With awesome directing and a kick-a** director, Matthew Vaughn (X-Men: First Class, Snatch), Kick-A** is a non-stop action packed ride of comedy and mayhem.
Teenager Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson- Godzilla 2014) is an ordinary comic book nerd who lives in Staten Island and has a few close friends. Dave isn’t the popular kid at school, he doesn’t have much luck with girls and he gets picked on by random guys in the street. Deciding to take a stand and fight for justice he purchases a bodysuit, makes some modifications and embarks on a mission at being a real life super-hero. His first attempts are disasters and he ends up in hospital badly injured and with the whole school thinking he is gay. His longtime crush, Katie Deauxma (Lyndsy Fonseca- How I Met Your Mother) attempts to become his friend as she has always wanted a friend “like him”.
Dave returns to crime fighting and gains huge notoriety after intervening in a street gang attack. Going by the name “Kick-A**” he sets up a Myspace account in which fans can contact him call upon for help. After receiving a request from Katie who has no idea of his identity, Dave heads over to drug dealer Rasul’s (Kofi Natei) to tell him to stop harassing her. Rasul’s thugs quickly overpower Dave and things look like they are about to turn bad for Kick-A** when he is rescued by eleven-year-old, potty-mouthed, butt kicking Hit-Girl (Chloë Grace Moretz- The Amityville Horror). Killing Rasul first, she then kills all of the drug dealer’s thugs, quickly introduces herself and then jumps out of the window and leaves with her father, bad-a** Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage).
Mindy Macready, AKA Hit Girl is schooled in the art of weaponry by her vengeance-obsessed father, Damon Macready AKA Big Daddy. Damon Macready is an honest former cop who was framed by Mafia boss Frank D’Amico (Mark Strong- Body of Lies). This led his wife to commit suicide after giving birth to Mindy and drives Damon to work to undermine D’Amico’s operations. D’Amico believes Kick-A** is responsible and along with his henchmen and young teen, Chris (Christopher Mintz-Plasse- Superbad), who yearns to prove himself a worthy inheritor of the family business, begin to target him.
Aaron Johnson as Kick-A** slides into the role brilliantly, and his friends played by Evan Peters (American Horror Story) and Clark Duke (Hot Tub Time Machine) make a great friendship trio. Hit Girl could have been absurd, but there’s rarely a moment where you don’t buy her severing limbs by the dozen and swearing like a sailor. Chloe Moretz easily steals the show, but Nicolas Cage is surprisingly effective as her doting father. Mark Strong is fantastic as the bad boss, D’Amico and Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Strong’s son is also a great comedic choice. The entire cast do a brilliant job and contribute to the fun factor immensely.
Kick-A** is an enjoyable movie that feeds both the want to see people fight and to the need laugh to counteract the death. The comedy is dark, the story is fast and the characters with a wide range of personalities make for one hell of a thrilling movie and I definitely recommend it.
WICKED RATING: 8/10 [usr 8]
Title: Kick-A**
Director(s): Matthew Vaughn
Writer(s): Jane Goldman, Matthew Vaughn
Stars: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Nicolas Cage, Chloë Grace Moretz
Year: 2010
Studio/ Production Co: Marv Films, Plan B Entertainment
Budget: $30,000,000 (estimated)
Language: English
Length: 117mins
Sub-Genre: Comedy
