“OK, you cunts, let’s see what you can do,” hisses 11-year-old costumed crusader Hit Girl before carving up a bunch of thugs.
Welcome to the violent, foul-mouthed and undeniably cool world of Kick-Ass, a film posing the question of what happens when those with no powers try to be superheroes?
Living every schoolboy’s dream is Dave Lizewski (Johnson) a comic book-loving geek who, wearing a green suit and calling himself Kick-Ass, starts to fight crime.
Once his exploits become a hit on YouTube, Kick-Ass finds himself on a collision course with fellow ‘superheroes’ Big Daddy (Cage) and his daughter, Hit Girl (Moretz), as well as mob boss Frank D’Amico (Mark Strong) and his son Chris (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), who has his own alter-ego – Red Mist.
Despite an over-elaborate plot and a middle section that sags, Kick-Ass is one of the funniest films of the year.
Poking fun at the genre, Matthew Vaughn’s film is subversive, shocking, well-acted, and in Hit Girl, has given us a sensational new pop culture icon.
Good for: Watching as an antidote to all those brooding superhero films.
4/5
PIERRE DE VILLIERS
