Kick-Ass 2

"Kick-Ass 2" comes in as one of this reviewers most anticipated movies of the Summer, if not the year. The original "Kick-Ass" came out in 2010 and while not a huge box-office success grew enough of a fanboy and cult following that three years later we now have the aptly titled "Kick-Ass 2". For the uninitiated, "Kick-Ass" is the name of our titular hero who during regular hours is Average Joe high school senior Dave Lizewski. The movie, as was its predecessor uses the most of its R rating  is extremely violent but still keeps its humor in tact and while not as outstanding as the original is still a sequel that is warranted and immensely entertaining.

The story picks up with Kick-Ass abandoning his role as a community service superhero and trying to lead a normal life. His former partner the fan favorite Hit-Girl, played by the great young actress Chloe Grace Moretz is not adapting as easy to regular life and she soons enlists Kick-Ass to help her defend the city to keep the dying wish of her father, Big Daddy formerly played in his last truly great performance by Nicolas Cage. Soon it comes about that another former average joe superhero, Red Mist has now converted himself into average Joe super-villain known as "The Motherfucker" who seeks vengeance against Kick-Ass for the death of his father at the end of the first installment.

Highlights:

Hit-Girl: I thought one of the difficulties the sequel might have is making the character of Hit-Girl as outlandish and brazen as she was in the first movie. The big problem is obviously Hit-Girl is no longer a 9 year old girl who curses and wields a butterfly knife whilst kicking bad guys heads in. Now as a 15 year old the cursing element isn't as shocking obviously but the character is still one of the better ones of the last decade. Chloe Grace Moretz looks to be the Jodie Foster of her generation, I look forward to seeing her continue to take on complex and varying roles a'la Jennifer Lawrence and Scarlett Johansson. Hit-Girls storyline works as she mutates into your stereotypical 15 year old teen-bop as well as still holding onto the great elements that are Hit-Girl. Robin wishes she was her indeed.

Jim Carrey: Jim Carrey takes the place of Nicolas Cage as the big name in the cast. Carrey has separated himself from "Kick-Ass 2" during the publicity tour because in light of the recent school shootings and gun control battle he didn't think it was appropriate. This is a shame as the role of Colonel Stars and Stripes, another suburban super hero is easily his best role in years and its unfortunate that its both more of a cameo than a supporting turn and that he has turned his back on it after declaring that he was a fan of the first film.


Violence is a big part of the movie, most of it over the top and often played for laughs. I can understand in theory Carrey's point about not wanting to seemingly endorse a product that glamorizes violence given the numerous events over the last year alone. My counterpoint would be that the movie is rated R for good reason but its kind of hypocritical that movies such as Iron Man 3 and Man of Steel show destruction upon destruction which leaves thousands upon thousands dead but because they actually don't show people dying or they show bloodless deaths it's ok because it gets a PG-13 rating. 

Kick-Ass doesn't try to be anything that its not. If you are a fan of the original then you will love this new entry, if you have no idea who or what Kick-Ass is then its probably not the movie for you.