Kick-Ass

[angstbunny]

It seems to be a trend lately, where all the movies I see are enjoyable and yet weirdly dissatisfying at the same time. A part of my brain is like WHOO-HOO, that easily sated, reveling in violence and mindlessness part. But another part, the critical part, is always rubbing its chin and going "hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm."

Kick-Ass is enjoyable and

Comments

[one_more_cherry]

Adding to what RF said above - apparently the movie was written before the book was done and they had to go back and change it after it was finished. The joy of selling rights :p

I liked the movie, but I'm weirdly divided on the violence. It was used to purpose, to establish how serious the consquences are, but I kept getting the feeling that the movie would've been just as good without it on some level(well, at least the Kick-Ass segment of the proceedings; I agree that the Big Daddy/Hit Girl section of the movie should've been a whole sepparate story). There was actually a terrific article on Jezebel that agrees with your point and is about how Hit-Girl and Big Daddy ort of occupy a different realm than Kick-Ass - it's a whole different universe.

IDK - It's not as raveworthy as I was led to believe, but it was decent.

[angstbunny]

Yeah, I'm torn about the violence, too. On one hand, it seemed to be srs bizness about it: trying to be a hero? Not as easy as you think it will be. You will get jacked up. That scene where Dave gets stabbed? HO. LEE. SHIT. When he gets beaten up by the gang members while he's trying to save that one guy? Also demonstrative. But the moment Big Daddy and Hit Girl enter the scene, the violence becomes absurd and comedic. It loses its impact. All of a sudden, we're in a video game. Which robbed Dave's story of its dramatic value. The collision of the two stories did not enhance each other, but instead took something away. I wish they had been two different movies.

Agreed on it not being as OMG as it could've been, but certainly not a disappointment by far.

[one_more_cherry]

Oh GOD, when Dave got stabbed I WINCED. And I sort of liked the story they were telling with him - about how the reality of fighting crime's so different from the way it would be fighting it NOT in a comic book and within the real world.

Yeah, Hit-Girl, in that hallway - braveau action direction but really, whole different story.

I keep wondering if the Hit-Girl/Big Daddy part of the story comes from a different arc? IDK.

[angstbunny]

Exactly. It was brutal and painful and startling. That stabbing scene, just. God. But then you introduce the cartoonish violence of Hit-Girl, and BAM, all that poignancy exits stage left.

I think the movie injected a lot more heart and gumption into Dave's storyline than there was in the original comic. IDK? I'm speculating based solely on what I've read. But the comic seems much more nihilistic and fanboy wank fantasy and violence for the sake of violence. So they kinda "fixed up" one arc extensively without fixing up the other, and hence the disparate tone. I think.

[one_more_cherry]

*NODS* That's what's missing in the Hit-Girl side of things - poingency, even at the ending of the arc.

Yeah, the comic and the movie were being written concurrently, and some of what ended up in the movie is a result of them having to go back and edit it as the comic got close to the end of its run.

[angstbunny]

Hm. Correction. The film and the comic were developed almost concurrently. I think it's like: Vaughn (director) had one vision and Mark Millar had another.