'Kick-Ass' Review

Synopsis:

Dave is your ordinary 'nothing' high school student that has an interest in comics. After getting casually mugged one too many times, he decides something needs to change. He orders a scuba suit, designs a costume, and decides to fight crime. He has no powers, no abilities, nothing more than good intentions. He is Kick-Ass!

Review:

It's not often that I walk into a 'comic book' movie and not know the complete story. I've only got half of the 8 issues of the book so much of what was to happen was new to me. I had no real 'that's not how the book goes' moments. It was relaxing to just watch the movie.

Let's get this out of the way immediately. There are no super powered people in this movie. There are masked vigilantes. The movie is violent. Limbs are removed, blood spurts, people die. There is harsh language. It is not for children.

It's clever. It calls for personal responsibility but also makes it clear that being a vigilante is not cool in 'real life'. At the same time it is an over the top action movie that will make you cheer. It's funny at times, gut bustingly so. It's a good ride.

I liked the casting. Our main character Dave looks like a good natured geek schmo. Even as Kick-Ass he often looks lost and over-whelmed by the circumstances he finds himself in. His good intentions rarely get him beyond trying but he does keep trying. His friends look and act right. Everybody 'fits', even Nicholas Cage as Big Daddy.

I was actually impressed by Nic Cage as he essentially plays three roles while being the same character. As the father of 'Hit Girl', he's almost like a weapons fascinated Ned Flanders or Mr. Rogers. As himself, he's cold and determined. As 'Big Daddy' the superhero... he's the Adam West Batman, except when he's fighting. It's hilarious.

The direction was stylish. There's a great action sequence in the dark that's illuminated by flashes. Another sequence looks exactly like the standard comic-book panel where all the lights are out apart from a spotlight and the camera is pulled far back. There are comic book panels to direct us through the timeline of the story and an animated comic book drawn by John Romita Jr, artist of the original book. Yet I never felt this was too heavy, too distracting into the 'reality' of the film.

I enjoyed it. It was serious but not too serious. It was funny but not too funny. It references 'real' comic-books without getting lost in anything too much.

Recommended.

It's been weird

This has been one of those weeks where nothing quite went to plan. You set up events, put them in an order, and then things do whatever they want to you. I do feel that I got things done but not really the things I want or not in the amount I had hoped for. Friday rescheduled itself about a half dozen times in the course of 12 hours. Fun fun.

Anyway. Let's talk about something else, hmm?

A Few Thoughts on Comics from This Week

After a couple weeks of a lot of comics, last week was a smaller haul. It was three comics. There were a couple magazines and a collection, but only three comics.

Uncanny X-Men #523 continues the 'Second Coming' storyline. I'm not familiar enough with what Cable's been up to or how the newer character of Hope is supposed to act to know if they make sense. I believe they've been hiding out in another point in time and Hope's been trained to constantly be on the run. How does she have a yearning to do her hair? Has she been taught about our period of time? Or am I supposed to believe that a character taught to be a soldier all her life has young girl instincts? It's nice and confusing at the same time. The book manages to explain away some of the problems I had with the first part of the story. It's a step in the right direction but I'm still not too excited about this crossover. Not for another two months.

The Weird World of Jack Staff #2 continues this British type comic. The storylines weave around each other in couple page sections. I've been reading this book for awhile, mostly because the characters are all familiar and yet different from things I've read before. The art is stylish, cartoony but not at the same time. I don't know that you can just jump into this book because of the way the storylines run. I like it but try a trade first.

The Lone Ranger #21 features some Very Bad Things. I've been reading the book since the beginning and these events were just a matter of time. The question is only how bad it will be. I'm guessing it'll be ugly.

Music Monday -

I don't know what the weather is like by you but in Milwaukee, it's been mostly Spring! Warmer weather! Baseball! Barbecue! I ate probably far too many meals cooked over an open fire last week. Let's not even get into the beer.

Spring leads to lighter things: lighter clothing, lighter meals, lighter drinks. A spot of sunlight, in a backyard, grill working, lemonade and vodka, ah... So for today, I thought I'd pick out some 'lighter' songs. Songs that made me think of warmer weather for some reason. Not necessarily items lacking substance, but things that might go down light and sweet.



First we have the snow, then there is no snow, then there is. That's a Wisconsin Spring, maybe even Summer, if I ever saw one. The idea of just calmly sitting around, dreaming all day, just screams of vacation time spent relaxing in a sunbeam, having a think but not about much of anything. Perfect.



I said lighter clothes, didn't I? Lum's almost always in a bikini, so she counts. I'm not into manga/anime as much as I once was but I am still irritated that the official translation of the Urusei Yatsura manga was never completed. That's good stuff that is!

And then there's baseball!