And there was much Ass to be Kicked
Its been awhile, that is has. I'd like to give some long drawn out excuse to amuse all of two people who read this, but there'd be little point as those people would already know what's been up with my life. So lets just, for the sake of brevity, say that life happened and we can now move on. You should all be ready for a small armada of reviews to be comming en masse, as I've gotten some major gaming done and seen some great movies. Moving backwards forwards, lets start off with the last movie I saw.
The great thing about college life is the weird little movie theaters you can visit. I had been hankering to see Kick-Ass for awhile now, but most every movie theater wasn't showing it, as the title wasn't "kid friendly". Luckily the little hidden theater that I'm pretty sure every college town has was showing it so my friend and I picked up tickets and decided it would be a good way to pass some time, and spend the last of our pre-employment money. Undoubtedly word of Kick-Ass has reached just about every avid movie-watcher, what with it's brash name and "quirky" idea. This is following a slew of super-hero movies, and is starting the lead of the more quirky comics to hit the silver screen. (Next up is Scott Pilgrim, by and by, though I'm not holding my breath on that one. Am I the only one who finds Michael Cera kinda an annoying guy to watch act? I mean, if I wanted to see a guy awkwardly stand around, fail to flirt and spout off quirky humour, I'd hang out with my guy friends or hit a video game convention) I digress though, the point is I went to see this latest action movie and here's the spoiler-free rundown.
This movie is based on a comic by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr, and can be considered a rather brutal deconstruction/reconstruction of many comic book tropes and it gleefully takes the building blocks of comics apart. I remember reading the comic awhile back and I have to say, while the director diverges on a few things (mainly Big Daddy's backstory and the auxiliary romance between the main character and the pretty girl) I wasn't so much complaining. The tone changes from the relentless brutality of the comic to a more hopeful and fun spin in the movie. To directly quote Wikipedia on the plot, this is what you need to know: "The film tells the story of an ordinary teenager, Dave Lizewski, who sets out to become a real-life superhero calling himself Kick-Ass. Dave gets caught up in a bigger fight when he meets Big Daddy, a former cop who, in his quest to bring down the evil drug lord Frank D'Amico, has trained his eleven-year-old daughter to be the ruthless vigilante Hit-Girl." Along the way he's joined by a super hero Red Mist and that completes the major cast of characters.
Oh sure, there's the high school friends and the girl of Dave's dreams, but they're stories are background chatter to the actual plot. Seriously, you can skip past it if you want.
This movie has fast script writing, though to be honest the sight of a little girl swearing so much kinda set me on edge. It's a bloody, gory ballroom blitz of quick humor and shout outs to comics that will make any comic book fan grin a little. The action choreography is fantastic, really top notch, and at times had me reminiscing about the old school John Woo fights. All in all, the direction is top notch and the violence is unflinching. Every single hit, every gun shot and every knife slash is shown in unflinching style that doesn't glorify violence, it just portrays it as hurting. There's a nifty bit in the story which takes you into a comic framing the back story for Big Daddy and the art is breathtaking, seeming three dimensional without looking awkward, cell shading at its best.
As for music, the soundtrack has fun with itself. You get everything from a Sunday morning kid's show theme to full orchestral pieces that frame the story perfectly. There isn't an awkward quiet moment and the songs match up well. That's about it on soundtrack.
Casting is brilliant, the little actress playing Hit Girl was fantastic, if foul mouthed, and as usual Nicholas Cage is eccentric as always. Good to see him in a comic book movie, as he really nails his role amazingly. In fact, there's little complaint about the casting, everybody pulls A-work and manages to grapple their roles as masked crusaders spot on.
All in all, a fun movie. It's deconstruction of comic book themes and ideals are brutal, but built back up in the last quarter of the movie without seeming cheesy, and I can't wait to own it for myself. Seeing as how I'm strapped for cash though, thank God that'll be a bit away. So there's my two cents, so long as blood and cussin' doesn't bother you, you'll be able to handle the movie. And for the love of GOD, just because it has super heroes in it, don't take your kids to it. Haven't we learned this lesson from The Dark Knight?
The great thing about college life is the weird little movie theaters you can visit. I had been hankering to see Kick-Ass for awhile now, but most every movie theater wasn't showing it, as the title wasn't "kid friendly". Luckily the little hidden theater that I'm pretty sure every college town has was showing it so my friend and I picked up tickets and decided it would be a good way to pass some time, and spend the last of our pre-employment money. Undoubtedly word of Kick-Ass has reached just about every avid movie-watcher, what with it's brash name and "quirky" idea. This is following a slew of super-hero movies, and is starting the lead of the more quirky comics to hit the silver screen. (Next up is Scott Pilgrim, by and by, though I'm not holding my breath on that one. Am I the only one who finds Michael Cera kinda an annoying guy to watch act? I mean, if I wanted to see a guy awkwardly stand around, fail to flirt and spout off quirky humour, I'd hang out with my guy friends or hit a video game convention) I digress though, the point is I went to see this latest action movie and here's the spoiler-free rundown.
This movie is based on a comic by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr, and can be considered a rather brutal deconstruction/reconstruction of many comic book tropes and it gleefully takes the building blocks of comics apart. I remember reading the comic awhile back and I have to say, while the director diverges on a few things (mainly Big Daddy's backstory and the auxiliary romance between the main character and the pretty girl) I wasn't so much complaining. The tone changes from the relentless brutality of the comic to a more hopeful and fun spin in the movie. To directly quote Wikipedia on the plot, this is what you need to know: "The film tells the story of an ordinary teenager, Dave Lizewski, who sets out to become a real-life superhero calling himself Kick-Ass. Dave gets caught up in a bigger fight when he meets Big Daddy, a former cop who, in his quest to bring down the evil drug lord Frank D'Amico, has trained his eleven-year-old daughter to be the ruthless vigilante Hit-Girl." Along the way he's joined by a super hero Red Mist and that completes the major cast of characters.
Oh sure, there's the high school friends and the girl of Dave's dreams, but they're stories are background chatter to the actual plot. Seriously, you can skip past it if you want.
This movie has fast script writing, though to be honest the sight of a little girl swearing so much kinda set me on edge. It's a bloody, gory ballroom blitz of quick humor and shout outs to comics that will make any comic book fan grin a little. The action choreography is fantastic, really top notch, and at times had me reminiscing about the old school John Woo fights. All in all, the direction is top notch and the violence is unflinching. Every single hit, every gun shot and every knife slash is shown in unflinching style that doesn't glorify violence, it just portrays it as hurting. There's a nifty bit in the story which takes you into a comic framing the back story for Big Daddy and the art is breathtaking, seeming three dimensional without looking awkward, cell shading at its best.
As for music, the soundtrack has fun with itself. You get everything from a Sunday morning kid's show theme to full orchestral pieces that frame the story perfectly. There isn't an awkward quiet moment and the songs match up well. That's about it on soundtrack.
Casting is brilliant, the little actress playing Hit Girl was fantastic, if foul mouthed, and as usual Nicholas Cage is eccentric as always. Good to see him in a comic book movie, as he really nails his role amazingly. In fact, there's little complaint about the casting, everybody pulls A-work and manages to grapple their roles as masked crusaders spot on.
All in all, a fun movie. It's deconstruction of comic book themes and ideals are brutal, but built back up in the last quarter of the movie without seeming cheesy, and I can't wait to own it for myself. Seeing as how I'm strapped for cash though, thank God that'll be a bit away. So there's my two cents, so long as blood and cussin' doesn't bother you, you'll be able to handle the movie. And for the love of GOD, just because it has super heroes in it, don't take your kids to it. Haven't we learned this lesson from The Dark Knight?