The Rotunda

Issue date: 4/21/10 Section: Entertainment

Media Credit: www.imdb.com Kick-ass, played by Aaron Johnson, is alongside villian Hit Girl, played by Chloe Moretz.

By Kyle Centers
Rotunda Reporter

Fair warning, anyone who seriously loved the graphic novel-and I know there are purists out there, there are some huge freaking differences in the film adaptation that could ultimately piss you off or ruin your entire theater experience. That being said, "Kick-Ass," directed by Matthew Vaughn, is the second-best comic book super hero movie I have ever seen. "Iron Man" comes first, and sorry Batman, but I didn't check my watch while watching this.

We start with a Spiderman-esque self narration by mild-mannered wussy nobody, Dave Lizewski played by Aaron Johnson ("The Illusionist," "The Greatest"), who tells us about his pathetic life. Thankfully, his pathetic life is incredibly funny. Ultimately, he asks his wussy friends why nobody has ever tried to be a super hero. Ridicule aside, he can't get the thought out of his head so he buys a wet suit, dons some work boots, and Kick-Ass is born.

I, thankfully, have not read the graphic novel (now I have something good to read), so I had no idea just how graphic this was actually going to be. True to form, these reality-based super heroes bleed realistically when wounded. Of course, so do the bad guys-who tend to bleed a lot, and often.

One excellent aspect of the film is the action scenes. There are only two stylized action shots, amongst the many in the entire film and both are well executed and make it simple. "Kick-Ass" doesn't toy with our eyes like Chris Nolan did with "Batman Begins"; it shoves the action in our face and just when we suspect we're about to get a face full of black screen, we're shown everything-gore and all.

Vaughn keeps the plot simple by eliminating many of the subplots of the novel, but do not let that deter you from the best 117 minutes of whatever day you happen to watch it on. Keeping it simple means more time to develop the major plot of the film.

While Christopher Mintz-Plasse ("Super Bad," "Role-Models"), wins the award for best awkward villain, almost the entire film is stolen by Chloe Moretz' ("Diary of a Wimpy Kid," "The Eye") performance as Hit Girl. It's an amazing thing when a film centered on a bunch of nerdy guys wanting to be macho is constantly upstaged by an 11-year-old girl.

Continued...

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