CAUTION: POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD
“I always wondered why nobody did it
before me. I mean, all those comic
books. Movies. TV shows... You’d
think that one eccentric loner
would have made himself a costume.
This thought is what drives Dave Lizewski to become that eccentric loner. He dons a green wet suit and hits the streets, looking to help out humanity and fight crime. However, he soon finds that he’s in over his head. Throughout the whole movie, even at it’s lightest points, there’s this lurking sense of dread and danger, as the back of your mind thinks, “What the f*ck is this kid thinking?!?!”. However, Dave is determined and ignores his common sense for a dream. This brings him into a world of violence, death, and deceit, that he didn’t expect, and that provides bushels of entertainment for the audience. Kick Ass is a powerfully refreshing story that manages to be both down to earth and over the top. It’s use of tweaked cliches serves as a great way to satire and pay homage to many other superhero/action movies. Perhaps the best way to sum it up would be to say it is infinitely entertaining and possibly the greatest example of deconstruction on screen... (read more-->>)
(http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki
Let’s begin by looking at the main character, Dave (Kick Ass). Why is he the main character? First off, we sympathize with him. We feel like we know him when we meet him, and he describes himself. “Like most people my age, I just existed.” When he begins his vigilante-ness, we immediately root for him because he’s the underdog. He’s a nerd with no superpowers and three friends, but he still volunteers to fight for good. We know he doesn’t have a chance, and that’s why we want him to succeed. Audiences love to root for the underdog. Examples:
-In The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Frodo is a powerless little hobbit.
-Luke Skywalker from Starwars is only a simple farmboy.
-Rocky Balboa is a clumsy fighter working in a meat factory who nobody really believes in at the beginning of Rocky.
-The Spartans of 300 have a ridiculously small army compared to the Persians, yet they fight valiantly.
-etc...
Because he fights for good, we know he has a code of honor. We also recognize his honorability because throughout the movie he doesn’t kill anyone. That is, until he must change. One main characteristic of a dynamic protagonist is that the protagonist changes throughout the story, whereas the static villain does not. Throughout the film, Kick Ass is never really a hero. The only heroic deed we see him do is stop a guy from getting beat up by three thugs. But the bunch of teenagers with cameraphones pointed at the fight could’ve contributed just as much to the thugs leaving as Kick Ass’s mad stick skills did. So even though he wears the costume, and is called a hero, he doesn’t really do anything heroic. Until...his crowning moment of heroism. At the climax of the movie, Kick Ass joins forces with Hit Girl to avenge her father’s death and bring down the D’amico crime dynasty. He is then forced to make a choice: kill and be a hero, or don’t and continue pretending to be one. He chooses something that most heroes don’t. He chooses to kill. In doing this, Dave graduates from a little kid playing pretend to fighting evil, hands on. It is because of his determination, naivety, and honor, as well as his dynamic change, that I think Dave Lizewski is a well-crafted protagonist.
Now we move on to, most people's favorite character of the story: Hit Girl (Mindy). Hit Girl is ruthless and deadly. She is a weapons expert and is responsible for a body count that’s probably larger than everyone else in the movie’s combined. This girl is eleven. Mindy has been brainwashed by her father, who has a vendetta against Frank D’amico. Her father (Big Daddy) has trained her to be a killing machine and has removed any thoughts of mercy from her mind. However, their relationship is somewhat touching. Throughout the entire movie, Hit Girl barely changes. She’ll only tone down her murderous attitude while around her father, but still holds onto her strange adult-ness and gravity. Even at her lowest moment, after her father has been burned alive in front of her eyes, she doesn’t break. Moments later, she saves Kick Ass’s life, and drives away in a car (which I found amazingly funny) plotting a way to get vengeance. Throughout the movie, she may seem like a hero, but she is more of an anti-hero. This is because she goes through no dramatic change through the story. We may even be able to say she’s a sort of villain, who draws Kick Ass to the dark side (depending on how you feel about Kick Ass killing the gangsters that tried to kill him). However, she is still very captivating and entertaining. She even delivers my favorite line in the movie:
Let’s begin by looking at the main character, Dave (Kick Ass). Why is he the main character? First off, we sympathize with him. We feel like we know him when we meet him, and he describes himself. “Like most people my age, I just existed.” When he begins his vigilante-ness, we immediately root for him because he’s the underdog. He’s a nerd with no superpowers and three friends, but he still volunteers to fight for good. We know he doesn’t have a chance, and that’s why we want him to succeed. Audiences love to root for the underdog. Examples:
-In The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Frodo is a powerless little hobbit.
-Luke Skywalker from Starwars is only a simple farmboy.
-Rocky Balboa is a clumsy fighter working in a meat factory who nobody really believes in at the beginning of Rocky.
-The Spartans of 300 have a ridiculously small army compared to the Persians, yet they fight valiantly.
-etc...
Because he fights for good, we know he has a code of honor. We also recognize his honorability because throughout the movie he doesn’t kill anyone. That is, until he must change. One main characteristic of a dynamic protagonist is that the protagonist changes throughout the story, whereas the static villain does not. Throughout the film, Kick Ass is never really a hero. The only heroic deed we see him do is stop a guy from getting beat up by three thugs. But the bunch of teenagers with cameraphones pointed at the fight could’ve contributed just as much to the thugs leaving as Kick Ass’s mad stick skills did. So even though he wears the costume, and is called a hero, he doesn’t really do anything heroic. Until...his crowning moment of heroism. At the climax of the movie, Kick Ass joins forces with Hit Girl to avenge her father’s death and bring down the D’amico crime dynasty. He is then forced to make a choice: kill and be a hero, or don’t and continue pretending to be one. He chooses something that most heroes don’t. He chooses to kill. In doing this, Dave graduates from a little kid playing pretend to fighting evil, hands on. It is because of his determination, naivety, and honor, as well as his dynamic change, that I think Dave Lizewski is a well-crafted protagonist.
Now we move on to, most people's favorite character of the story: Hit Girl (Mindy). Hit Girl is ruthless and deadly. She is a weapons expert and is responsible for a body count that’s probably larger than everyone else in the movie’s combined. This girl is eleven. Mindy has been brainwashed by her father, who has a vendetta against Frank D’amico. Her father (Big Daddy) has trained her to be a killing machine and has removed any thoughts of mercy from her mind. However, their relationship is somewhat touching. Throughout the entire movie, Hit Girl barely changes. She’ll only tone down her murderous attitude while around her father, but still holds onto her strange adult-ness and gravity. Even at her lowest moment, after her father has been burned alive in front of her eyes, she doesn’t break. Moments later, she saves Kick Ass’s life, and drives away in a car (which I found amazingly funny) plotting a way to get vengeance. Throughout the movie, she may seem like a hero, but she is more of an anti-hero. This is because she goes through no dramatic change through the story. We may even be able to say she’s a sort of villain, who draws Kick Ass to the dark side (depending on how you feel about Kick Ass killing the gangsters that tried to kill him). However, she is still very captivating and entertaining. She even delivers my favorite line in the movie:
"Dave Lizewski: How do I get a hold of you?
Hit Girl: You just contact the mayor's office. He has a special signal he shines in the sky; it's in the shape of a giant cock.”
Big Daddy is a very complex character who I wish was fleshed out a little more in the movie. The man has the best intentions, but is tormented by his vendetta against D’amico. He’s sort of a misunderstood sociopath. In the scenes with him and his daughter, you can feel that he loves her and wants her to be happy, but yet he uses her as a pawn for his own selfish gain. The man is obviously deranged. However, the scene in which he dies is probably the most intense and moving scene i’ve seen since the opening of Inglourious Basterds. Big Daddy is captured by D’amico’s goons, and is tied to a chair. As he is lit aflame, the lights suddenly go out. From the darkness, the goons are picked off one by one. Hit Girl has come to save her father. She is armed with a pistol and night vision goggles that let her see her enemies while they wait to die. She maneuvers her way through the room and picks off baddies as her father’s desperate, pain-filled screams fill the air. When she gets to him, she takes off his mask, in a shot that i believe pays homage to the end of Return of the Jedi. He is badly burnt, and they exchange some touching words before he drifts into death. I think the relationship between Big Daddy and Mindy is very well written, but I think the writers should’ve delved a little more into Big Daddy, himself.
From the moment we meet Chris D’amico (the son of crime lord, Frank D’amico), he is whining. He is an immature and unlikable character. Characters who the audience like, tend to be good guys and ones that they don’t are bad guys. This is why, even when Chris (who becomes the "superhero", Red Mist to help his father capture Kick Ass) seems like he’s starting to become buddies with Kick Ass, we know something’s going to go wrong, and he will turn to the dark side. One of my favorite scenes in the movie is one in which Red Mist and Kick Ass are dressed in colorful, spandex and leather costumes and driving around in the “Mist-mobile” bobbing their heads and dancing to Gnarles Barkly’s “Crazy.” These shots are juxtaposed with Frank D’amico also sitting in a car, with one of his henchmen. They have grave looks on their faces. This scene is when it really sinks in that Kick Ass isn’t a hero. He never was one. He’s just a kid, playing dress up. Red Mist also expresses interest in taking on the family business. This shows that the littlest bit of power can bait him into participating in evil. Throughout the film, Chris is deceptive, whiney and eager to please, and we watch, wincing as we see him plummet into inevitable corruption.
The film makes great use of irony, in that the entire thing basically takes what you think should happen in an action movie, and turns it upside down to show what really would happen. This is set up from the very opening of the film. We see someone dressed in a shiny superhero outfit with wings who poses at the top of a tall building. He jumps off triumphantly, as a crowd gathers to watch. At first, it seems magnificent. It seems he may pull it off. Then he comes crashing head on into a taxi, crushing it, and killing himself. This scene sets up the tone for the rest of the movie. It highlights the irony and “hey-we’re-in-real-life-he
-The Shining: An arial camera follows a car down a narrow winding road deep into the woods. This sets up the feeling of isolation that provides most of the suspense in the movie.
-Reservoir Dogs: This opening scene consists of a drawn out conversation between a group of gangsters at a diner. They discuss the meaning of Madonna’s “Like a Virgin”, and the importance of tipping. Afterwards, they all walk out of the diner in slow motion, looking supercool. You realize when watching this that, “Okay, these are the characters. This film will center around the characters. It will be cool, entertaining, and dialogue driven, even at it’s grittiest moments.
-Superbad: As the titles show on the screen, we see Seth and Evan’s colorful silhouettes dancing to a song by The Bar-Kays. We know right away that the movie will be very fun, and will focus on these two boys’ friendship and their childish shenanigans.
We see examples of the irony often in the movie. Like when Dave Lizewski first attempts to fight crime. He attacks a pair of thugs trying to break into a car. The audience is thinking that he’ll beat them up and earn himself a name. On the contrary, Kick Ass is stabbed in the stomach and left bleeding on the street. When the thugs run away, Dave gets up to leave, clutching his side in pain, and is hit by a car. This scene along with many others, shocks us back into reality, and punches cliche’s right in the mouth. Which is just how I like it.
However, not every cliche gets a knuckle sammich in the kisser. The movie uses cliches often to satire action movies. These are thrown in time after time again to kinda say, “You see how ridiculous this is, Hollywood?” but also to pay tribute to great action movies. If that makes sense. Cliches like smashing a vase on someone’s head when in a jam and training on a rooftop, as well as the good ol’ “Hand over your lunch money. NOW!” are all used. Plus the movie is set in New York City (what movie isn’t?). These cliches, along with others, bring us a sense of familiarity, and put things in perspective so we can look at superhero movies in a new light.
Whatever you thought from the trailer, you’re probably wrong. This movie goes much deeper than expected and is remarkably entertaining. This, along with Watchmen and The Dark knight, I believe are the best comic movies out so far. I don’t think however that there will be many more good ones. The upcoming comic book adaptation, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World i feel may be jumping the shark, and trying too hard. The age of the [decent] comic book movie may be drawing to an end. But we still have this movie. With great performances from nearly the whole cast, a unique screenplay, and phenomenal use of music, I think it’s safe to say that you’ll be glad you went to see Kick Ass.
Hit Girl: You just contact the mayor's office. He has a special signal he shines in the sky; it's in the shape of a giant cock.”
Big Daddy is a very complex character who I wish was fleshed out a little more in the movie. The man has the best intentions, but is tormented by his vendetta against D’amico. He’s sort of a misunderstood sociopath. In the scenes with him and his daughter, you can feel that he loves her and wants her to be happy, but yet he uses her as a pawn for his own selfish gain. The man is obviously deranged. However, the scene in which he dies is probably the most intense and moving scene i’ve seen since the opening of Inglourious Basterds. Big Daddy is captured by D’amico’s goons, and is tied to a chair. As he is lit aflame, the lights suddenly go out. From the darkness, the goons are picked off one by one. Hit Girl has come to save her father. She is armed with a pistol and night vision goggles that let her see her enemies while they wait to die. She maneuvers her way through the room and picks off baddies as her father’s desperate, pain-filled screams fill the air. When she gets to him, she takes off his mask, in a shot that i believe pays homage to the end of Return of the Jedi. He is badly burnt, and they exchange some touching words before he drifts into death. I think the relationship between Big Daddy and Mindy is very well written, but I think the writers should’ve delved a little more into Big Daddy, himself.
From the moment we meet Chris D’amico (the son of crime lord, Frank D’amico), he is whining. He is an immature and unlikable character. Characters who the audience like, tend to be good guys and ones that they don’t are bad guys. This is why, even when Chris (who becomes the "superhero", Red Mist to help his father capture Kick Ass) seems like he’s starting to become buddies with Kick Ass, we know something’s going to go wrong, and he will turn to the dark side. One of my favorite scenes in the movie is one in which Red Mist and Kick Ass are dressed in colorful, spandex and leather costumes and driving around in the “Mist-mobile” bobbing their heads and dancing to Gnarles Barkly’s “Crazy.” These shots are juxtaposed with Frank D’amico also sitting in a car, with one of his henchmen. They have grave looks on their faces. This scene is when it really sinks in that Kick Ass isn’t a hero. He never was one. He’s just a kid, playing dress up. Red Mist also expresses interest in taking on the family business. This shows that the littlest bit of power can bait him into participating in evil. Throughout the film, Chris is deceptive, whiney and eager to please, and we watch, wincing as we see him plummet into inevitable corruption.
The film makes great use of irony, in that the entire thing basically takes what you think should happen in an action movie, and turns it upside down to show what really would happen. This is set up from the very opening of the film. We see someone dressed in a shiny superhero outfit with wings who poses at the top of a tall building. He jumps off triumphantly, as a crowd gathers to watch. At first, it seems magnificent. It seems he may pull it off. Then he comes crashing head on into a taxi, crushing it, and killing himself. This scene sets up the tone for the rest of the movie. It highlights the irony and “hey-we’re-in-real-life-he
-The Shining: An arial camera follows a car down a narrow winding road deep into the woods. This sets up the feeling of isolation that provides most of the suspense in the movie.
-Reservoir Dogs: This opening scene consists of a drawn out conversation between a group of gangsters at a diner. They discuss the meaning of Madonna’s “Like a Virgin”, and the importance of tipping. Afterwards, they all walk out of the diner in slow motion, looking supercool. You realize when watching this that, “Okay, these are the characters. This film will center around the characters. It will be cool, entertaining, and dialogue driven, even at it’s grittiest moments.
-Superbad: As the titles show on the screen, we see Seth and Evan’s colorful silhouettes dancing to a song by The Bar-Kays. We know right away that the movie will be very fun, and will focus on these two boys’ friendship and their childish shenanigans.
We see examples of the irony often in the movie. Like when Dave Lizewski first attempts to fight crime. He attacks a pair of thugs trying to break into a car. The audience is thinking that he’ll beat them up and earn himself a name. On the contrary, Kick Ass is stabbed in the stomach and left bleeding on the street. When the thugs run away, Dave gets up to leave, clutching his side in pain, and is hit by a car. This scene along with many others, shocks us back into reality, and punches cliche’s right in the mouth. Which is just how I like it.
However, not every cliche gets a knuckle sammich in the kisser. The movie uses cliches often to satire action movies. These are thrown in time after time again to kinda say, “You see how ridiculous this is, Hollywood?” but also to pay tribute to great action movies. If that makes sense. Cliches like smashing a vase on someone’s head when in a jam and training on a rooftop, as well as the good ol’ “Hand over your lunch money. NOW!” are all used. Plus the movie is set in New York City (what movie isn’t?). These cliches, along with others, bring us a sense of familiarity, and put things in perspective so we can look at superhero movies in a new light.
Whatever you thought from the trailer, you’re probably wrong. This movie goes much deeper than expected and is remarkably entertaining. This, along with Watchmen and The Dark knight, I believe are the best comic movies out so far. I don’t think however that there will be many more good ones. The upcoming comic book adaptation, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World i feel may be jumping the shark, and trying too hard. The age of the [decent] comic book movie may be drawing to an end. But we still have this movie. With great performances from nearly the whole cast, a unique screenplay, and phenomenal use of music, I think it’s safe to say that you’ll be glad you went to see Kick Ass.
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