“It’s a bird!”  “It’s a plane!”  Oh hell no- it’s Kick-Ass 2!

by Katt Jurado, Guest Reporter

Kick-Ass is back for more action, adventure and off the wall violence in Kick-Ass 2, hitting theaters this week!

Kick-Ass 2 wastes no time picking up right where the first installment left off.  Not only does the first scene with Kick-Ass (Aaron Taylor-Johnson – Avengers: Age of Ultron) and Hit Girl (Chloë Grace Moretz – Let Me In) parallel the original introduction to Big Daddy and Hit Girl from the first movie, but we also don’t have to wait long to see the progression of Kick-Ass and Hit Girl in high school as Dave Lizewski and Mindy McCready, respectively.

Kick-Ass realizes that there are people he has inspired to become Superheroes, and starts to focus his attention on creating a Superhero club which not only fights crime but performs community service as well.  Meanwhile, we also catch up with our main villain (Christopher Mintz-Plasse – Superbad) who went from being a flake superhero, “Red Mist”,  to the newly transformed “The Motherf****r.”  While Kick-Ass and Hit Girl wrestle separately with their own convictions of whether or not to remain Superheroes, The Motherf****r is creating an Evil Army in order to take revenge for his father’s death.

As much as Kick-Ass 2 revolves around being a superhero, what’s a superhero without a supervillain?  The Motherf****r and his Evil Army are scary.  Not ‘horror chainsaw-man-in-the-woods’ scary but scary like Bricktop in Snatch, scary.  Many of the deeds the Evil Army carry out can happen in real life and can be considered truly evil.  That’s what makes them disturbing.  Mix that with the Superheroes and you find yourself rooting for the heroes even more because you don’t know if they’ll always win.  The plot is unpredictable and takes you by surprise,  like Kick-Ass did.  Just when you think you have consistency – BAM! Because that’s how things just go sometimes.

The acting in this movie was impressive.  We get the reliable performances from Taylor-Johnson and Mintz-Plasse we’ve come to expect from Kick-Ass, but Jim Carrey (The Truman Show) as Colonel Stars and Stripes was unrecognizable!  If he hadn’t been credited, I find it hard to believe he would be identifiable.  At no point did he pull any technique or style to try and upstage the rest of the cast.  Another surprisingly solid performance was Garrett M. Brown (I Am Number Four) as Mr. Lizewski.  Kick-Ass 2 offered a more substantial role for him and he stepped into it well.  John Leguizamo as Javier was also a fun role for him to play as he’s usually not the voice of support and reason.  Finally, Chloë Grace Moretz is incredible!  As if Hit Girl couldn’t be any cooler, now Moretz gets to really sink her teeth into the life of Mindy Macready and cope with all the thoughts and feelings of a teenage girl- hormones and all.

This movie really takes you for a visual ride.  The action sequences are shot in such a way that there are close-ups which help you see the action but also leaves you as dizzy as you would be if you, yourself were taking the beating.  They also pan out often enough that you can keep track of the scene.  The costumes are colorful and straight from the comic book. The sets are also impressive and create a great contrasts to each other.  The direction gave some nice props to the comic book style, the most fun being that when a translation is needed, it pops up as a word bubble attached to the character.

One of the main beauties of Kick-Ass 2 (as was with Kick-Ass) is the reality of it all, and not just in the context of the Superhero lifestyle; in all aspects.  The “good guys” take beatings and don’t always win.  The “bad guys” can be stronger and better.  High school sucks.  You say things you regret.  Puberty is a pain.  Learning to grow as a person.  Discovering who you really are and being strong enough to be that person.  Standing up for what you believe in.  Reality hurts worse than physical pain.  Everyone experiences vulnerability. You will not get out of this life alive.

Aren’t these all the after-school program lessons we thought were lame?  You bet!  But Kick-Ass 2 brings them to the forefront of your mind in an authentic, yet unapologetic way.  Learning these lessons again is like vegetables wrapped in bacon.  Yeah, yeah, we’ve heard it before but it was awesome!

Another gem in this film were stances it took for a lot of things society tends to sweep under the rug.  As Colonel Stars and Stripes states in the preview, “… inebriated college girl deserves to make it home safe at night.”  This may seem like a logical line and an easy stance to take but the truth is, there are many movies (especially in this genre) that glorify rape culture.  It doesn’t stop there.  There were also significant lines and situations dealing with homosexuality as well as sex trafficking.  It was refreshing that when there was a line that was racist or homophobic, there was a character with a following line pointing it out (i.e. when The Motherf****r wants to name a Super Villain “Black Death” because of his skin tone, Javier’s reply is “Woah, woah, you don’t think that’s just a little bit incredibly racist?”)  Kick-Ass 2 showed the superheroes performing community service without being forced by a court or for high school credits.  The good guys stand up for what’s right, and care about people and taking care of them.  The diverse selection of superheroes proves that to be great, you don’t have to be a man or Caucasian or straight or single or anything else.  If you want to be a Superhero, the only requirement is a heart for people.  It’s a valuable lesson to be reminded that we can stand by our convictions without being a wet blanket.

Not only is Kick-Ass 2 a great action movie, it can also be considered a very violent comedy.  The comedy is as relatable as our reality.  Enjoy the nods to the characters discussing the sequel format during its own sequel as well as some “geek culture” references and tips of the hat to some of your favorite comic book characters.  As much as the action and plot twists take your breath away, the situations and responses make you laugh just as much.  If you enjoy action, comedy and the comic book, I highly recommend seeing Kick-Ass 2 as soon as possible.  (Although I wouldn’t recommend it to the weak-stomached.)

Rating:  ComicsOnline gives Kick-Ass 2 – 4.5 superhero fights out of 5.

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