Summer Movie Smackdown: Kick Ass

Director: Matthew Vaughn

Starring: Aaron Johnson, Nicholas Cage, Mark Strong, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, and Chloe Moretz

Plot? - Fed up with his soulless life, teenager Dave Lizewski buys a turquoise wet suit and becomes the masked vigilante Kick-Ass. He soon learns that life is not a comic book. There are bloody consequences to his actions, other deadly heroes out there, and villains who don't care if he is just a nerdy/horny teenager trying to make the world a better place.

Reminds You Of?  -  Superbad meets Wanted. This is a raunchy teen comedy with insane levels of violence. For all you film nerds out there, this is the classic "cycle of the hero" story put in a ultra violent high school setting.

Ass Kicking Factor (AKF) - Absurdly high! "Kick-Ass" wait for it, oh man, I have to, yes, "Kick-Ass" kicks a ton of ass. Every single action scene in the movie is wildly entertaining. It doesn't matter if it's a simple street fight between Kick-Ass and some thugs or the 12 year old female assassin Hit Girl chomping bad guys into pieces, this movie turns it up!

Oh Shit Moments (OSM) - Director Matthew Vaughn knows how to give the audience what they want. He uses a simple script, expert direction, and a memorable score to set up his action sequences with more Oh Shit moments than someone who just swallowed a bottle of laxatives. Almost every single kill in this movie had people in the audience losing their minds. People were clapping, laughing, and in some cases, standing up and cheering.

Memorable Dialogue  - The entire film has a voice over has a voice over track provided by our hero: Kick-Ass. While this works well to establish the world and the primary characters, as the story moves on it kind of weighs the film down, as it doesn't feel necessary anymore. After talking to people, the voice-over is the most polarizing part of the film. Myself, I didn't mind it.

MOM Factor - If you can convince your Mom that a 12 year old girl getting shot and then subsequently blowing people's heads off is cool, you must have a super cool Mom. I'm going to take this opportunity to discuss the mini-controversy around the character of Hit Girl. It all started when Roger Ebert called her character "morally reprehensible," and called the film irresponsible. While I do like Mr. Ebert, I can't agree with him here. The film establishes itself as a live action comic book, complete with comic book sequences, over the top dialogue, and cartoonish directing style. When the character is viewed in this realm of reality, she clearly is not real. Mr. Ebert should be able to tell cartoon violence from fake violence, after all he lists "City of God" as one the best films of the decade and that film features some terrifying child violence.

TPG Truth Drop - I throughly enjoyed "Kick-Ass", it was an epic action movie roller coaster ride. I felt that it was film that was designed for all the fan boys and bloggers out there. Can a film be considered "good" if it only pleases a tiny sect of the movie going populus? The truly great films appeal to EVERYONE! The more recent "How to Train Your Dragon" is enjoyable for all audiences and is a superior film because of it. "Kick Ass" was dope, but then again, I really meet the criteria as the target audience. What is that that criteria?

Attended Comic Con.

Obsess over Lost.

Obsess over 24.

Am salivating over Iron Man 2.

Read over 6 movie blogs.

Am currently planning my Iron Man 2 costume for the midnight screening.

Alright, I'll stop there.