Kick Ass 2

I think that when the first Kick Ass came out, it also got bad reviews. It’s funny to me when critics decide to try and take the moral high road on certain movies but are ok with total trash in other instances. Sure Kick Ass is an ultra violent movie about kids who decide to become super heroes that go out and sometimes behead, burn, or otherwise beat the crap out of bad guys (only in self defense of course) but when a young black girl is raped and verbally abused by her mother on a daily basis and then is giving AIDS by her mother’s boyfriend, it’s artistic cinema! Don’t get me wrong, I loved Precious and I get that it represents the untold story of many underprivileged youths (are you saying Utes???) in the ghetto but it’s all just another way to get the focus off of you and your problems. So why not simply let dorky old geeks cheer on little kids who are living out their childhood fantasy from when they were small, of doing cool karate kicks and beating people up with nun chucks? If you’re worried about teens watching this and getting ideas, then you really should believe in the theory of survival of the fittest. I watched the movie Flatliners as a kid but was smart enough to realize that killing myself to see what’s on the other side was a fairly stupid idea. I mean why else did Keifer get the crap beaten out of him by a little kid?

Kick Ass 2 picks up a few years after the first one and you see that the community has embraced the idea of taking matters into their own hands by dressing up as super heroes to deal out justice. Meanwhile the original Kick-Ass seems to have retired from the game and is trying his hand at being a normal teen again. Hit-Girl is still on the grind a however but it’s just a matter of time before her legal guardian, who is also her dead father’s former police partner, realizes that she is still out fighting crime against his wishes. Kick-Ass cant take the boredom anymore and decides to start training with Hit-Girl to get back in the game. But when her guardian finally figures things out, she promises him that she’ll give normal life a shot; leaving Kick-Ass no other option but to join the local hero super group that is made up of a bunch of amateurs and is led by the former mob member Colonel Stars and Stripes (Jim Carrey).

Meanwhile, Chris D’Amico (Mintz-Plasse) just can’t let go of the fact that Kick-Ass killed his father with a bazooka. And now that he has control of his family’s money, he dedicates all of his time to recruiting every criminal and money hungry outcast that he can find to form an evil super villain posse with the intent to find and kill Kick-Ass.

What I love about this movie is that it is unapologetic about how violent it is. It could care less that it has kids shooting each other with guns while wearing bullet proof vests or chopping off the hands of criminals with machetes. This movie is what it is and you can either get on board with all of the blood and violence that it brings and simply allow yourself to have fun or go see the freaking Smurfs Take Manhattan! It also never takes itself too seriously. It’s full of moments where it makes fun itself; including the origin of D’Amico’s costume and his super villain name of The Motherfucker. Just know that it has something to do with the discovery of all of his mom’s weird sex stuff in her closet. D’Amico also has racist nicknames for all of his evil recruits, none of which are terribly offensive, but it is pretty awesome how easily he came up with them. One of the better moments of the movie is when Hit-Girl is trying to fit in with the “it girls” and she discovers all sorts of things like boy bands and her own sexuality. Well eventually the “it girls” turn on her and this leads to quite possibly the greatest revenge scene ever!

There are quite a few surprising dark moments in this movie as well and that’s why I liked it so much. Just when you think it will get lost in money making sequel land, it shows you that actual effort was put in to make a good film. All of the actors seem to realize what kind of movie this is, so there isn’t any over acting that takes place; everyone seems to be having fun with their roles. The female Drago from Rocky 4 might have been the best character in the entire movie!

I rate this film as FRESH and definitely suggest that you go see it!