“Kick Ass”
was one of the most rebellious movies (let alone comic book movies) to be
released in the past few years. Unlike other movies of its ilk, it refused to
play it safe and managed to balance out the humor and violence almost perfectly
to where we enjoyed its gleefully dark and subversive tone. Despite the fact
that “Kick Ass” only made about $48 million at the box office domestically, its
cult following on DVD and Blu-ray helped ensure that a sequel would be made.
Overall, it adds to the rebellious tone of “Kick Ass” that a sequel got made to
it at all. While it didn’t get the same sized audience as “The Dark Knight,”
“The Avengers” or “Iron Man,” nothing was going to stop this unique masked
hero’s story from continuing.
Time has
passed since Dave Lizewski (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Mindy Macready (Chloë
Grace Moretz) retired their alter egos of Kick Ass and Hit Girl to go to high
school and lead normal lives. Dave, however, finds himself getting bored and
soon finds himself wanting to get back to his superhero fighting ways, and he
gets Mindy to train him to be as powerful a fighter as she is. This serves as a
reminder that Dave, while emerging as a hero at the end of “Kick Ass,” still
wasn’t much of a fighter and really got lucky with a bazooka.
Mindy,
however, is pressured by her new guardian, Sergeant Marcus Williams (Morris
Chestnut), to retire her crime fighting ways. She reluctantly does so even
though everything inside of her cries to protect the city from law breaking
scum. Although we know she won’t stay away from being Hit Girl forever, it
allows the filmmakers to place her in an environment she is completely alien
to: high school. That is, when she’s not skipping school and going to her and
her dad’s secret hideout to hide from the world.
Meanwhile, Chris
D'Amico (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) is still seething with rage at Kick Ass who killed
his father in the previous film and he vows revenge. Unfortunately for him, his
mother ended up throwing his Red Mist costume away, and he is forced to find a
new masked persona. Upon finding some S&M clothing his mother, unbeknownst
to Chris, had hidden from sight, he uses it to craft a costume that will
reinvent himself as the world’s first supervillain. He soon calls himself The
Mother Fucker, and he hires his own gang of ex-convicts and sociopaths to
bring down Kick Ass.
The first
half of “Kick Ass 2” is a lot of fun as it manages to maintain its
predecessor’s incendiary fun as it found humor in its ultra-violent tale of
crime fighting and vengeance. Dave ends up joining a gang called Justice
Forever which has among its members Doctor Gravity (Donald Faison), Night Bitch
(Lindy Booth), and Colonel Stars and Stripes (Jim Carrey). With this group of
people, Dave comes to see how his alter ego of Kick Ass has had a major effect
on ordinary citizens. Each of these characters is unique in their own way, and
I liked how they were eager to help people more than anything else. Of course,
their ways of helping people can seem a bit unorthodox.
As with the
first movie, Chloë Grace Moretz steals the show as Hit Girl. Seeing this
unusual superhero get back to her ass kicking ways is something we have been
waiting all summer to see. Some of the best moments in “Kick Ass 2” come when
she is forced to attend the hell that is high school and try to fit in with the
popular girls who are infinitely spoiled. Seeing Hit Girl’s reaction to them
showing her a video of the latest generic boy band was alone worth the price of
admission. Moretz continues to play this character with a superlative
confidence that sets her apart from other actresses her age.
While part
of me wished that Dave was a little more past his socially awkward ways than in
the first film, Aaron Taylor-Johnson is still terrific as the character. Just
when you thought he was a certified bad ass, it turns out that Dave and his
alter ego of Kick Ass still have a lot of work to do to get to that level. The
workout sessions Between Johnson and Moretz feel quite painful, and they make
for a great team throughout. Johnson actually has quite the role to work with
here as Dave goes through the highs of being a superhero to experiencing the
terrible lows that come with the real world, and it feels like his performance
here will be one of the more underrated performances of 2013. Plus, he ends up
wearing a t-shirt that I would just love to add to my collection (you’ll know
it when you see it).
Christopher
Mintz-Plasse still has fun making Chris D’Amico a hopelessly spoiled son of a
mob boss, but his character also takes a much darker turn this time around.
Still, Plasse portrays him broadly to where we realize that he’s not quite as
evil as the company he surrounds himself with. While Chris is far more
unlikable this time around, we still get a kick out of watching Plasse
continually stumble around in an attempt to be cool. He also gets nice support
from John Leguizamo as his right hand man Javier.
But for me, one
of the real highlights of “Kick Ass 2” was Jim Carrey who played Sal Bertolinni (a.k.a. Colonel Stars and
Stripes). Now Carrey could have upstaged all the other actors in this film if
he wasn’t careful, but he really comes across as a team player here. No one
should have to be reminded of what a fine actor Carrey is. For crying out loud,
they should have handed him the damn Oscar for “Man on the Moon!” As Colonel
Stars and Stripes, he gives us a character that could have been a
one-dimensional joke, but he succeeds in making him so much more than that.
When you put Carrey in the right role, he can perform wonders.
I am bummed
that Matthew Vaughn didn’t come back as director for this one or even for next
year’s follow up to “X-Men: First Class.” What’s his excuse anyway? Oh well,
Jeff Wadlow, who previously directed “Never Back Down” and “Cry Wolf,” takes
over directorial duties on this sequel, and he manages for the most part to
balance out the humor and violence presented here. Wadlow, however, is not
quite as successful towards the movie’s finale where the comic energy loses
steam and things become more nasty than funny. Still, I think “Kick Ass 2” is
better than most film critics have made it out to be.
This sequel
does suffer a bit as it is a little more conventional than its predecessor. You
come to have a good idea of how things are going to conclude which robs the
story of its suspense at times. I was also bummed to see Dave’s girlfriend, Katie
Deauxma (Lyndsy Fonseca), get the Elisabeth Shue “Karate Kid Part II” treatment
as her character was thrown to the curb for no reason other than the fact that
the filmmakers didn’t know what to do with her character. Seriously, would
Katie really be that quick to dump a superhero?
I also would
have liked it if The Mother Fucker’s group of supervillains were a little more
developed as characters. We get to know the vigilantes of the Justice Forever
group in a lot more detail such as Colonel Stars and Stripes who was a mob
enforcer before he became a born again Christian (don’t use the lord’s name in
vain around him). I also have to say that Miranda Swendlow/Night Bitch (Lindy
Booth) is quite the sexy superhero. But with villains like Mother Russia, they
come across as a bit too one-dimensional and it feels like moments for pure
satire are really missed out on here.
But when all
is said and done, I very much enjoyed “Kick Ass 2” for what it was. There’s no
beating Moretz as Hit Girl, Johnson makes you feel the pain of doing those
one-arm pull ups, and Carrey is a welcome addition to the franchise. Here’s
hoping that there’s a “Kick Ass 3” in the future. I’m still having a lot of fun
with this series, and there is still a future worth exploring for these
characters.
By the way,
there is a post-credits sequence which spells out the fate of a certain
character. It’s a little lame, but it’s there if you want to wait for it.
* * * ½ out of * * * *
