Jeff Wadlow bravely helms the slightly lacking, comic-inspired sequel to the big screen. With new faces complimenting the returning actors, we experience a whole new level of action coupled with some misplaced toilet humour.
In the wake of the previous film, we see that superheroes have become more and more common across New York City. Several setbacks and the curiosity for normal life have left Hit-Girl, Mindy Macready, pondering whether her existence lies with Kick-Ass, Dave Lizewski and his allies, or the buzzing clique in her high school. Meanwhile, Red Mist has renamed himself The Motherfucker and bands together every psychotic villain he can find in a bid to take over the city. Only the connections made between the two heroes can save the city.
The film provided some great entertainment with a varied cast and exceptionally crafted action sequences. Returning from the previous films are the recognizable Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Chloe Grace-Moretz and Christopher Mintz-Plasse. The actors that share but dashes in their last names make welcome newcomers Jim Carry as the former ex-mafia enforcer turned superhero Colonel Stars and Stripes, bodybuilder Olga Kurkulina as Mother Russia and John Leguizamo as the right hand man to the D’Amico family, Javier.
Colonel Stars and Stripes (Jim Carrey) and Kick-Ass (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) share strategy on screen.
The disadvantage to the film was the suffering plot. It was painful to watch the motivations of the characters change almost as quickly as the film’s setting. The character of Hit Girl haphazardly changes motivations at the will of others showing that her own motivations seldom govern her. This goes the same for the titular character, who backflips on his ideals nearly as much as his partner does physically in the film. When the only character providing a solid threat to New York isn’t even the main villain, then you have issues. The only villain worthwhile to watch was Mother Russia, whose swath of destruction and humourous quips of the character made her screen time the most impressive of all the characters.
It is detrimental that the story was so weak that it had to rely on some terrible rape jokes and toilet humour to make light of it. Some of the quips between Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl were inspired and made this man laugh incredibly hard. When crowd control sticks were used to make several teen girls vomit and shit themselves at the same time, then you know they had nothing better to do than make crappy jokes to fill the time. This shouldn’t be what film has come to with enough source material to make something interesting out of it.
The increased lull in action served to compliment the choreography of the action seen. From the alleyway fight between Kick-Ass and homophobic street thugs to the climactic final battle between the Justice Forever and the Toxic Mega-Cunts. The full on assault makes for an entertaining battle between the public good and chaotic evil as people hit eachother with hammers made of plastic and purses with bricks in them. Solid action saves the film, but at the cost of nearly everything else that makes a film fun and exciting.
Hit-Girl (Chloë Grace Moretz) and Mother Russia (Olga Kurkunlina) grapple in the fight for New York City.
While lacking some of the charm and consistency of its’ predecessor, Kick-Ass 2 was entertaining, dark and well-cast. Maybe not worth the twelve dollar ticket price, but if it makes it to Netflix sometime, be sure to give it a look.
Final Score: 6/10
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