Reviews by Matt

One of the most critical skills a writer can have is to know their audience. This is even more important than being able to write in the first place. If you don’t know for whom you are writing, you will be as effective in communicating your point as a blank piece of paper.

That being said, “Kick-Ass” is not a movie for the majority of the people who read this blog. So why review it? Because I loved it.

With all the comic books out there, why has no one tried to become a super hero? This is how “Kick-Ass” starts. Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) is a loser. He is invisible to everyone else in high school and one day decides to become a hero. He dresses up in a green costume and stands up to two thieves — it does not end well. He ends up in the hospital with severe nerve damage. It leaves him almost numb to pain. He begins to train and when he is filmed saving a man from a gang, Kick-Ass is in high demand.

Two other heroes emerge in the wake of Kick-Ass’s fame. Big Daddy (Nicholas Cage) and Hit Girl (Chloë Grace Moretz), a father and daughter team who are out to avenge the loss of their Big Daddy’s wife/Hit Girl’s mother.
Kick-Ass, Big Daddy and Hit Girl are welcomed by most of the public, but not Frank D’Amico (Mark Strong) a gangster who sees them as a threat to his seat of power.

I liked how the movie kept things pretty real. There are no super powers, if you don’t count Kick-Ass’s ability to not feel pain. It dealt with how the world would deal with people who dressed up in colored spandex and went looking for bad guys. Kick-Ass even uses a MySpace page to offer his services to help those in need — sure beats a Bat Signal.

Even with Kick-Ass being the central character, his is not the most interesting. That honor goes to Hit Girl. Here is where all but the teens/slightly older members of the Levy clan might want to stop reading. I am about to write something that might tarnish your opinion of me. Still here? Well, don’t say I did not warn you. I loved Hit Girl. There is something endearing about an 11-year-old girl who curses like a sailor and is a killing machine. See? Told you that you should have stopped reading. I cannot really explain it but there is just something about it that I really enjoyed.

So should my audience see this movie? Lets just say that if you have grandkids, nieces, nephews, son or daughters, then you will not like it. It is crude, violent and not your cup of tea. If you are a grandkid, niece, nephew, son or daughter then you might enjoy it — the guys more than the girls.

8/10
Rated R for strong brutal violence throughout, pervasive language, sexual content, nudity and some drug use - some involving children. (See what I mean about knowing your audience?)
117 min