Kick-Ass

Who would have thought that one of the screen's most memorable heroines of late would arrive in the form of a pint-sized eleven-year-old girl with a purple wig? And beyond even that, who would have thought that this young heroine would be a trash-talking, gun-toting, knife-throwing vigilante to whom no curse word in the English language is off limits? Despite the unlikelihood of it all, here she is, brought to life by fearless young actress Chloe Moretz in the inspired superhero flick Kick-Ass.

Moretz plays Hit Girl, a highly trained assassin who dispenses of bad guys with vicious vitality. That Hit Girl is far from being the only highlight of Kick-Ass (she's not even the main character) is a testament to the overflowing energy that surges through the veins of this supercharged movie. Adapted from the graphic novel by Mark Millar, penned for the screen by Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman, and then directed by Vaughn himself, Kick-Ass is a gonzo cocktail comprised of such broad genres as action, drama, and comedy (of the darkest variety).

When mild-mannered high school student Dave (Aaron Johnson, the big, lovable heart of the movie) decides that he wants to be a real superhero, he purchases a scuba suit online and goes out to fight some crime. Of course, without any powers and minus Bruce Wayne's bottomless bank account and extreme martial arts training, Dave quickly learns the hard way that, even when adopting his costumed alter-ego Kick-Ass, he is not immune to stab wounds and brutal hit-and-run accidents. His first attempt to foil crime sends him to the hospital and results in a series of metal plates being attached to his broken bones.

Most superhero wannabes would be turned off by such a dangerous dose of reality, but Dave insists on seeing things in a positive light. When he views his X-rays at the hospital, he is excited by all the metal in his body specifically because he now shares a physical trait with comic book hero Wolverine. Refusing to give up, Dave returns to the streets in his Kick-Ass costume and soon finds himself taking on three thugs who are beating a single defenceless man. Dave's heroic efforts result in a few more scrapes and bruises, but they also inspire a bystander to videotape the event on his cell phone. Before long, the Kick-Ass video is on YouTube and Dave is an international sensation.

Dave's initial realization of his dream to become the world's first recognized superhero is joyfully fun to watch, but it's also just the tip of the iceberg in terms of this movie's engaging entertainment value. Intertwined with the birth of Kick-Ass is a separate subplot involving disgraced cop-turned-vigilante Damon (Nicolas Cage, getting in touch with his goofy, wacky side to great effect), who enjoys fighting crime under the guise of his alter-ego Big Daddy (luckily, his character bears no relation to the Adam Sandler movie of the same name). Operating alongside Big Daddy is his empowered, often pigtailed daughter Mindy, who we come to know as Hit Girl.

The plot continues to dig deeper into the notion of everyday people in an everyday world choosing to do something super. There is a villain named Frank D'Amico (Mark Strong), a gangster running a lumber shop as a front for his drug business and another costumed character who calls himself Red Mist (Christopher Mintz-Plasse). Every addition to the cast and to this gloriously imaginative world is a welcome enhancement. The story manages to explore the concept with feverish commitment and every step forward feels like a logical progression of the plot, without ever spinning too far into clichéd territory. The sheer chaos that ripples through every narrative thread is wildly free and yet expertly controlled.

Kick-Ass is doing so many things in so many ways that is almost overwhelming in its comedic and dramatic reach. If there's a complaint to be made, it is that the parodic elements occasionally undermine the authenticity of emotion that makes the movie so unique in the first place. But the moments that spoof superhero cinema (Spider-Man is both a target and an inspiration throughout) still manage to hit their mark on the dartboard of comedy. Kick-Ass is an ambitious endeavour at every turn and even in its most minor of stumbles, it never ceases to entertain.

With Vaughn at the helm and the impressive cast completely crawling into the skin of each character, this movie is able to locate that tender spot between totally offensive vulgarity and truly heartfelt honesty. Vaughn has mixed violence with meaty character drama in the past with his directorial debut Layer Cake and he has also combined fantasy and comedy before with his sophomore feature Stardust. His previous experience serves him very well in Kick-Ass, where he has to cram so many tonal shifts into the movie that he risks a catastrophic implosion.

In spite of all the challenges, Vaughn manages to deliver a pumped-up, over-the-top cinematic experience that punches us in the gut and makes us laugh through the pain. There is something super-powered about how he pulls all of the potentially stranded pieces together into such an excitingly executed firecracker of a picture. This is only his third directorial effort and yet his skills are already so heroically honed. What is perhaps most amazing about Vaughn's direction is his enhanced ability to flood his movie with excessive flair and still manage to ground the story in a believable, relatable reality.

Kick-Ass is a highly stylized movie, one with a wide-ranging colour palette and multiple visual flavours, but Vaughn is sure to add a generous helping of substance to balance out all that oozing style. Aaron Johnson also plays an integral role in ensuring that the movie's heart is never swallowed up by its intimidating visual energy. Johnson makes every moment that he is on screen count for something, which allows the adventures of Kick-Ass to contain some unexpectedly touching moments. It is exceptionally easy to root for the hero, because Johnson portrays the geeky, courageous character with such moving sincerity.

Nestled within this pile of molten mayhem is a movie stuffed to the brim with enjoyably eccentric entertainment. Kick-Ass is hilarious, strange, raucous, manic, and often darkly disturbing. It teeters on a tightrope of murky morality and raises questions about violence, vigilantism, and vicarious experience. Vaughn has done a fantastic job of packaging the themes, attitudes, and ideas with sturdy confidence. Like with anything worth watching, the success of this movie can be attributed to the work of many. But in the end, it all comes back to Chloe Moretz. Her Hit Girl is a heroine for the ages, a devastating harbinger of gleeful destruction. Moretz doesn't just steal the show; in some ways, she is the show. She brings an exceptional energy to her role and the carnage she causes on screen tips the cinematic scales in the direction of bloody brilliance. She is arresting, engaging, exciting. She is unforgettable. To put it simply and obviously, she kicks ass.