Went and saw KICK ASS last night, and ended up _totally_ loving it. I was worried in the beginning when it felt like just another teen sad sack geek story, but then Hit Girl and her insane father (played by Nick Cage) arrived, and I was hooked.
The tender father/daughter scenes where he teaches her to take a bullet, the bodyguard and the bazooka scene (if you’ve seen the film you’ll know the one I mean), the two geek wanna be superheroes in the muscle car.
The dialogue was smart, sassy and fun. They set up and paid off set pieces, and overall it looked good. I liked it way better than Watchmen which I thought was turgid, pretentious and reverential.
I would have made some cuts in the beginning of Kick Ass, maybe trimmed out six to seven minutes, but that was my major complaint.
It was also funny to watch the audience reaction. The two young men next to me, seemed to be enjoying the film, but when I was laughing at some of the more bizarre antics of Hit Girl and Big Daddy they seemed disturbed.
The man seated next to Ian was laughing away, then he would turn anxiously to his girl friend and say, “This isn’t freaking you out, is it?” Then he’d go back to laughing. Ian was telling me that much of the negative reaction arose in response to the eleven year old’s foul mouth. Not the fact she jumps on some guy’s shoulders, and shoots him in the top of his head.
Violence or naughty words? Violence or naughty words? Clearly naughty words are much worse. (That’s sarcasm btw.)
