Incredibly entertaining and ridiculously violent, “Kick-Ass” is also perhaps the most jaw-droppingly audacious superhero movie to date. Depicting what happens when a teenage comic book fan (Aaron Johnson) with no superpowers decides to follow his fictional heroes into cleaning up the streets, the new film from Matthew Vaughn (“Stardust”) offers up slam-bang entertainment starring kids – yet should absolutely not be seen by anyone under the age of at least 13.
I’m not kidding – “Kick-Ass” is rated R, but everyone knows just how many parents could care less about ratings. This is one where they need to pay attention. For not only does the film follow the titular hero on his exploits – which result in he himself getting his ass kicked in graphic fashion at least three times – but it also includes the alternately weirdly touching and outright psychotic relationship between a former cop named Damon (Nicolas Cage) and his daughter Mindy (Chloe Grace Moretz, veering between Girl Scout goodness and a foul-mouthed hellion in a role that will make any parent of an 11-year-old wonder what the hell their kid is secretly up to).
Cage is also an obsessed superhero fan who creates a Batman-like persona for himself called Big Daddy. He trains his daughter Mindy to become a superhero called Hit Girl, and the training includes blasting bullets into a Kevlar vest she’s wearing from 20 feet away. Together, they seek to avenge the death of his wife and her mother, a death that occurred in a childbirth gone awry partly because of the stress caused by Damon’s losing his job due to being framed for drugs by the city’s crime lord, Frank D’Amico.
***SPOILERS COMING***
Teaming up with Kick-Ass, this damaged duo give him a focus for his vigilantism, while also drawing him into ever-deadlier situations that make it clear he’s no longer playing a game nor living a fantasy. And to make things even crazier, the trio must contend with the mysterious presence of another teen superhero named Red Mist (played by Christopher Mintz-Plasse of “Superbad” McLovin fame), who’s really the son of crime lord D’Amico and laying a trap that could lead to all their deaths.
“Kick-Ass” is explosive entertainment that also plays with fire by the very fact it has kids engaging in the dangerous and often deadly activities normally saved for fully adult superheroes. Even as its over-the-top, perfectly pitched cartoonishness makes it a hilarious satire for adults, one has to wonder how the numerous children who are surely going to sneak in will process the violence involved – Hit Girl could give Uma Thurman in “Kill Bill” a run for her money when it comes to slicing off limbs from bad guys.
Seeing her slaughter a roomful of armed addicts in a junkie crash pad, while the “la la las” of the famed “Banana Splits” theme blazes through your ears, creates a juxtaposition that might be hilarious but is not exactly healthy. And yet, the film has a powerful moral center, as Kick-Ass and his protégés got involved because they simply wanted to show their fellow citizens it was time to stand up and do good, rather than curse the darkness of an ever-harsher society from behind their home windows.
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