Kick-Ass is the sleeper hit film of the year
Posted by iusbvision on April 24, 2010
Kick Ass
First of all. In spite of the awful title, this movie was very entertaining. It is a good time with several caveats.
Kick Ass is likely the most violent movie I have ever seen and the violence is as realistic as the violence in Saving Private Ryan; there is even a quite realistic torture scene. The violence in the clip below is among the mildest in the film. This is absolutely NOT a kids movie.
Hit Girl Taking Out A Bad Guy
This level of violence serves a valuable purpose. It lets the audience know that violence is not pretty, it is not fun and the hurt goes both ways. When people die it is permanent. Fighting bad guys is not fun and it is not to be taken lightly. Don’t let the music in the trailer below fool you, the mood is not quite so light hearted.
As a piece of literature the story has multiple plots, subplots, twists and turns and is most excellent at keeping the audience a little off-balance, surprised and cheering.
The story is a contrast between Kick-Ass, a morally ambiguous young man with mostly good intentions who quite foolishly decides to play super hero (though occasionally rises to the occasion) and his unlikely counterpart named Hit Girl.
Hit Girl is a one girl killing machine who is a complete moral absolutist; she also likes comics and Hello Kitty. A prodigy of both the mind and body Hit Girl is a cross between Jackie Chan and The Punisher. Hit Girl will brutally kill a drug dealer or thug without hesitation in ways that would send The Terminator crying home to mommy. Hit Girl amasses a fortune in the millions by confiscating drug money and has the equipment to show for it. Big Hollywood.com got it quite correct when they said that Hit Girl exemplifies the moral gulf between those who target the innocent and those who target those who target the innocent. Hit Girl plays for keeps, she most certainly does get hurt and injured in the film but she keeps on fighting. Most importantly, Hit Girl is not eroticized in the film as so many young females are in Disney shows (which I always found to be just a tad creepy). Hit Girl also has the virtue of offending all of the right people.
Seven studios turned this movie down because of the role of Hit Girl. I doubt that the role would have seen this trouble if the role was a male character. No one would bat an eye if a male character used the C word in a movie or stabbed a bad guy (sexism ticks me off almost as much as racism does).
Hit Girl in action:
Hit Girl in training (these people are professionals, DO NOT try this at home):
Kick Ass, while a bit over the top as all super hero movies are, likely has the most compelling storyline of any super hero movie since Richard Donner’s brilliant rendition of Superman in 1979. While the film is incredibly violent, the trailer above does not do a well done story justice. This is the sleeper hit of the year. My hat is off to the writers.
