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Kick-Ass (Aaron Taylor- Johnson) inspired a
vast number of people to don their own costumes and fight the injustices of
this world, being regarded as the world’s first superhero Kick Ass is attributed
to being the main influence in the wave of costume wearing vigilantes roaming
the streets of New York. Kick Ass wants to continue to fight crime, but he
can’t do it alone. When Hit Girl, Mindy Macready (Chloe Grace Moretz), hangs up
the cape, Kickass joins a group of costume wearing crime fighters. They are soon
put to the test upon the arrival of the Motherfucker, formally Red Mist
(Christopher Mintz-Plasse), who creates the first league of supervillians
intent on mass destruction.
There was plenty of coverage surrounding Kick Ass 2’s release, most notably when
Jim Carrey refused to promote the film claiming that the graphic violence in
films such as Kick Ass led to
massacres such as the Sandy Hook School massacre. Whether onscreen violence
leads to real world violence (it doesn’t) isn’t up for debate here but as the
same tired arguments rear their head every time such a tragic event occurs the
same films are targeted. It isn’t helpful blaming something that isn’t the
cause of such events, I mean South Korea has a strong relation to violent video
games, but their strict gun control laws keep gun crime lower than that of the
United States, but anyway I digress.
One of the critiques of films such as Kick Ass is that it glorifies violence
and these films show that there are no repercussions from engaging in a violent
life. Whilst it could have been done better you would have to watched Kick-Ass 2 with a blindfold and your
ears blocked not to notice that there are repercussions from violence, such as
your loved ones becoming involved in the crossfire. That said, however,
director Jeff Wadlow (and the writers) concentrate very little on any feeling
of loss before the viewer is thrown into the next blood splattering action
sequence. It seems director Jeff Wadlow doesn’t want to bore the young
adolescent audience that the film seemed to be aiming for (I know it is an 18)
with any feeling of loss. Undoubtedly these younger viewers will certainly get
more of kick out of the violence than others (I’ve seen a lot worse graphic
violence than anything in Kick-Ass),
but they are more intelligent than Wadlow gives them credit for.
The biggest problem with Kick Ass 2 is it is far more juvenile than the previous one,
granted the first contained swearing, graphic violence and so on but it felt
fresh and original; an interesting take on the superhero genre. Kick Ass 2 seems to be just out and out
juvenile without being fresh, original or interesting as the film is overloaded
with attacks to the groin, and vomit and diarrhoea inducing riot control
weapons. The first film seemed to be aimed at adults, but one that young
teenagers can enjoy whilst the Kick Ass 2
seemed to be aimed at young teenagers, but one that adults can enjoy
significantly less. The first film’s ironic humour is gone and replaced by more
juvenile, unamusing humour.
Kick Ass 2 isn’t all bad, Mindy Macready’s Mean Girls style subplot, in which she
encounters the ‘queen bee’ of the school, is the most interesting and
emotionally investible aspect of the entire film. However, the other plots in
the film are dreadfully dull. The central plot lacks momentum and is only
entertaining in very short bursts and the numerous subplots (David Lizewski’s
break up with his girlfriend) is looked at for a minute before being pushed
aside never to be returned to again as though it didn’t matter. The only
interesting aspect in Kick Ass 2 is
Moretz who is superb as Hit Girl whilst Aaron Taylor- Johnson lost some of that
geeky charm that made him so likeable in the first film. The rest of performers
are as forgettable as the entire endeavour, most notably Jim Carrey who is a
colossal disappointment as Captain Stars and Stripes.
Kick Ass 2 does not glorify violence as much
as some reviewers have commented, but the message that repercussions arise from
violence is shoddily and lazily done, the performances are mostly forgettable
and the story is completely lacking in any momentum making Kick Ass 2 a sloppy sequel.
1.5/5
Good review, I found this film a disappointment after the first. What I thought was really awful was the scene when MotherF***** gets into Night Bitch's room. The jokes around it were tasteless and they never later addressed how awful that situation truly was.
ReplyDeleteI have to concede I had forgotten all about the scene. Having done a little bit of research I found out that there was a gang rape in the comic book itself. The writers of the film debated whether to include it or not. They decided not to, one of the reasons was this
Delete"There are things Mark and John [Romita Jr.] have to do in a comic book to get a response from an audience that I don’t necessarily have to do in a movie, because they’re dealing with approximations of people. They’re drawings, right? So there’s automatically a separation. I’ve got real-live people in front of my cameras so to create that emotional response, I don’t necessarily have to go as far"
- to me this suggests an emotional response in a film is stronger than in book, but I feel the impact of a well written rape scene (I.E. Important to the story, one the shows how dreadful it truly is) is equally as strong whatever form it is presented in.
Also, if they include the rape sequence it would be difficult to revert back to the dark, comic nature of the film.
Rape is indeed truly awful and cinema should never shy away from it as cinema should tackle all issues.
It is a difficult choice for the filmmakers as they would be criticized whatever option they took.
If they removed the sequence entirely they'd be accused of shying away from the issue
If they included they would be criticised for depicting violence brutally on screen (which it already does), but the critics will be more vocal
If they did what they did (add a comic touch to the scene) then they be criticised for tastelessness.
People have argued that the scene is a dig 'at the villain's all-around impotence (which is actually a running theme; he too often can't really perform to the standards he's aiming for)'.
It is a valid point, in my opinion, but I can understand why the scene in question can be considered offensive and tasteless.