Movie review: Kick-Ass (Matthew Vaughn)

kickassI totally understand why Ebert gave Kick-Ass one lone star and a severe moral drubbing. I seriously do, now that I’ve seen the film.

It’s one of the corniest, funniest and wildest films I’ve seen in a really long time. Consider it like a more loony, more bizarre and more interesting version of Quentin Tarantino’s films. If you did not think of Tarantino in the scene where Mindy walks into the mob boss’ headquarters with Ennio Morricone’s everlasting Western theme booming loudly in the background…sorry, do not read any further.

The film starts off in a completely different manner and for Tamil audiences, it’d seem like an interesting deja-vu – you see, Tamil film industry is home to many vigilante justice movies, with or without superhero uniforms. The last one, Kandasamy, did have a flashy uniform to boot. Dave Lizewski’s (Aaron Johnson) questions about why no one ever donned the uniform and tried fighting evil just like superheroes did is a very, very valid point. And that he, THE every-man loser, would attempt that is shit loads of fun. And…that he’d get a knife inside him and get run over by a car minutes in his first vigilante justice attempt…even more fun! No, they’re not spoilers – relax.

The Dave part of the story is the more real and subtle, almost like a Seth Rogen feature with growing-up pangs, girls and more. It is when Nicholas ‘Big Daddy’ Cage and Mindy (Chloe Grace Moretz) join the plot quite suddenly that the film gets into gears that one never knew existed!

It has everything an adult would love to hide (in his films) from his kids – gut wrenching violence…including tons, by a 11 year old girl; unbelievably foul language…including tons, by the same 11 year old girl, and loads of bravado that would put Indian action film heroes to shame. The way it has all been assimilated and shot is where the film strikes a phenomenal chord – it’s kinetic action, pulse pounding music and insane body count is unbelievably brilliant. The plot too is mighty smart and is filled with enough twists that will have you sitting at the edge of your seat. But, it’s the way the film avoids dealing with the moral issues and goes on about its blood spilling business that makes it such a great watch! After all, where else would you have a father shooting his 11 year old girl in point blank range with such glee? And where else would you find a 11 year old killing truckloads of mobsters with the same excitement as eating breakfast cereal?

And to think the film’s based on a comic book – gone are the days when ‘comics’ were meant for kids. I’m not sure if this comic was aimed at kids, having seen the film! The combination is too good to be true and quite lethal. But yes, Ebert has a point about morals. If we cannot allow our children to watch this film due to all the reasons above, should we make such films? It’s rated R and Ebert’s contention is that the rating is all the more reason why children below 17 would desperately try to see it in some way.

But, as long as we can shield the film from the kids or be able to explain the film in some plausible way to them, this is one kick-ass guilty pleasure for adults! I can’t remember a film’s name being as appropriate as this one, ever!

The funny thing is, Indian television channels blank out or beep even mild words like ‘ass’ and ‘shit’, leave alone F and MF. Here, the kid tells the camera, ‘Show’s over M***** F******’…even the film’s title has an ass in it! So, will it be called ‘Kick-Beep’ in India?

Poster courtesy: IMDB.

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