Kick-Ass

One of the biggest news-items for this movie so far has been that Roger Ebert thinks we’re all horrible people for liking it. I guess I’m a horrible person.

It’s an adaptation of a short comic series that satirically examines what a real super-hero/vigilante story would be like as opposed to how it’s displayed in most popular comics. The movie maintains this satire extremely well, and keeps it hilarious while keeping the brutality high and often somewhat unbearable, which is the point that Roger seems to be ignoring somewhat. His gripe focuses on the portrayal of a young girl killing people and getting pretty badly beaten. At times it seems this performance is supposed to be a glorification of violence, but throughout it all there is also a sense of wrongness to her situation. I don’t think there are going to be any copycats. I just hope there is a minimum of stupid parents bringing their five-year olds to see this.

Although it does get very intensely violent, a lot of the time it’s done in such a way that it’s hilarious. I won’t describe any because it would spoil them, but it suffices to say that microwaves can be awesome. Aside from the violence, there’s plenty of great teen comedy, with tons of relatable situations and awkward moments. Oddly enough though, the famous McLovin doesn’t have much of a role in this capacity; his performance is still pretty great.

As an adaptation, it’s excellent. It doesn’t follow the plot exactly, and you can’t really do a frame-by-frame comparison like with Watchmen, but the majority is spot on and the atmosphere is perfect. I had a big ol’ grin through all of the comedy bits and most of the action scenes. Like I said though, it does get pretty crazy-brutal at some points. Definitely a hard R.

Chloe Moretz, the girl in Ebert’s question, is going to play Eli (or whatever her name is now) in Let Me In, the American adaptation of the same book on which Let the Right One In is based. Before I saw Kick-Ass I didn’t think she’d really fit the role. Now I think she might. Maybe.

Oh yeah, Craig Ferguson, my new favorite late-show host, had a pretty awesome cameo as himself. Great fun.