Kick-Ass, Hit Girl and Red Mist return for the follow-up to 2010’s irreverent global hit: Kick-Ass 2. After Kick-Ass’ (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) insane bravery inspires a new wave of self-made masked crusaders, led by the badass Colonel Stars and Stripes (Jim Carrey), our hero joins them on patrol. When these amateur superheroes are hunted down by Red Mist (Christopher Mintz-Plasse)—reborn as The Mother F****r—only the blade-wielding Hit Girl (Chloë Grace Moretz) can prevent their annihilation. When we last saw junior assassin Hit Girl and young vigilante Kick-Ass, they were trying to live as normal teenagers Mindy and Dave. With graduation looming and uncertain what to do, Dave decides to start the world’s first superhero team with Mindy. Unfortunately, when Mindy is busted for sneaking out as Hit Girl, she’s forced to retire—leaving her to navigate the terrifying world of high-school mean girls on her own. With no one left to turn to, Dave joins forces with Justice Forever, run by a born-again ex-mobster named Colonel Stars and Stripes. Just as they start to make a real difference on the streets, the world’s first super villain, The Mother F****r, assembles his own evil league and puts a plan in motion to make Kick-Ass and Hit Girl pay for what they did to his dad. But there’s only one problem with his scheme: If you mess with one member of Justice Forever, you mess with them all.
There are two character development storylines that I have enjoyed seeing in this film. First is Chloë Grace Moretz’ Mindy struggling to become a normal teenage girl. What changes do we see from her? She joined the Mean Girls, date jocks and found a new love in boy bands. Moretz is truly the film’s “kicking” performance. Whether if it is Hit Girl in action or she just have to be cute, she literally stole the movie.
Secondly is Christopher Mintz-Plasse’s transformation from the Red Mist to The Mother F****r. It was a very hilarious journey and Chris got to spotlight his comedic talents. What kind of a super villain is he? Well, let’s just say he can kill any heroes but spare a dog because according to him, he’s not that evil. I also like the racist names he gave to the members of his super villain army. These two storylines get the best laughs but let’s not forget Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Dave a.k.a Kick Ass. I was really entertained by his work in the first film and I can say he improved his character further in this one. Dave as you remember has a girlfriend and they got to break-up fast here. Too bad I like their storyline in the first. Besides being girlfriend-less, what’s new with him? Well, he joined a new team – Justice Forever. Leading the team is Colonel Stars and Stripes played by Jim Carrey and he made most of his limited screen time.
Speaking of Jim Carrey, months ago he was so heavily affected by the Sandy Hook shootings that he officially tweeted that he will not be supporting the level of violence of the film thus distancing himself from any related promotions that the cast has to participate. Like the first film, it doesn’t come short from violence. Getting an R-16 rating from MTRCB, there’s a lot of stabbing, running over, cutting of body part and even the use of a lawn mower to kill. This is definitely not a kiddie superhero film. I’m not pro-violence and I admit I did look away in some graphic scenes but I find it enjoyable here. It adds to the thrill. Reminds me of why I like Quentin Tarantino’s films plus in real-life, this is how violent superhero’s battles can be – another point I like. I remember how the first film had shown that anyone can peg Batman and at the same time be cool enough to get online adoration. Just make yourself a costume and do what you can to help – a dream come true for comic book geeks. As for this sequel, it dwells on the responsibility and consequences of that life. It’s not easy and sometimes it’s un-cool when your love ones have to die for it. I like that aspect in here. It gives you a warning signal.
With director Matthew Vaughn’s departure, I’m still glad that Jeff Wadlow kept the comic book style look retaining the speech balloons and the time boxes. In the first film, one of my favorite scenes was when Kick Ass and Hit Girl are in a jetpack escaping D’Amico’s headquarters. I like it not because they are in a jetpack but for its music which works perfectly as the film’s theme. I remember searching for the music track and it was called “Flying Home” by Marius Vries. Why am I mentioning this? It’s because I was so happy to hear it again in here. The filmmakers used bits of it all throughout with a nice reprisal at the end.
A friend asked me how was it compared to the first one? To be fair and refresh my memory, I turned on my player at home and re-watched the first again. In terms of direction, Vaughn is better. Like most sequels, it does lose the freshness of its predecessor which has a better story structure with more heart but this one nicely continues the saga and has a welcome feel that brings you back with the characters. By going bigger, I’m glad that it manages to be not a disappointment like other sequels who just wanted to grab your money. I myself found it consistently enjoyable all throughout – you got enough strong action violence and laugh out loud dialogues. By the way, make sure to stay for an ending credits scene.
Verdict:
Kick Ass and Hit Girl continue their adventures with a consistently entertaining movie that is edgier and funnier than the usual superhero film.
Released under United International Pictures and distributed by Solar Entertainment Corp., Kick Ass 2 is now showing nationwide!
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About the movie reviewer:
Orange Magazine TV‘s newest film critic is a self-confessed movie geek. John Albert Villanueva love movies so much, he watch every movies from the big screen and collects DVDs of classic movies. Read his other review here.
