making it a whole lot of fun to watch. It's fast paced, well acted, well cast and gory as all Hell. The film works as both a superhero story and a crime film with some interesting 'coming of age/teenage angst' ideas thrown in for good measure. Yes, Kick-Ass does get the girl just like Peter Parker does as Spider-Man or Clark Kent does as Superman, but despite the over the top aspect of the whole production, Kick-Ass is slightly more grounded in reality than those characters who at least partially inspired it. Dave has no super powers, no expensive Bat-Man inspired gadgets or even any martial arts training - he's just got a tolerance for pain, a sincere drive to make his idea work, and a stick he's willing to hit bad guys with. As the movie plays out, we watch him learn by doing. He has no real mentor to help him along, which becomes painfully obvious when later in the film Hit-Girl (Chloe Grace Moretz definitely steals every scene she's in, playing the part as believably as possible but not without some genuine sympathy) shows him up in a big way.
The film does make one mistake, however. Some of us know that Hamilton and Toronto are not New York and certain landmarks, be it the empty Sam The Record Man store on Younge Street or an alley behind a porno shop in Hamilton that I'm almost (but not quite) embarrassed to admit I was excited to recognize. These locations do stand out and make it easy to notice what was actually shot in New York and what was shot further north. It's probably a nit-pick and one that some won't notice or care about, but it's there regardless.
In the end, even if you're not a fan of superhero films, there's enough action, humor and wit here that it's hard not to be entertained by it. The cast do a fine job with some rather ludicrous material and despite some goofy CGI effects here and there, the fight scenes are well done and effective. For sheer entertainment value, the movie definitely delivers.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Kick-Ass is presented in a 1080p 2.35.1 AVC encoded high definition anamorphic widescreen transfer that looks a little off, almost as if it's a comic book, rather than a live action film - go figure. In the context of the world in which the story takes place, however, these oversaturated colors and sometimes soft focus shots actually fit quite well. None of this comes at the expense of detail, mind you, the close up shots show just as much depth and texture as you'd want from a recent big studio production while medium and long distance shots do a great job of showcasing the locations used for the film. Black levels aren't reference quality in every scene but generally they're good, even if shadow detail isn't quite perfect. There aren't any problems with heavy edge enhancement or compression artifacts to note, but the odd look of the film does take a little bit of getting used to.
The DTS-HD 7.1 Master Audio English language track is pretty damn impressive, with strong, kicking bass and plenty of surround activity throughout the film and especially in the action scenes. The soundtrack is spread around really effectively while the rear channels are used quite frequently to provide plenty of welcome ambient background noise that fills in the soundstage really well. Levels are well balanced, there are no problems with hiss or distortion to note, and overall the track is clean, clear, and just like the movie itself, a whole lot of fun.
Director Matthew Vaughn supplies a commentary track available in traditional audio commentary mode or as part of the more intense Ass-Kicking Bonus View Mode that allows Vaughn's commentary to play alongside some interesting behind the scenes and production footage while the feature is contained in a smaller picture-in-picture window. The audio commentary version contains more input from Vaughn that the Ass-Kicking Bonus View Mode does, which spreads things out a little differently, but it's the more interesting of the two options as it's got the whole visual thing going on, whereas Vaughn's audio only track gets a bit dry in spots.
From there, check out the first of two featurettes, A New Kind Of Superhero (113:40), a ridiculously in-depth feature length documentary that contains interviews with all of the principal cast and crewmembers as well as loads of behind the scenes footage and stunt footage that covers everything from pre-production to post to casting to stunts to effects and everything in between. The second featurette is It's On! The Comic Book Origin of Kick-Ass (20:36), which is an interesting look at how Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. created the Marvel Comics book on which the film was based. Both creators are interviewed pretty extensively and this will definitely prove interesting to those who enjoyed the comic book.
Rounding out the extras are a bunch of great slideshows all tucked away in the Art Of Kick-Ass section, a pair of trailers, a collection of poster art, animated menus and chapter stops. A second disc inside the case contains a digital copy of the film. All of the extras are in high definition.
The Final Word:
A loud, violent, obnoxiously funny action film, Kick-Ass is plenty entertaining and a decidedly different take on the tried and true superhero formula. Lionsgate's Blu-ray release is a good one, with oddly effective transfer, a great sound mix and plenty of extras both entertaining and interesting.