Kick-Ass
Daneeka Abellard




Directed By: Matthew Vaughn

Starring: Aaron Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Chloë Grace Moretz, Mark Strong, and Nicolas Cage

"It didn't take a trauma or cosmic rays or a power ring to make a superhero. It's just a perfect combination of optimism and naïveté."-Dave Lizewski

Kick-Ass helps answer the question ‘what if a completely average guy really tried the superhero thing’. High school student and comic book junkie, Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) is that guy. In an effort to stop petty crime in New York, he dons his green scuba suit, puts himself through “intensive” training…and he gets his ass kicked. No joke, most of the time, Kick-Ass gets pummeled by his various nemeses. However, that doesn’t stop him as he keeps fighting and ends up going against Frank D’Amico (Mark Strong), the biggest mob boss in NY. But with the introduction of his frenemy Red Mist (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), and the ruthless father-daughter vigilante team, Hit Girl (Chloë Grace Moretz) and Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage), Kick-Ass sees what it is to be a superhero.

For all the classic comic book fans out there, Kick-Ass will leave you completely satisfied. From the music to the color scheme, the entire movie has that larger than life feel inherent in the best comic flicks. Plus, there are Easter eggs galore hidden for dedicated fans to find. But what’s really great about Kick-Ass is that you don’t need to be a comic book fan to appreciate it. Kick-Ass manages to honor the superhero genre without catering to only their fan base. It manages to balance intense fantasy (Hit Girl’s awesome fight scenes) with gritty reality (Kick-Ass’s not so awesome beat downs). It manages to be funny without being cheesy…most of the time.

One sour note for Kick-Ass is that the movie lends itself to a more predictable style of story telling. While some of the ideas are creative, the overall plot doesn’t have too many twists or turns. Therefore, if you watch enough movies, you could probably guess a lot of what happens.

Overall, Kick-Ass needs very little libation to make it a fun time, and the wine coolers may loosen you up to practice your own kick-ass moves at home.