When ‘Kick-Ass’ came out in 2010, it introduced the world to the idea that anybody can be a superhero. Now, with the release of ‘Kick-Ass 2’, characters such as Hit-Girl and Red Mist (who goes by the moniker The Mother F***er) have something deeper to say. While there’s still plenty of great action and the over the top violence that propelled the first film into popularity, the sequel contains a great message conveyed by it’s extremely likable and relatable characters.
In the movie, we pick up with Kick-Ass a few years after the first movie to find that he’s semi-retired. As for Hit-Girl, she’s being forced into assimilating into the real world, but with little success as she still trains and goes on patrol like nothing has happen. But things change for them when Chris D’Amico decides that he is finally going to take action against Kick-Ass for killing his father with a bazooka. While Dave Lizewski starts meeting new superheroes that took up arms after being inspired by him, Chris starts forming an evil league of villains to combat Kick-Ass’ Justice Forever. Meanwhile, instead of fighting crime, Mindy Macready is stuck fighting the woes of high school and the girls who think that they run the place.
Based on that paragraph, you can see that there’s a lot going on in ‘Kick-Ass 2’. But I don’t feel as if one storyline was weaker than another. Jeff Wadlow did a great job of taking the reins from Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman after they presented the massively popular first movie. Not only did he succeed in balancing the storylines, he also managed to bring the audience and the characters closer together in a way that we really cared for what happened to them.
Though fans love Kick-Ass, Hit-Girl, and Red Mist, their sequel brings these characters to a place where the audience cares so much more for them. Sure, the fact that we’re revisiting them after one beloved film might be a part of that, but another factor to the empathy felt is how they’ve grown. The audience is more connected to these characters because of what they’ve had to deal with in this movie. Even The Mother F***er, who is the antagonist of the film, has redeeming qualities. Despite the evil he wants to cause, you feel a connection to him and you hurt when he hurts. Emotionally, not physically, because if it was the latter, then we’d be in a lot of pain.
Speaking of The Mother F***er, he might be the most dynamic villain we’ve gotten all summer. With his backstory and his arc in this movie, you almost want him to succeed in getting revenge on Kick-Ass and everyone who said that he couldn’t do it. Christopher Mintz-Plasse was great in the role and it might be about time that we start thinking of him as more than McLovin. He wasn’t the only cast member to excel in his character though. I have to mention John Leguizamo and Jim Carrey for being great as well. I’ve always found Leguizamo to be a great comedic actor and in the same way that Nic Cage stole the show in ‘Kick-Ass’, Carrey and Olga Kurkulina, who played Mother Russia, held that distinction this time around.
But like I said in the introduction, the message is the thing that I really take away from ‘Kick-Ass 2’. As cliché as this may sound, the film tells you that you should embrace who you are, no matter what stands in your way of doing so. Sure, that message is hidden in a really violent, yet totally hilarious, action movie, but that positive message is something that all viewers of this movie should take away from it.
Overall, I thought ‘Kick-Ass 2’ was dangerously close to surpassing the first one in awesomeness. Not only did it succeed in being a good superhero movie, but also it was a flat out great action movie. And as much as I want to discuss the humor, especially with Mindy and that bitchy queen bee girl, I’ll leave all that as a surprise for you to enjoy when you actually see the film. I have so many good things to say about this movie that it might be my favorite superhero movie of the summer. And that’s an incredibly bold claim to make considering how much I liked ‘Iron Man 3’.
Final Score: