People love the superhero fantasy because it’s a myth that’s
very empowering. Who wouldn’t want to be a superhero who goes around and rights
all of the wrongs in the world? But the established superhero fantasy just doesn’t
exist in the real world--it’s unable to. That’s why, in every superhero fantasy,
the hero exists in his own little reality that’s tailor-made for him (or her).
Batman needs Gotham City just as much as it needs him; because Gotham City is
filled with supporting characters, like Commissioner Gordon, who help the Dark
Knight to continue fighting crime. But if you were to drop the Batman onto the
mean streets of New York City, away from his supportive reality, he
probably wouldn’t last very long.
That’s the premise of Kick-Ass--at least initially. A comic book geek grows
weary of taking it from the local bullies. And so, thanks to a converted green
wetsuit and a pair of nunchucks, which he wears in a holster on his back, he
sets out to fight crime and rid the world of evil as Kick-Ass, a new superhero.
Yet when he confronts the bullies for the first time in his new superhero guise,
what’s being set up as the typical triumphant introductory scene of the hero in
action quickly crashes and burns when Kick-Ass gets stabbed by one of the
men--and then, as he stumbles away in shock and pain, he gets run over by a car
for good measure.
At this point, the movie had me. I thought it was a brilliant take on a geek
trying to be a superhero in the all-too-real, down and dirty world. But then
something annoying happens to Kick-Ass. It becomes a regular superhero film,
using the very same clichés and super heroic conventions that it tries so hard
to make fun of in the first place. Instead of a fascinating, gritty look at a
misguided boy trying to make it as a superhero while going up against all
too real mobsters, we get the usual geeky fantasy in a wildly uneven movie that can't
quite decide if it wants to be a spoof or not.
The best thing about the film is young Chloe Moretz as Hit Girl, who--unlike Kick-Ass himself--has
embraced the superhero lifestyle to the point where she's a lethal little vixen
who takes down guys who're twice her size. Nic Cage is also very good as her father, the Batman-like Big Daddy, who even
speaks in the same cadence as Adam West whenever he’s in costume. Kick-Ass is
far from being a terrible film; the action scenes are intense and well-directed, and the humor
is mostly dead on target. But, story-wise, Kick-Ass is as convoluted as some of the very same comics that it
tries to spoof.
--SF
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