Film Review: Kick-Ass 2

In 2010 Matthew Vaughn's film adaptation of Mark Miller's graphic novel Kick-Ass took everyone by surprise.  Not only was it violent and funny, it was a film that had an engaging story and decent character study.  With the film being a hit at the box office fans were desperate for a sequel to be made.  Three years later Kick-Ass 2, which is based on Miller's comic-book with the same name, was released with new director Jeff Wadlow.  With a new director writing the script as well many fans including myself were worried on whether Wadlow would be able to create a good movie that's on par with it's predecessor.  So, is Kick-Ass 2 a good enough sequel? It's just a fun and entertaining movie.

The story  begins not far from where the last one ended.  Dave Lizewski (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) has now retired from fighting crime as Kick-Ass, but has managed to inspire other normal citizens to become superheroes.  Dave decides to return as Kick-Ass and fight crime along with a team called 'Justice Forever', which is led by Colonel Stars and Stripes (Jim Carrey).   He tries to encourage Mindy/Hit-Girl (Chloe Moretz) to join but she is trying to lead a normal life.  Meanwhile  Chris Damico (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) who now goes by the name of The Motherfucker is forming an army of super villains to bring down Kick-Ass as vengeance for killing his father.

The big difference between Kick-Ass 1 & 2 is the title character himself.  In the first film the character was that bad as a hero that audiences saw the message clearly: if you were an average guy wanting to become a super hero then you would have no chance winning the fight. Both at was one of the first film's main jokes but here it's different.  Both Miller and Wadlow know that the same joke can't be repeated twice and they had to let Kick-Ass become a better fighter and overall a better hero.  That made me feel that this was a new chapter completely in the Kick-Ass series and they weren't tring to do the same film again.

With her witty one liners and gritty fight scenes you'd be expecting me to say that Hit-Girl steals the film but for me she didn't.  It's The Motherfucker and his team of super villains that manage to have the most daft but entertaining scenes. Whether it's just them having a conversation or causing chaos the scenes where they were on screen was where I have having the most fun and laughing. Mints-Plasse's highly entertaining but disturbing take on Kick-Ass' enemy has made me not just see him as McLovin from Superbad and also found this to be a more memorable and worthy performance.

Carrey is terrific as Colonel Stars & Stripes.  For me this is possibly his best performance since 2004's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.  Though he brings a tonne of energy to his performance this is one where he manages to keep his energy contained and not go out of control, which he often does.  

Though I say I had a lot of fun watching this film I still felt that the concentration was more on the violence and how rude they could make the script and get away with it.  The first film had a good balance between the story and the violence and it felt as though the characters were realistic. Besides Hit-Girl, the first Kick-Ass had characters who made you feel that they were real and the situations they were put in where realistic.  Here the set pieces are cranked up a gear and become more fare fetched, which made you feel that these characters weren't like normal people anymore.  This is not a huge criticism however.  Having read Kick-Ass 2 I knew that I was going to expect and it did live up to my expectations.

One section where the story seems to slow down is where it focuses on Mindy trying to live a normal life without being Hit-Girl.  These scenes take place at her high school where she joins a small gang of popular girls.  These scenes felt like they belonged in Mean Girls and though there was humour I felt that this section was too long.

Kick-Ass 2 isn't as good as the first Kick-Ass but it's just as entertaining.  Funny, entertaining and extremely violent, Wadalow has managed to pull off a worthy sequel that doesn't try to be like the first.  It's a completely new chapter for Kick-Ass and I'm excited to see what they come up with for the third instalment.