Pushing several envelopes (extreme violence, extreme profanity, extreme smartaleckyness) and juggling teen angst comedy with superhero fantasy, Kick-Ass has been adapted from the Mark Millar/John Romita Jr. comic book in nimble fashion by British director Matthew Vaughn.
It's the story of Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson), a dweeby New York City high schooler who decides to become a superhero - even though he hasn't been bitten by a radioactive spider, or sent here from Krypton, or even put in much time at the gym. Later in the film, this fact results in an astute voice-over observation from our would-be hero: "With no power comes no responsibility."
But Dave, who has a pair of comic book-obsessed nerd buddies and an unrequited crush on a classmate (the pert Lyndsy Fonseca), customizes a wet suit and goes out on the crime-ridden streets anyway. Armed with a couple of batons and "the perfect combination of optimism and naivete," Dave dubs himself Kick-Ass. And after he gets those words reversed on him in front of a doughnut shop crowd, videos of his valiant effort to save a guy from a mugging become a viral sensation. A YouTube phenom is born.
As fate (and Jane Goldman and Vaughn's canny screenplay) would have it, Kick-Ass unites with Hit Girl and Big Daddy to do battle against gangland boss Frank D'Amico (a mobbed-up Mark Strong, the villain in Sherlock Holmes). Meanwhile, D'Amico's sheltered, sourpuss son, Chris (Superbad's McLovin, Christopher Mintz-Plasse), has dreams of being a caped dude, too. Enter Red Mist, looking like a Kiss tribute band reject.
