Yay Movies: Kick Ass

Wow.


That's pretty much the only way you can describe this flick. Just plain Wow. I actually had very high hopes heading into this flick, having seen about 15 minutes of it in a preview at last year's Wizard World Chicago (Tag Line: "Now with even more BO!"). I'd also followed the comic, which came out at the brisk pace of about one issue every 21 weeks. I enjoyed the comic, and was duly impressed with what I'd seen at Wiz World, but neither prepared me for the bundle of awesome that the flick ended up being.

The basic premise is that a nerd high school student named Dave Lizewski (played by Brit Aaron Johnson) wonders why nobody has ever tried to actually put on a costume and fight crime. When you actually get past the insanity of that statement, there is some merit to the question. In a world of mental illness and insanity, the fact that somebody hasn't put on a skull t-shirt yet and gone all "Punisher" out there is a bit of a surprise. Anyways, after watching (and being a victim of) a few muggings, Dave decides enough is enough. He orders a wetsuit online, and creates a costume for himself. Training for a whole 2 weeks, Dave sets out to save the world, one shithead at a time. His first attempt goes awry when some muggers beat him down, stab him, and leave him for dead. As if this wasn't bad enough, Dave stumbles into the street and is promptly drilled by a toolbox in a sedan.

12 weeks later, with metal pins and screws throughout his body (plus some nerve damage that prevents him from feeling much pain), Dave takes another shot at it. This time, he's a bit more successful, helping a guy getting his teeth kicked in by a couple of gangbangers. The whole thing is filmed by a kid with a cellphone, and is posted on YouTube. Going by the moniker "Kick Ass", Dave becomes the latest internet sensation and is all over the tube. This attracts the attention of two other "super heroes" played by Nick Cage (Alias: Big Daddy) and his 11 year old daughter played by newcomer Chole Moretz (Alias: Hit Girl). He stumbles onto the radar of a mob boss (Mark Strong) and his son (Chris Mintz-Plasse aka McLovin) and the movie totally goes off the rails.

Chock full of action (some of it, especially at the end, completely over the top), humor, and ridiculously bad language courtesy of Scottish writer Mark Miller, Kick Ass never fails to entertain. I absolutely loved the flick, simply because it takes a premise that most of us have thought about doing before, and delivers it in a completely realistic manner. It shows us exactly why most of us never go past the dreaming stage when we consider becoming a costumed crusader. Most of all, it is just a good time at the movie theater. Check it out, because I give it a 9 out of 10. On the Butts scale, it would rate a "gooooooood".