Kick Ass

Kick Ass delivers what its name promises. And then some.
Director Matthew Vaughn (Stardust) teams up again with Stardust screenwriter Jane Goldman in a fine adaptation of Mark Millar and John Romita Jr's comic book about a normal everyday kid who puts on a superhero costume to fight crime.
Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson - who played John Lennon in Nowhere Boy) loves his comics. His mates Marty (Clark Duke - Superbad) and Todd (Evan Peters - One Tree Hill) share in Dave's passion and often meet at Atomic Comics after school to talk about superheroes. Dave mentions that there are so many films and comic books in the world yet no one has ever put on a suit and become a super hero.
After being beaten up by a couple of petty criminals, Dave goes home and orders a green and yellow wetsuit. A few working days later, Kick Ass is born.
After a bloody fight and also being hit by a car, Dave's body is bent and broken. The doctors put so many metal pins and plates on his bones he looks like Wolverine. With a few damaged nerve endings that don't let him feel too much pain, Dave pops the suit on again to kick some real ass when he meets Hit Girl and Big Daddy.
Hit Girl (Chloe Mortez - soon to be seen in the US remake Let Me In) is just eleven. Her dad, Big Daddy (Nic Cage - Nic Cage as Everyone) lost his wife when she was killed by crime boss Frank D'Amico (Mark Strong - Sherlock Holmes) and is out for revenge. He has taught his daughter to use weapons and fight so they can spend quality daddy-daughter time together while seeking justice at the same time. That is multi-tasking.
Dave also meets fellow superhero Red Mist (Christopher Mintz-Plasse - Superbad) as they team up to fight crime together.
But in a world where no one knows your true identity, it's hard to know who your friends really are.
Kick Ass is frikken awesome. It's bloody, it's violent, it's just great! There's a whole bunch of controversy about eleven year old Mortez giving Samuel L Jackson a run for his money in the swearing department, but hey. Show me one kid who hasn't heard a curse word and I'll show you a parent who needs to unlock the basement.
She is fantastic though, she's a great little actress and packs a mean punch when she needs to (which is most of the time). I can totally see her in a kiddie Tarantino flick!
Mark Strong has to be one of my favourite super-bads. I loved him in Sherlock Holmes. He does a very convincing New York accent (I think it was NY!!) as do all of the Brits in this film (there's heaps of them, including Johnson!)
The soundtrack was brilliant, I loved hearing Elvis Presley singing Glory Hallelujah towards the end of the film and Joan Jett's Bad Reputation provides a great backdrop to one of Hit Girl's rampages.
I definitely want to see this one again - maybe after the school holidays : )
Things I learnt: with no power comes no responsibility; Aaron Johnson has beautiful eyes; jet packs are still cool after all these years.
Ten out of ten.