First up I haven't been keeping on top of this and I'm sorry - I'm back on it now here's a couple of treats to try to make up for it - can't wait for these ;
Tron Legacy
Predators
Kick Ass (2010)
From the first time I saw this trailer I was dead excited about seeing it. From the trailer I got the impression it was an all out comedy about a geeky boy (Dave Lizewski played by Aaron Johnson) who wanted to attempt to be the first super hero, "Kick-Ass" (or pointed out by his friend, just a hero "because super powers aren't real"), and that impression surprisingly turned out to be wrong.
There's a shocking moment, which I wouldn't want to spoil so I won't go into details, about a quarter of the way through the film where you get a hint that the film is beginning to get quite dark, this is soon forgotten when Christopher Mintz-Plasse comes on as "Red Mist" and as always delivers pure hilarity.
Later though, although always slightly comic in tone, the film gets dark again, and stays like it throughout the remainder of the film. The action sequences are actually really good, and somehow I even bought the fact Hit Girl, a 12 year old girl, (Chloe Morez), was beating the crap out of grown men. I think it's a credit to her performance that as an audience we buy into this idea. Where the film is at its most dark is when Frank D'Amico (our baddy played by Mark Strong) set's a character on fire and we watch him burn; not exactly your typical scene from a comedy.
Talking of Mark Strong, it was nice to see a few British actors in this film, and they're performances along with their American co workers are all excellent. Nicholas Cage does very well at playing Big Daddy, a comic character who could have otherwise been over played, but Cage plays it straight and retains a believability which could have otherwise been lost. I suppose being directed by Matthew Vaughn, who's directing debut was Layer Cake, followed by Stardust (that's right he's only directed two films prior to this, he's normally a producer), it's not surprising we're given a sprinkle of British actors.
I loved the story line, ordinary boy trys to make a difference and gets so involved it goes over his head. Not very original but executed in a very original way. The only aspect of the film I didn't buy, and some people have accused me of picking up on a minor point here, is Kick Ass's relationship with the girl. One minute she's laughing at him behind his back and the next, she loves comic books like he does, they go for coffee, and then she's his girlfriend - it is as simple and as quick as that, we don't see any development what-so-ever between these two characters, and I think it's just a bit sloppy. The whole film would have worked without the girl at all in my opinion. It's as if they had a great story, then realised there was no love interest so threw in a girl for the sake of it.
At the end of the film though, I was very much satisfied, not what I expected at all. I was expecting a lot more laughs but as I said earlier the film took a very unexpected turn and became quite dark and serious. I very much enjoy films which twist your expectations like this and so this gets my recommendation - 8/10
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