Kick Ass

**** out of ****

Spill Rating: BETTER THAN SEX!

I usually stray away from using bad one liners but for this film, I'll make an exception. Kick Ass is well.....KICK ASS!

The modern super-hero film began with the release of Bryan Singer's X-Men in 2000. At that point in time, the super-hero genre hadn't even been done well yet. With very few exceptions, every single comic book film was god-awful. Captain America, The Fantastic Four, and The Punisher had all been critical and financial flops. The only success for the genre had been on TV with shows like The Incredible Hulk. With the release of X-Men though, the modern comic-book era had begun. With each passing year, the films got bigger and better. And with the release of The Dark Knight and Watchmen, those films proved that a genre that was dead and ridiculed years ago could be equally as emotional and exciting as other films.

While I'm glad films like The Dark Knight have brought the genre into more serious territory, its still great to see comic-book movies like Kick Ass showing us a great time at the movies. Like Iron Man, this has a slightly more playful tone, although the film does have its dark and emotional moments too.

Kick Ass is based off the comic-book of the same name by Mark Millar. I have not read the series yet but I definitely intend to after seeing the film. Kick Ass tells the story of teenager Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) who sets out to become a real life superhero only to get caught up in a bigger fight. He meets Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage), a former cop who, in his quest to bring down an evil drug lord Frank D'Amico (Mark Strong), has trained his eleven-year-old daughter to be the ruthless vigilante Hit-Girl (Chloe Grace Mortez). Meanwhile, D'Amico's son, Chris (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), poses as another vigilante named Red Mist to lure Kick Ass into his father's hands.

Its very rare that I would give a film a BETTER THAN SEX! rating but Kick Ass is one of those films that made me think "This is why I love seeing movies". Its exciting, funny, action packed, funny as hell, emotional, and most of all, entertaining as hell. The only other film in the past few years I've had so much fun watching was (500) Days of Summer, my favorite film of last year. (I know I might as well hand over my manhood for saying that but that film was amazing)

Matthew Vaughn, the director of the excellent Layer Cake and Stardust, crafts the film perfectly. From the actors to the choice of music, everything is done magnificently. The performances given by everyone are great. Aaron Johnson shows off why he may become a person to watch, showing us a nerdy guy who is awkward but also has enough personality to stand out amongst other Michael Cera type actors. Nicolas Cage makes up for his horrendous film choices over the last few years (Hum...Wicker Man, anyone?) with an over-the-top but affecting performance as Big Baddy. He is clearly channeling the famous Adam West. Mark Strong is bad-ass as always and Christopher Mintz-Plasse is surprisingly restrained as the son of D'Amico. His time for a serious role should be around soon.

The real star her, like everyone knows, is Hit Girl. Without her, this movie would have just been great. With her, she elevates the film to a masterpiece. Screw every person who calls her a immoral and reprehensible character who crosses the line of bad taste (Roger Ebert, I'm looking at you!), she will become an icon of cinema in no time. Chloe Grace Mortez is both horrifying and gut-wrenching funny as the psychotic, 11-year old killer. Every time she's on screen, I wanted to jump up in theater and yell "F*** yeah!".

Made outside of all studio interference, Kick Ass is what you get when you have a truly talented director like Matthew Vaughn and allow him to craft what he wants and and having faith a good product will result. This isn't just a good product, its certified KICK ASS!