Dir: Matthew Vaughn Writers: Mark Millar & Jane Goldman
When Alan Moore’s seminal and game-changing comic book Watchmen was released in 1986 it drew critical acclaim for its realistic portrayal of costumed heroes - Dr Manhattan apart, these were ordinary people who had no ’super’ abilities whatsoever and inhabited, to all extents, our own world. Yet, there is no doubt that the likes of NiteOwl didn’t just decide on a whim to dress up like an owl and fight crime - these ‘costumed heroes’ were still trained in martial arts, backed by money and/or a family history of fighting - they didn’t just wander outside in a customized ski-suit costume looking for criminals to fight.
This is where Mark Millar’s comic book Kick-Ass comes in; in it three average high-school nerds, comic book fans naturally, discuss over lunch just why has no-one ever donned a costume and went out to fight crime – surely in all of us exists the desire to be a superhero? Dave Lieweski (played by Aaron Johnson), who feels like an isolated nobody reduced to jerking off to his English teacher’s bountiful bosom, sees such an idea as a chance to escape his life, perhaps even himself - and one evening dons a home-made costume and heads out to fight crime, chancing upon 3 hoodlums who, unfortunately for Lieweski, give him a brutal kicking and knifing before leaving him to stagger into the path of an oncoming car.
What Dave, who adopts the pseudonym Kick-Ass for his super-alter-ego, doesn’t realise is that as his fame spreads via mobile footage uploaded to youtube of his second, more successful outing, this will bring him to the attention of Mark Strong’s crimelord Frank D’Amico, who blames him for the losses he suffers in both personnel and product, and also to two seemingly real superheroes (who are actually the ones proving such a thorn in D’Amico’s side), in Hit Girl and Big Daddy. Hit Girl, played by Chloe Moretz in a film-stealing performance, makes her entrance into the movie by plunging a sword into the chest of a drug-runner, whilst wearing a purple wig and brandishing a sword-come-spear and a butterfly knife, uttering the soon to be immortal line “right you c***s, let’s see what you’ve got” before running up the walls and despatching all and sundry in a flurry of slashing, shooting, somersaulting, slicing and severing, all set to the frenetic tones of the Banana Bunch theme tune. Nick Cage channels Adam West for his portrayal of Big Daddy, Hit Girl’s loving Father, who schools his daughter in all the things a young girl needs to know – like how to take a bullet and the history of light armaments.
The film deviates through necessity from the comic book around the end of act 1, yet still reaches a dénouement which mostly ties-in with Millar’s ending. I won’t go into any spoilers here of the differences, but the screenplay by Vaughn and co-writer Jane Goldman (Stardust) whilst taking a different path and changing some points, still hits the same beats as Millar’s story – this luxury, this room for a creative, and quite possibly co-operative adaptation (one assumes Millar had some input) was one which was not afforded to Snyder as he strived to preserve the integrity of his Watchmen adaptation. This gives the film room to breathe and it feels more rounded as a result, with more scenes and moments at which the audience can relate to the characters and be drawn in; by comparison, Snyder’s otherwise excellent Watchmen had a stark sterility that kept the viewer strictly as an observer.
Vaughn has directed, and self-financed, (Hollywood were reticent to back a film featuring a pre-pubescent female superhero) a giddy, anarchic, blackly-comic, modern superhero movie, using his excellent technical flair and eye for visuals. Whilst I am not sure that Millar’s Kick-Ass, as enjoyable a comic-book as it is, will be the game changer comic book that Moore’s Watchmen was, it will be interesting to see what tone future superhero movies take – anyone who watches Kick-Ass can’t help wonder if there is still room for po-faced credibility-striving adaptations of Marvel and DC’s canon of lesser heroes in the same universe that the irreverent Kick-Ass inhabits.
i really dont see why they had to make it so different from the comic, in the comic he never got the girl and i liked that, also he never told anyone his identity, FUCK THIS MOVIE TO HELL
blahblah
April 11th, 2010
Well as I pointed out in my review, the film was developed in tandem with the comic - hence it deviates from the source material.
The alternative approach would give us a Watchmen-like slavishly faithful approach which, to an extent, sucked a bit of energy out of that film.
Besides, I really think after all Dave/Kick-Ass goes through, a wee bit of how’s yer Father was a nice reward.
gizmo
April 11th, 2010
Personally I think the film is better than the comic. The plot differences and character motivations make a much more satisfying story arc than those in the comic. Sorry BlahBlah, if that is your real name, but I think you’re wrong.
Adrian Smith
April 15th, 2010