Like a cross between John Woo’s The Killer and Stephen Chow’s Kung Fu Hustle.  KICK-ASS fires on all cylinders and delivers every fan boys wet dream; a comic book adaptation that does the source justice and ups the ante with over the top violence and laughs.

IMDB Synopsis: Dave Lizewski is an unnoticed high school student and comic book fan with a few friends and who lives alone with his father. His life is not very difficult and his personal trials not that overwhelming. However, one day he makes the simple decision to become a super-hero even though he has no powers or training.

It’s been a while since I really enjoyed a movie this much.  I was afraid of going in with high expectations because in the pass high expectation usually let me down, Spider-man 3.  Director Matthew Vaughn and Co. do a stellar job of adapting the comic book series that I believe will please many comic book fans and action movie fans alike.  While minor tweaks are made to the story they know their audience and don’t dare repeat what WANTED did for fear of the wrath of the comic book nerds.

All joking aside I thought WANTED was a great action movie, but a horrible adaptation. They changed so much of the story it was hardly an adaptation at all, but sometimes staying too close to the source can hurt a film like for instance WATCHMEN. It was an awesome comic book adaptation, but a horrible movie. KICK-ASS does this perfectly, staying true to the story but making minor changes to keep you interested for the full 2 hours.

Cast-wise Aaron Johnson does a great job of voicing Kick-Ass (Dave Lizewski). I say voicing because to me he really didn’t look the part.  He looked more like a young Andy Samberg, but all in all he did a great job.  Also it was nice to see Nicolas Cage play someone other than himself, and you gotta love the homage to Adam West with the way he talks while in costume as Big Daddy.  McLovin does a pretty good job as Red Mist; he was a good counterpart to Aaron Johnson.  The Red Mist in the comic always seemed oddly older than Kick-Ass.  Chloë Grace Moretz really steals the show as the pure embodiment of Hit Girl. She’s like every action movie you’ve ever seen shoved inside the body of an 8 year old.  Or more accurately straight off the pages of the comic books “She’s like Polley Pocket meet Rambo.”  The film version of the character looks loosely influenced by Natalie Portman’s role in Leon The Professional.  I say loosely because if their characters were ever to face off in a bizarre and unfathomable cross dimension death match.  Hit Girl would totally own Mathilda’s emo ass.

I’m not sure if this film will do well at the box office, movies like this rarely get the credit they deserve.  To me this is the best comic book adaptation and possibly my favorite action movie.  This film is so over-the-top it parodies itself and the genre.  After seeing this I’m not sure if I can take a movie like The Expendables seriously.  Bottom line, if you love crazy hardcore cartoonish violence and comic books, this is the movie for you.

Grade: A+

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