Review by Ken Parker
I really enjoyed the first Kick-Ass
movie mostly for it's originality and its messages about being a
superhero and being a good person... or at least stand for good.
Elements of humor, action and drama were mixed beautifully in one of
the biggest surprises for me at the theater in 2010. I have since
watched the film numerous times and hoped the sequel would continue
the story and capture at least some of what the first one was.
Did it??
Some mild spoilers
Well, the safe answer, as always, would
be, of course not. But I am not playing it safe. Kick-Ass 2 is
very good but and has some excellent moments. The movie approaches
the original from time to time and in some cases excels, but rarely.
It mostly does a great job continuing the character development of
Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl. Their relationship is handled perfectly as
both must discover who they are. This discovery moves them in
opposite direction initially but ultimately they are back where they
belong.
The stakes are higher as the superhero
and super villain numbers increase greatly. The battle of good vs.
evil takes on many forms and there are casualties. These casualties
help our protagonists (and antagonist) in their finding themselves.
The humor is toned way down as is the
originality. Still, the main ideals are there and help make the film
powerful. The action is excellent and the supporting cast well
utilized. Nods to the original are numerous and it is important to
have seen the original. There are cameos by some characters from the
first film that are quick so don't blink.
Kick-Ass (Dave) has an adventure that
leads him to a group of heroes that were influenced by his being
Kick-Ass. Meanwhile Mindy (Hit-Girl) has a more interesting tale as
she tries to fit into the high school life. The final moments of the
first film as Mindy is introduced into this school life leads you to
belief there were going to be a lot of funny and excellent fights
with perhaps Dave having to keep Mindy from killing anyone. Instead
the high school life is eye opening for Mindy and ultimately sad and
depressing. In a way you feel sorry for the girl who cannot exist in
that life and while she does get to have the last laugh, it is still
depressing.
The movie also deals with more father –
child relationship for both Mindy and Dave. Mindy's adoptive father
is trying to keep her out of trouble but is asking her to step out of
her old life and into a new one, which she tries and fails. Pretty
good stuff.
The movie does tone down the violence quite a bit with gun play being limited to a great degree, especially since guns were well over 90% of the violence in the first film.
Chris (formally Red-Mist) has his own
journey of discovery. He is all about revenge and is consumed by
fate (and something else). Stay until the very end of the credits.
The movie doesn't quite achieve that
excellence level but it does manage to deliver some great kicks and
punches along the way. A sequel is easily done and it would be
interesting to see these characters continue to grow.
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