Kicks plenty of that and makes no apologies.
After taking out the mob boss whom made an attempt on his life. Dave Lizewski has become bored with his everyday high school life and wants to get back to becoming a superhero as Kick-Ass. Hit-Girl (Chloe Grace Moretz) is being forced by her new guardian to give up the superhero responsibility and try a hand at living a normal life. This leads Kick-Ass to venture on his own fighting crime. -summary
When I first began following Kick-Ass in comic book form back in 2008 the premise immediately grabbed my attention. I was intrigued by every day people in the real world donning costumes and becoming vigilantes for the greater good. While the series first eight issues had some good, very good brutal action and even better character development. I liked how it was grounded in reality at least in one way, and it's how the book actually detailed the hazards of attempting this thing in real life. Directed by Matthew Vaughn, the original movie based on the comic somewhat touched up on this, but there was more focus on the action-filled spectacle of it all, in other words, it was heavily mainstream oriented. This didn't bother me much since the movie was still entertaining enough, and this leads me to Kick -Ass which was released in 2013 and based on the second series of the same name. Some comic book fans I personally know had an issue with this movie as well; they claimed it lacked the soul of the series. Man, I tell you, I'm a comic book fan and even I hate most comic book fans. There's a difference between opinion and straight up lying; the second series had no soul to begin with either. So what the hell are these people talking about?
Kick-Ass 2, the comic series, was a parody of itself where all of these characters bursting with depth became the comic book archetypes that writer Mark Millar, had tried in the beginning to distance the story away from. Its major themes were jettisoned in favor of shock value, and what you had were a bunch of fools trying to bring their comic book fantasy to real life. This second movie does the same thing, but I accept it here since the first movie was trying to appeal to the mainstream action fan from the beginning, and in some ways didn't care about the book's deeper meaning. In other words, this movie is much better than the book since it's being honest on what it wants to be, and Millar's book was pretending to be deep and smart when it was actually far from it.
This movie follows Kick-Ass as he comes into contact with a superhero group by the name of Justice Forever, lead by Colonel Stars & Stripes (Jim Carrey). Their goal is to fight crime on the streets and this leads to them taking fights to the enemy. Chris D' Amico (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) aka The Motherf*cker (yes, that's his name), drops his previous villain identity the Red Mist, and searches for Kick-Ass to kill him in retaliation for the death of his father.
Kick-Ass 2 at its core is an action movie, and once again it delivers the goods. If you loved the first movie for its over the top mass slaughtering, then prepare to have your inner action fiend satisfied again. There is plenty of martial arts action, brawling, gun play, slice and dice action, and just cool action segments altogether. Hit-Girl is pretty much the show here but there are other stand outs that keeps the fire works going. The gory special effects are cool to watch as you get folks dying in some of the sickest ways. This movie is not at all for young kids, or people whom squirm at the mere site of brutal, barbaric, killing. I liked the acting here; I'm not familiar with all of Jim Carrey's roles, I only know him by playing a comedian and it was a nice change for me, as he was a bit more serious than usual but there were times I was reminded of his more comical side. In fact, when I first saw this I didn't even notice it was him. Johnson, Plasse, and Moretz reprise their roles from the first movie, and they seem to not have missed any steps from last time. Moretz obviously enjoys her role as Hit-Girl, and Plasse played the role well as that guy whom became way too obsessed with the fantasy world.
I enjoyed the plot also in places; I don't recall ever being bored when the action wasn't taking place. The best part for me was Hit-Girl at least trying to live a normal life. Kick-Ass was pretty good, and some of the Justice Forever members get face time. My biggest gripe with this movie is that it's way too exploitative of the mayhem. It tries to take itself quite seriously but you can't see it from that lens since it's so over the top in everything it does. I can't fault the movie for the names it gave some of these characters since the book did the same thing. Therefore whatever issues I have with the whiplash in tone I have the book to thank for that, but some of these things really could have been altered.
This is the way I see things here; Kick-Ass 2 is mindless and fun entertainment that delivers for the action fan. If you want a sick action-filled romp, then this is for you. If a fan of the comic claims that this movie is trash or mediocre because it's not as deep as the second book. Please ask them to explain what was so deep about the book and what exactly is this movie missing. The comic purist ripping the movie and praising the book are wrong this time and should be ignored.
In closing, I like this movie enough to see its sequel Kick-Ass 3 whenever it should drop, and perhaps the side story Hit-Girl should they ever make that into film; and even though I don't think too highly of the comic series altogether, at least the movies are honest about what they're shooting for.
Pros:Loads of action, gory special effects, acting
Cons:Takes itself too seriously, too violent for some
