What would happen if an everyday, normal kid decided to dress as a superhero and try to fight crime? The first “Kick-Ass” film deals with this idea. The result is a hell-bending ride of a film; complete with excessive violence, kids murdering entire armies of bad guys, and lots of blood. But, despite this, it is mostly harmless fun. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, and as a result does not feel overly brutal. But, while taking this same concept, “Kick-Ass 2” goes too far. It pushes beyond the boundaries of what is tasteful and acceptable for a comic-book movie. And, at times, it leaves an unsettling feeling that is hard to shake.
“Kick-Ass 2” picks up some time after the events of the first film. Dave Lizewski aka Kick-Ass (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) has decided to quit being a superhero, and instead tries to lead a normal high school life. As he soon finds out, though, it is unbearably boring. So, he reunites with his former partner Mindy Macready aka Hit-Girl (Chloe Grace Moretz). And, soon after, he decides to join a team of superheroes called Justice Forever, led by Colonel Stars and Stripes (Jim Carrey). So, we have our heroes; and now, we need a villain. In comes the son of the guy that Kick-Ass blew up in the first film, Chris D’Amico aka the MotherF*#$%r. Seeking revenge for the murder of his father, he forms his own group of supervillians to take them on.
Like the first film, the concept of “Kick-Ass 2” is grounded in the comic-book world, despite constant affirmations by the characters that “this is reality.” But superhero and supervillian teams don’t exist in real life. And this is the underlying concept of what I wanted to see: a fun, unbelievable, escape-from-reality action film. But what do we get instead? A dry, humorless, violent, gory mess; which could have come straight out of the mind of Quentin Tarantino. The only real redeeming value here is Chloe Grace Moretz as Hit-Girl, but her character doesn’t receive nearly enough screen-time.
Violence in the movies is not always a bad thing. At times, it is acceptable, such as is usually the case in a Tarantino film, or, going back, in the films of Sam Peckinpah. But their movies are meant to be this way – the violence serves a purpose, or touches on an important satirical point in society. In “Kick-Ass 2,” there doesn’t appear to be any recognizable reason for it. An example is one scene, when a Russian giantess is fighting off the police. As one of the villains, of course we expect her to do bad things. But why focus so intently on it? Why do we need to see two cops get chopped up into bloody pieces by a lawnmower being thrown through their windshield? Why do we need to see a guy get his arm sliced off, with blood squirting out like a pressurized hose? These types of scenes break that boundary of cartoonish fun, and turn “Kick-Ass 2” into a cringe-worthy bloodfest.
As I mentioned, the only real redeeming value of this film is that of Chloe Grace Moretz’s performance as Hit-Girl, which was also a huge factor in the success of the original. Much more grown up now, Hit-Girl still manages to express a sort of child-like innocence, while simultaneously taking out any and all bad guys that cross her path. Yet, for a large chunk of the film, she is almost completely absent, having promised her legal guardian that she would give up hero work. And she takes on the school bullies at school instead, making room for a truly disgusting and completely unnecessary cafeteria scene. So, by the time she comes back as Hit-Girl, it’s already too late to redeem the quality of the film.
The other characters of the film, who should have had a more expanded role, were instead just thrown into the mix. Jim Carrey’s Colonel seemed interesting, but we only get to see him for a few short scenes before he is cut out. And our core hero group is largely forgettable. If they ever do make another sequel to this series, they really should focus more on Hit-Girl, as she is the only thing giving this film even the smallest amount of credit. Who even needs Kick-Ass anyways? I’m sorry to say, but this is one superhero sequel that does not do justice to the original.