KICK ASS

US/UK, 2010, 117 minutes, Colour.
Aaron Johnson, Lyndsy Fonseker, Christopher Mintz- Plasse, Mark Strong, Michael Rispoly, Elizabeth Mc Govern, Nicolas Cage, Chloe Moretz, Jason Flemyng, Tamer Hassan, Yancey Butler, Craig Ferguson, Dexter Fletcher, Xander Berkely.
Directed by Matthew Vaughn.

The title says it all: content, style and tone.

What might have been quite an amusing parody of the hero graphic novels, comics and superhero movies (and there are some amusing moments) has become something of a Sin City (which is referred to in the screenplay) for a younger audience. Sin City was clever but had a nasty and sometimes brutal atmosphere. Kick Ass could be far cleverer if it didn't rely so much on sending up the cliches while indulging them at the same time. This makes it something of a hotch-potch and the writing and the performances (generally very good) compound this.

There are several strands of story as it opens. Dave and his slacker friends are the targets of muggers and bullies and Dave dreams of overcoming them as a superhero. So far, so good and zany, especially when he buys a kind of scuba suit on-line and uses it as a costume. British Aaron Johnson (John Lennon in Nowhere Boy) seems effortlessly American high school student as Dave who sells himself on line as a kind of helper/vigilante and calls himself Kick Ass. (He also has hormonal and sex fantasy problems which are given undue attention.)

Meanwhile, the rich boy of the class (Christopher Mintz- Plasse, Superbad, Role Models) is revealed as having a nafarious gangster, drug-dealing father who is unscrupulously violent. The action soon becomes like father, like son as the son tries to trap Kick Ass whom his father blames for most of his troubles, and sets himself up as a helper hero, Red Mist. The father is played by Mark Strong, so good in so many films and showing what it is really like to act. (He has vicious language problems – amongst others.)

Meanwhile again, retired policeman, Damon Macready, coaches his precocious 11 year old daughter, Mindy, in the details of weaponry, even helping her by firing at her bullet proof vest so that she will be ready for the real thing. This too is amusing with Nicolas Cage giving a nicely judged performance as the eccentric father who dotes on his daughter. The daughter is played by Chloe Moretz who must be precocious in herself to have given such a performance. She has become the subject of some media controversy as to whether it was appropriate for a young girl to take on such a role – and say the swearing things she (often) does. They become true superheroes, Hit Girl and Big Daddy and to say they have vigilante destructive power is an understatement.

Then it all comes together for the hotch-potch, the funny bits, the satiric bits, the violent bits (no mercy and no prisoners taken), the foul-mouthed bits, some sexy bits. And, of course, the shoot-out ending, complete with bazooka, is slam-bang and multi-bang – for all and sundry in New York City to watch on TV (which decides it's too much for viewers, so then everybody rushes to the internet).

Too much of the comedy and the language is geared to leering laughter or disbelieving chortling. Of course, it is not meant to be taken seriously. Had the makers taken their comic intentions more seriously, it could have been a better and funnier movie.

1. The origins of the film in a graphic novel, comic strip style? Parody, using the clichés for fun? Violence and excess? The target audience? Younger audiences, older?

2. The British perspective on American superheroes and American style? The British cast and their contributing to the American style?

3. The title, its tone?

4. The film as heightened, unreal? The critique of the film, excess, violence, language? Especially concerning Chloe Moretz and her age and language?

5. The three basic stories and their interweaving?

6. The graphic colour, the comic book style, the dialogue, the staging?

7. Dave, in himself, his love for heroes, his school friends, his ideals? His age, sexual preoccupation and behaviour? Home life, with his father, his mother’s death? His friends and their being considered nerds? Living heroism in their imaginations? Online? The muggers and the fear? The buying of the costume, its arrival and his joy, putting on the suit, the idea of being a superhero, advertising online, the many responses? Ordinary at home? With his father, friends, chat rooms? Theories?

8. His going into action, the fight, intervening, his being bashed, being filmed and the images put online, the hits, his success? The hospital, plates and this giving him a kind of interior armour?

9. Chris, at school, with Dave and the others? His relationship with his father, spoilt? His wanting to go to the movies? His father, gangster, the range of henchmen? The brutality, the interrogations about drugs and betrayals, torture? Cutting off fingers? Burning the man in the microwave – with the ‘oops’ reaction? Comic thugs, caricatures – but ultra-real?

10. Damon and Mindy, father and daughter, the tone, Damon and his formerly being a policeman, paternal care, the bulletproof vest, firing at Mindy so that she be prepared? The birthday, the talk, the guns for the gift? Going to the firing range? He and she as larger than life?

11. Dave, his friends at school, their nerdish background, the humour? Katie and her response to Dave, her girlfriends, the talk?

12. Chris and his becoming Red Mist, his admiring Kick Ass, talk, leading him to a trap? Big Daddy and Hit- Girl and their helping out? Their martial arts skills?

13. Dave, Katie, their meetings, chats, the sexual relationship? Her not knowing the truth?

14. Frank, his style, his office, the thugs, his orders, cruel? Chris as his son? Their capturing Kick Ass and Big Daddy?

15. The torture, its being on television, public response, its being taken off television, everybody watching online? Hit-Girl? and her arrival, the massacre? Big Daddy and his death? Kick Ass at the office, using his wits and skills, the thugs? Frank and his death?

16. Kick Ass, flying, the bazooka, Frank hurtled outside the building?

17. The return to ordinary life, Mindy going to school with Dave?

18. The irony with Chris as the boss – a sequel in store?

19. The comic effect, heightened – or too much?