Kick Ass Movie Blurb by Shale April 16, 2010 Being a frequent movie goer, I saw the trailers to what I thought was a PG-13 teen fantasy/action flick some time ago. Of course I am into teen flicks and planned to see it but later discovered that this is an unabashedly bloody, heavy gore, violent, vulgar language, R-Rated movie. That said, gotta tell ya - I LOVED THIS MOVIE. Yeah, go see it and quite frankly, if you have an under 17 adolescent in your life, take them to see it too. Guaranteed not to harm anyone over 13 - They've likely seen worse and survived. Our story opens on a normal NYC high school student, Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) who along with his few friends are the invisible filler in the high school scene (been there, done that). These are the guys who are into comic books and girls' breasts but only get to touch the comics. There is a realistic teen boy scene where Dave is sitting at his computer, pants at his ankles filling his trash can with tissue. (Love the R for Real Rating). Invisibility is not a Superpower Dave and his buddies are routinely shaken down by the neighborhood roughs for money, cell phones, videos and comic books. They know not to try to fight them. But, even without superpowers, Dave gets the idea that regular people can be superheroes. He dons a green wetsuit, gets a couple of clubs and prowls the streets looking to stop crime. Would a Nerdy Teen Boy Ever Dream of Being a Superhero? For his efforts on his first outing he gets stabbed and hit by a car and ends up in the hospital for some time. After recovering, he has multiple metal plates in his skull and body that adds strength and his whole-body nerve damage makes him tolerate pain. Eventually he dons the wetsuit again. He is an amateur but with a good heart. He attempts to fight off three ruffians who are attacking another man and puts up a good fight while getting his ass kicked protecting the other guy and refusing to give up. All of this was caught by cell videos, which the punks see and take off. One of the guys with a cell cam comes out and asks Dave who he is. "I'm Kick Ass" is his reply, which gets posted on the Web and goes viral. New York is abuzz about the mysterious home-grown superhero. Meanwhile, Damon Macready (Nicolas Cage) is mentoring his 11-year-old daughter Mindy (13-year-old Chloe Grace Moretz) with some unconventional and severe warrior training. Turns out he is the real masked vigilante, Big Daddy and she is Hit Girl. Dave meets a girl at school who thinks he is gay and therefore makes him her BFF. While Dave is on a mission to get a strung out drug dealer to lay off this girl he ends up taking on a whole apartment full of bad guys and is getting pretty much stomped when Hit Girl barges in and cleans the place up. Kick Ass & Hit Girl Of course Kick Ass gets the credit for shutting down that drug den and it seems he stepped on the turf of a big drug dealer, which Big Daddy and Hit Girl were targeting. Thus starts the teamwork of the professional vigilantes and the amateur for an unlikely but fun popcorn cruncher of a movie. Kick Ass, Hit Girl & Big Daddy There was some controversy having a supposed 11-year-old girl slicing, stabbing and blowing bad guys away while using common street language that is age inappropriate. You get the sense of watching a sociopathic child, except she limits her killing to the bad guys and really does care about others. There is a backstory to Big Daddy and Hit Girl, revealed in a comic book format, as Damon Macready is an illustrator. I've read that Moretz' family won't let her see this flick. I can't believe that and think it is so much spin. Anyhow, if she can't see it in theater she will likely see it in a few months on DVD. I know I will.
Kick Assterisk Kick Ass is a sort of vulgar name, but it is an R-rated movie and ass has been the synonymous slang for butt long enuf now that almost everyone is used to it. Technically, ass is not a bad word in itself as long as we have burros, donkeys and Jenny & Jack. In fact, all the local papers, even the stodgy Miami Herald ran the ads and the name as written. I noticed it of course. Made a mental note that we had become so cosmopolitan that a word familiar to 6-year-olds could actually be printed in a family newspaper. So it was with some amusement when I saw the marquee at the Regal Cinema on Lincoln Road, Miami Beach. Now consider that this is the movie poster hanging in the theater's lobby: I was curious, thinking maybe their computerized system had some kind of obscenity filter like certain online sites. You know the places where you would be forced to write Kick A$$. Today I finally ran down a manager at the theater and asked why the cryptic spelling with asterisks. He admitted that it was the theater's decision, that they thought it was more proper. I mentioned the poster in the lobby and he said that was a different company's responsibility and not the theater's. I told him it looks stupid and prudish, especially with the poster in the lobby and all the ads that have been published. I think he agreed but he's a junior manager that was accessible to the public, not the grey suit guys who are out of touch and making silly decisions. (BTW, today was my third time seeing this movie - I really like it.) (Edit: 05-08-10 Saw it again today - I really like this movie.)
Wow, Shale, can't believe they used asterisks for ASS at our movie theater... I wanted to see this but instead was drug to see the crappy remake of A Nightmare On Elm Street. Did you get a chance to see The Runaways... want to see both!!!
Yeah Ive seen the 'Hit Girl' clips online and thats what really turned me on to it... Looks so funny!!!
I can hardly wait! Kick-Ass DVD release date by Liam on June 7, 2010 According to MTV the Kick-Ass DVD and Blu-ray release date has been set for August 3rd, and the discs will contain quite a few behind the scenes clips and features. Among the extras is an audio commentary by director Matthew Vaughn which may interest those who want to know how he went about making the film with no studio involvement. Check out the DVD art below:
The poster at my local multiplex didn't even give any of the name. The Movie That Dare Not Speak Its Name??? The mylar sheet with the movie's name had the "Ass" cut out of it. The theater's marquee just said "Kick A" I went up to buy a ticket and asked for "Kick A**" with a glottal stop at the end. Having said all of that, I think the movie was hysterically funny and is still the best movie I've seen so far in 2010. This is coming from a guy who sees 100+ films in theaters each year and at least that many on DVD.
Well, I guess we could expect more prudishness in the heartland. At least they were consistent and didn't half-ass censor it. I did report the incident to Regal theaters and they wanted the details. Hope some stupid manager at that theater got his ass chewed for such a brainless initiative.
After I read "on his initial attempt he gets stabbed and taken to the hospital" as a super hero I laughed and now kind of want to rent it when it comes out on DVD.
A buddy of mine asked me a while back if I wanted to go watch this movie. I hadn't heard too much about it and told him i'd pass. The next day he called and told me to cancel any plans that night cause I had no choice and that I had to watch it. And so I did and was pleasantly suprised. Entertained from the beginning to end. I saw a trailor for some movie with Michael cerra in it that looked really similar. Plot seemed really cheesey. I just hope they don't go over board on this type of thing.
I finally saw this movie and was a little disappointed. It was entertaining but it didn't pack the full Comedy punch like Superbad, Hot Tub Time Machine, or Hangover... Don't get me wrong I enjoyed it, but just expected more... 6.5/10 maybe.
I really love it, saw it 4 times in theater and am waiting til Aug 3rd to get the DVD. (I even tried getting a bootleg fix in the meantime but it didn't work - so just endure withdrawal for another month.)
I loved it, had a good mix of everything comedy, violence, romance. Nicolas Cage was funny which was surprising can't remember the last good film he made.
Got the DVD today and enjoyed watching it for the fifth time. Was really missing it since last seeing it in May. Guess you know I really like this movie.
I was pretty excited to see this... but when I actually did see it I was kinda disappointed. I'm not big on gratuitous swearing and violence, and I think if you took that out of this movie, there would be very little left. Before you get all excited, I can handle swearing and violence when it seems like there might be some kind of a point to it, but this just seemed to be the main selling point of the movie... that, and the fact that an 11 year old girl is swearing and getting the shit kicked out of her all the time, which appeals to some people, apparently... she also kills a harmless stoner guy for no real reason. I think maybe part of the reason that I didn't enjoy this so much is that I already knew that the guy goes to the hospital and I already knew he was a nerd and such... so all the things that it has going for it are already widely known thanks to reviews like this...
