Kick-Ass
when I heard that Kick-Ass was coming to the big screen, the first thought that went through my head was disbelief that they were turning that dreck of a comic into a movie.
I read the mini-series when it first came out. the premise was why superheroes wouldn't work in the real world. it started out fine. an ordinary kid decided to be a superhero out of boredom but slowly the story devolved into a pointless gore-fest and any semblance of reality was lost when a 10-year-old girl cut a grown man's head in half with a katana. it was utterly joyless and I hated it.
since the movie was supposed to closely follow the comic, I expected it to be terrible and so resolved not to watch it. strangely, everyone I knew who had seen the movie loved it. even Rotten Tomatoes gave it generally positive reviews. out of curiosity, I decided to see for myself if it really was possible for something good to come out of something so vile.
much to my surprise, I liked the movie.
for the most part, the movie did stick to the comic's story. the things that got changed were, I felt, significant improvements. it reduced and at times took away the dreary and reprehensible parts of the comic.
first off, there was a lot less attention given to detailing the gore. the comic took time to show copious amounts of blood and severed limbs, especially when Hit-Girl was involved. the amount of detail in each kill was staggering. the movie had blood and severed limbs, sure, but the camera didn't dwell on them. for example, there was a scene where Big Daddy and Hit-Girl killed someone by placing him in a trash compactor. the comic drew out the death as though the whole thing was being done in slow motion. in the movie, the start to end of the crushing scene was probably 10 seconds, tops, and moving at normal speed.
second major change was Big Daddy and Hit-Girl's history. in the movie, Big Daddy was an ex-cop who got framed by a mobster and went to jail, which indirectly led to his wife's death. after getting out of jail, he trained his daughter to help in his crusade to bring that mobster down. in the comic, the whole ex-cop thing was a lie. the truth was that he was bored with his life and basically kidnapped his daughter to turn her into a killing machine because he thought it'd be exciting.
third, Red Mist was somewhat more sympathetic in the movie. in the comic, his link to the mob wasn't revealed until towards the end and he gleefully participated in the torture of Kick-Ass, Big Daddy and Hit-Girl. the movie showed right from the start that he was a mobster's son who wanted to eventually get in on his dad's business but he was shocked at what his dad had planned to do to Kick-Ass and Big Daddy after they were caught. he still went along with it but at least he wasn't all gung-ho about it.
fourth, and probably the most positive change, was what happened between Kick-Ass and Katie after Kick-Ass tells her he's not gay. in the comic, she hated him after that and started sending him pictures of her having sex with some guy in some very strange and idiotic form of revenge. movie!Katie didn't care and they ended up together.
the amount of comedy placed in the movie certainly helped. the funniest part was probably when four armed goons got Hit-Girl cornered and out of ammo but they were still too scared to go in after her. they finally got over their fear once one of them left to get his bazooka.
the one thing they changed that I wish they didn't was how Hit-Girl reacted to Big Daddy's death. the movie had her crying immediately afterward and resolving to not have his death be meaningless by finishing his mission. in the comic, his death seemed to be just another detail to her and she carried on with less than half the emotion you'd expect from a 10-year-old girl. that is, up until the last of the goons were killed and she finally breaks down, dropping to her knees crying, and tells Kick-Ass "Can I have a hug? My daddy just died."
so yeah. I enjoyed the movie. way better than the comic, though that doesn't actually say much.
I read the mini-series when it first came out. the premise was why superheroes wouldn't work in the real world. it started out fine. an ordinary kid decided to be a superhero out of boredom but slowly the story devolved into a pointless gore-fest and any semblance of reality was lost when a 10-year-old girl cut a grown man's head in half with a katana. it was utterly joyless and I hated it.
since the movie was supposed to closely follow the comic, I expected it to be terrible and so resolved not to watch it. strangely, everyone I knew who had seen the movie loved it. even Rotten Tomatoes gave it generally positive reviews. out of curiosity, I decided to see for myself if it really was possible for something good to come out of something so vile.
much to my surprise, I liked the movie.
for the most part, the movie did stick to the comic's story. the things that got changed were, I felt, significant improvements. it reduced and at times took away the dreary and reprehensible parts of the comic.
first off, there was a lot less attention given to detailing the gore. the comic took time to show copious amounts of blood and severed limbs, especially when Hit-Girl was involved. the amount of detail in each kill was staggering. the movie had blood and severed limbs, sure, but the camera didn't dwell on them. for example, there was a scene where Big Daddy and Hit-Girl killed someone by placing him in a trash compactor. the comic drew out the death as though the whole thing was being done in slow motion. in the movie, the start to end of the crushing scene was probably 10 seconds, tops, and moving at normal speed.
second major change was Big Daddy and Hit-Girl's history. in the movie, Big Daddy was an ex-cop who got framed by a mobster and went to jail, which indirectly led to his wife's death. after getting out of jail, he trained his daughter to help in his crusade to bring that mobster down. in the comic, the whole ex-cop thing was a lie. the truth was that he was bored with his life and basically kidnapped his daughter to turn her into a killing machine because he thought it'd be exciting.
third, Red Mist was somewhat more sympathetic in the movie. in the comic, his link to the mob wasn't revealed until towards the end and he gleefully participated in the torture of Kick-Ass, Big Daddy and Hit-Girl. the movie showed right from the start that he was a mobster's son who wanted to eventually get in on his dad's business but he was shocked at what his dad had planned to do to Kick-Ass and Big Daddy after they were caught. he still went along with it but at least he wasn't all gung-ho about it.
fourth, and probably the most positive change, was what happened between Kick-Ass and Katie after Kick-Ass tells her he's not gay. in the comic, she hated him after that and started sending him pictures of her having sex with some guy in some very strange and idiotic form of revenge. movie!Katie didn't care and they ended up together.
the amount of comedy placed in the movie certainly helped. the funniest part was probably when four armed goons got Hit-Girl cornered and out of ammo but they were still too scared to go in after her. they finally got over their fear once one of them left to get his bazooka.
the one thing they changed that I wish they didn't was how Hit-Girl reacted to Big Daddy's death. the movie had her crying immediately afterward and resolving to not have his death be meaningless by finishing his mission. in the comic, his death seemed to be just another detail to her and she carried on with less than half the emotion you'd expect from a 10-year-old girl. that is, up until the last of the goons were killed and she finally breaks down, dropping to her knees crying, and tells Kick-Ass "Can I have a hug? My daddy just died."
so yeah. I enjoyed the movie. way better than the comic, though that doesn't actually say much.