“kick-ass” film review

Quick tiny disclaimer here—I’m not usually one to use swears. This includes what I write and everyday dialogue. And I know to a lot of people, certain words aren’t considered swears while other people consider that they are. But for the sake of artistic integrity, I will call the movie by its given name.

Here we find another comic book/superhero movie that is attempting to break a mold by not being your typical-everyday-comic book/superhero movie. By the time I finished watch it, the movies I felt were most like this movie included: Watchmen, Kill Bill, and Sin City. I’d also include Spider-Man due the fact the main character pretty much compares himself to Spider-Man a couple of times, as well as him following a similar path of being a new hero with new powers and responsibilities. That’s mostly all the similarities for that movie… that and a Mary Jane character.

What the other three movies have is what some would describe as very graphic violence. And for that reason alone, for those parents that care about that sorta thing, I would say to keep your young children at bay until they are old enough to understand that an 11-year-old is murdering bad people… violently. As an adult, possibly a slightly sadistic one, I found some humor in it once the shock value went away.

So yeah, there’s a girl going around shoot, stabbing slicing and all around killing dozens of people. Granted, they are bad people. But unlike most superhero movies, the baddies don’t die such horrible gruesome deaths. And if they do, it’s not really shown on camera. And if it is, it’s not bloody. This is where the Kill Bill reference comes in. If you remember when The Bride goes to attack the Crazy 88, there is blood gushing out everywhere as if it were a cartoon or a Mortal Kombat video game. People complained about the ultra-violence (in both violence), but they fail to understand that the movie wasn’t meant to be taken seriously. I’m not saying violence is cool… but in the tone of the movie, yeah, it actually was.

The bloodshed continues in movies like Sin City, 300 and Watchmen. I’m definitely citing Watchmen because, again, the graphic violence but especially because it’s about costumed vigilantes trying to stop crime. Some were good at it, some weren’t. And some died in the process. I see this as more of a comical approach to the way superheroes are portrayed vs. Watchmen’s deathly serious tone. Plus, no blue naked man. There are many references to sex though. References that young teen boys would understand and may be too embarrassed to talk about with their mom or even knowing that it’s true. In fact, don’t watch it with your mom if you are worried about that kinda stuff.

And I’ve heard critics say that this movie is somewhat tailor-made for boys and men of that age. And it’s true. I mean, it caught my attention. Plus I realized I have a weakness for comic book movies. This movie provided the kind of escapism I crave every so often. It was fun, funny, action-packed and full of bright colors like a real life comic book come to life.

Overall, I liked it. It made my “to buy” list. It was probably worth seeing in theaters… but I missed that boat.