If you want to be a superhero, you’d better be ready to protect your ass and avoid getting others into trouble, something Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson), the main character of Matthew Vaughn’s “Kick-Ass,†did not expect when he purchased his superhero costume.
Many other children and teenagers played superheroes themselves, but none of them ever got to fight crimes in New York City while still being a high-school nerd. Dave decided that his time had come. What looks like a high-school comedy is, in reality, a weird mixture of genres, a movie that is funny and thrilling, and a unique yet standard superhero movie at the same time.
First of all, Dave is not a normal superhero. With no training in super-heroing, Dave names himself Kick-Ass and bravely follows his vocation. His first encounter with villains lands him in a hospital with a knife wound and several broken bones. This incident stopped the hero only long enough for him to heal his wounds, and the second fight made the young man famous in the city, which is where the real trouble begins.
Secondly, as opposed to a regular superhero story, there are several others heroes in the movie. One of them is Damon Macready (Nicholas Cage), an ex-policeman seeking revenge, and the other is his daughter, a supergirl named Mindi Macready (Chloe Moretz), also known as Hit-Girl. The bloody scenes these two characters bring to the movie will not be very disturbing if you don’t mind car crashes and people’s fingers getting cut off.
It would not be so funny without the interruption of the awkward Kick-Ass, who should have been called Kick-My-Ass instead, as this is all he usually gets, and without Hit-Girl, who cuts through bad guys with knives longer than her delicate arms.
Despite its unusual plot, this superhero movie could not avoid being dramatic at times, like when one of the superheroes is about to die and the others come to the rescue. By the way, the variety of weapons used in the movie might petrify viewers who had no idea such things existed, and might entertain an expert who would recognize many of the most powerful weapons on the planet.
A movie like this, of course, also needs a love story. Aside from being a volunteer superhero, Dave is in love with Katie Deauxma (Lyndsy Fonseca), who pays little attention to him until she hears a gossip that he is gay, which opens the door to a genuine friendship. When the misunderstanding clears up and the young people start dating, Dave finds out that being a superhero is not as exciting as being a man, and he almost gives up on his higher mission.
To sum it all up, if you are curious what a superhero’s life would be like in New York City, this is the right movie for you. Just make sure you learn the lesson and avoid following Kick-Ass’ mission, unless you are ready to have your own butt kicked.
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