Neil Young's Film Lounge

BREAKABLE : Matthew Vaughn’s ‘Kick-Ass’ [8/10]

PERHAPS the most purely and shamelessly enjoyable British picture since Hot Fuzz, Kick-Ass is a full-tilt post-modern spin on the superhero genre that represents a gravity-mocking leap beyond director Matthew Vaughn’s previous efforts Layer Cake (2004) and Stardust (2007), and also the sole previous adaptation of a Mark Millar comic, the thematically not-dissimilar Wanted (2008). It’s perhaps no coincidence that Kick-Ass - script, like Stardust, by Vaughn and Jane Goldman – was developed simultaneously as both comic (illustrated by John Romita, Jr) and film, rather than being the usual case of a botched transfer from one medium to another.
   Working very neatly as both a set-piece-studded, multi-climaxed action spectacle and a smart, wittily comic subversion of same, its strongest suit is its casting: the five main roles are ably filled by performers at very different positions in their respective careers – Aaron Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Mark Strong, Chloe Grace Moretz and Nicolas Cage – and bringing them together at this specific juncture yields a cockeyed, intoxicating alchemy.  
   The story:  lovelorn New York high-schooler Dave (Johnson) is a comic-book obsessive who wonders why no-one has ever tried becoming a super-hero in real life. He discovers why when, after donning a scuba outfit and adopting the nom de guerre ‘Kick-Ass’, he’s almost instantly hospitalised for half a year (the premise is essentially a dopey inversion of M Night Shyamalan’s Unbreakable.)
   Undeterred by this course of events – or his own lack of special powers, equipment or training – Dave hits the streets, his antics drawing legions of fans via the internet, and also the attention of “proper” masked crime-fighters, Big Daddy (Cage) and his 11-year-old daughter Hit Girl (Moretz). The latter pair are out to bring down crime king-pin Frank D’Amico (Strong), whose son Chris (Mint-Plasse), for convoluted reasons which this review won’t divulge, dons superhero costume to become ‘Red Mist’…
   Rather fitting for a picture which deals in assumed personalities and reality/appearance disjoints, Kick-Ass skilfully masks its “Britishness” – only a handful of external scenes were filmed in the US, as indicated by a slew of familiar UK actors in supporting parts. Johnson (only months after negotiating John Lennon’s vowels and hormones in Nowhere Boy) and Strong carry off Yank accents in unfussily convincing style, though both are powerless to stop scenes being stolen from them by actual-born Americans Mintz-Plasse (a droll, nerdy delight in only his fourth big-screen outing after Superbad, Year One and Role Models), Moretz and Cage.
   The latter pair represent the film’s most audacious and trickiest aspect, but the interplay between father and daughter strikes just the right combination of ludicrousness and tenderness. Moretz explodes onto the screen in a classic “where-on-earth-did-they-get-her­-from?!” performance, though she has a surprisingly extensive CV for one so youthful – she was the kid sister in (500) Days of Summer - and has got the plum part in the upcoming Stateside Let the Right One In remake. In Kick-Ass she turns in what’s probably the most remarkable work by a female American child star since Jodie Foster in Taxi Driver - Hit Girl’s foul mouth and hyper-kinetic, Tarantino/manga violence having already sparked a somewhat histrionic moral-panic response from certain quarters (prelude to Hit Girl’s focal role in countless future doctoral theses on gender roles and signifiers in post-Fordist late-capitalist popular culture.)
   As for Cage… 2010 is seemingly destined to be his Comeback Year (not that he’s ever really gone away), with this and Werner Herzog’s delirious Bad Lieutenant remake showcasing his offbeat charms and skills. As David Thomson put it, “Cage could develop into a very rare middle-aged figure. If he doesn’t have enough money yet to settle for risk, then what is the point of money.” Admittedly Damon MacReady / Big Daddy – who affects a hilarious, clipped Adam-West-pastiche vocal-delivery when masked up – isn’t exactly an Adaptation-style stretch as double-roles go. But it’s marvellous to see Cage having so much (infectious) fun in a supporting role – he’s deployed judiciously by Vaughn so that he doesn’t unbalance the steady unfolding of the convoluted narrative over the course of a two-hour-plus running-time. Proceedings could perhaps do with a little trimming here and there (what’s the point of the lumber-oven scene?), but there’s not much wrong with the thunderously persuasive final act – a series of extravagant climaxes, capped with the inevitable sequel-hinting coda… Uh, bring it on.

Neil Young
5th  April, 2010

KICK-ASS : [8/10]
Matthew VAUGHN : UK(/US) 2010 (copyright-date 2009) : 117m (BBFC) : {21/28}
seen  (i) 31st March at The Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle (£7);
(ii) 2nd April at Cameo, Edinburgh (£5.30).

from the BBFC…
KICK-ASS is a comedy action adventure in which an ordinary teenage boy decides to make a stand against the street crime in his city by becoming a superhero known as ‘Kick-Ass’. The film was passed ‘15’ for strong language, one use of very strong language and strong bloody comic violence.
   The film contains multiple uses of strong language. These exceed the ’12A’/’12′ Guidelines where there may be only infrequent strong language but are permissible at ’15′ where the Guidelines state that ‘There may be frequent use of strong language (for example, ‘f*ck’)’. The Guidelines at ‘15’ also state that the ‘strongest terms (for example, ‘c*nt’) may be acceptable if justified by the context. Aggressive or repeated use of the strongest language is unlikely to be acceptable’. KICK-ASS contains one use of very strong language. The word is spoken by a young girl who, like Kick-Ass, has become a makeshift superhero. Although some people might be offended by a child using this type of language, the predominant effect is comic. The young girl in question possesses incredible strength and agility and manages to dispatch a large group of adult male villains immediately after making the remark to them. The remark is delivered in a throwaway fashion rather than aggressively directed and the unexpectedness and incongruity of the use provides a comic justification for its inclusion.
   There are numerous scenes of strong bloody violence throughout the film as the various would-be superheros [sic] battle the baddies. Many of these violent scenes show blood spray from gunshot wounds as well as the occasional severing of limbs, cutting of throats or stabbing of hands. While there is copious blood loss these scenes do not breach the BBFC Guidelines at ‘15’ by dwelling ‘on the infliction of pain or injury’. This is especially so given that most occur in the context of a cartoonish style of choreographed violence that is rapidly edited and focuses more on the inventive skill and panache of the heroes than the detail of the wounds that are inflicted.
   Other scenes present violence in a more realistic and less comedic style with vicious beatings meted out to a couple of restrained heroes and one scene in which one of the main bad characters assaults the young girl superhero. However, those doing the beatings have been clearly established as evil characters and the audience is encouraged to feel sympathy for the victims rather than revel in the violence being inflicted. At the same time, the audience knows that the highly skilled good guys are likely to regain the upper hand very swiftly. None of the violence inflicted presents the ‘strongest gory images’ which would be unacceptable under BBFC Guidelines at ‘15’ and the comedic, fantastical tone of the film as a whole means that even the strongest moments of violent action have a lighter counterbalance.
   The film also contains some strong sex references, including references to a teen boy liking to ‘jerk off’ and scenes of implied below screen masturbation, as well as verbal references to drugs and sight of a man smoking a bong and another man snorting a line of coke. There are also many scenes in which weapons such as knives and guns are displayed and handled, including by a young girl who is shown to be proficient in their use. These are presented in a comically excessive manner and are designed to play up the rather ridiculous idea of having trained a young girl to be an assassin.