'Kick Ass' 2010

Title: Kick Ass

Rating: 15

Released: 2010

Director: Matthew Vaughn

Starring: Aaron Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Chloe Grace Moretz, Mark Strong, Nicholas Cage,

Our Verdict: * 1 star

In a line: Normal teenager becomes a superhero... though unlike 'Spiderman',etc, lacks special powers.

Background: 'Kick Ass' appeared as a comic in February of 2008. Written by comic-book author, Mark Millar, 'Kick Ass' has been published monthly (with some gaps) since 2008 and is an ongoing publication. Millar is probably best known for 'Marvel Knights Spider-Man', 'Ultimate Fantastic Four' and the 'Wanted' series of comics which was adapted as a film in 2008, starring James McAvoy and Angelina Jolie. The comic is 'pencilled' by Marvel Comics legend, John Romita Jr.

The comic-book 'Kick Ass' was adapted by director Matthew Vaughn and screenplay-writer Jane Goldman; wife of Jonathan Ross and co-writer of the 2007 fantasy 'Stardust', which was also directed by Vaughn. Vaughn is a British director/producer who has previously directed 'Layer Cake' (2004). His producing credits include 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels' (1998), 'Snatch' (2000), 'Mean Machine' (2001) and 'Harry Brown' (2009). Following the success of Vaughn's directorial début ('Layer Cake' 2004), he was hotly tipped to direct the blockbuster 'X-Men: The Last Stand' (2006) but was dropped just two weeks before filming began. With the exception of 'Stardust' (to a certain extent), 'Kick Ass' is Vaughn's first big Hollywood production. Celebrity-enthusiasts may be interested to know that since 2002, Vaughn has been married to German supermodel, Claudia Schiffer, with whom he has two children, and one on the way. Actor Brad Pitt produced the film; it is his 11th role as producer.

Synopsis: An everyday teenager becomes a masked vigilante. Dave Lizewski buys a scuba-diving suit and takes to the streets at his alter ego. Whilst trying to stand up to a pair of criminals, Dave is stabbed and subsequently run over. Whilst in hospital he undergoes several operations which include the insertion of metal into his skeleton; making him feel like 'Wolverine'. As soon as he is released from hospital, Dave once again dons his outfit and begins to fight crime. He adopts the name 'Kick Ass' and soon becomes an internet phenomenon. Dave learns he is not the only masked hero in the city when he meets 'Hit Girl' and 'Big Daddy'. Together they try to overthrow the criminal leader Frank D'Amico. But things aren't smooth sailing as D'Amico gets his son to create a new superhero alter-ego ('Red Mist') to befriend Kick Ass in an attempt to bring down the vigilante.

Review: The film has a really promising start. The protagonist 'Dave' narrates, discussing his confusion at why nobody had tried to be a superhero before he did. This is accompanied with footage of a man dressed in a hero-like outfit, complete with wings, jumping off a skyscraper. As the music swells to a crescendo, we expect the hero to take to flight. Alas, he is unable to do this and ends up crashing into a car below. This earned a chuckle from most people in the cinema. I think I may have only laughed another couple of times. The same can be said of those around me.

'Kick Ass' tries hard to not just be a simple tale of the self-discovery of a geeky teen who struggles where women are concerned. However, it fails miserably and can't even be described as a valiant attempt. The film is slow to get going. We are introduced to all the main characters in neatly ended little scenes which tell us just enough information. Personally I was quite bewildered as to how the protagonist came to the conclusion that the best way to stop being mugged was to don a scuba suit and fight back. I think I speak for geeks everywhere when I say that, that option doesn't rank very highly on the action lists of most.

The script was very flat. Sadly, every vaguely amusing part of the film was used in the full-length trailer. The trailer had well and truly whet my appetite and I was expecting something really quite special, a super hero film with a sense of humour. As a super hero film enthusiast, I thought that 'Kick Ass' had tapped into a goldmine, mixing the well established genre with a bit of comedy to produce a new hybrid. It was here that 'Kick Ass' fell flat on its face. The humour was weak, and mostly quite childish. I would probably have got more laughs from watching the 2008 spoof 'Super Hero Movie', and that is one hell of a statement to make.

I think I was most disappointed with the lack of plot development regarding Dave's reinforced bone structure. When we see Dave recovering in hospital, accompanied by images of X-Rays which show the vast amount of metal now in his body, I quite expected that this would be something that he used in his quest to become a superhero; expecting a 'Wolverine'-like physique, especially as 'Wolverine' was mentioned in comparison. However, the hospital scene was one of only two times that Dave's metal-ridden body was referred to, and in any fight sequences he displayed a very normal physique indeed, perhaps even below average, only commenting that he didn't feel any pain because of the metal insertions. I felt that the film would have benefited from Dave discovering that he now had super-human strength thanks to his operations. To me, he still felt like the underdog throughout the film.

Good points (of which there were few) include two of the big action sequences (the sequence following Big Daddy and Kick Ass' capture, and the library corridor scene) were exceptionally well done. Rapid action shots were edited seamlessly and although the flashing lights probably wouldn't be appreciated by an epileptic (indeed there was a warning in the cinema entrance), they added a wonderful frenzied effect. For me, the only other good point was Nicholas Cage's performance as 'Big Daddy'. He was wonderfully neurotic, a perfect mix of trained assassin and hapless single father. Big thumbs up to Mr Cage.

I let out an audible groan when the final scene of the film appeared to leave a very clear opening for a sequel. 'Red Mist' looks at the camera and smirks as he delivers the line "Wait till they get a load of me", which movie buffs will recognise as being from 'Batman' (1989), and originally spoken by the ultimate super-baddy, 'The Joker'. Any continuation of this second-rate adaptation would only be, at best, cringe-worthy and, at worst, a contender for epic fail of the year.

I wait with baited breath for a proper super hero film to hit cinemas. Hopefully my prayers will be answered by Iron Man 2, due to be released in the UK on April 30th 2010.

'