Our title character asks a question near the beginning of Kick Ass. He asks himself why no one has ever tried to throw on a spandex suit and be a superhero. You know, just throw on some bright colors and a mask and go out an beat on some bad guys. After years of reading comic books and being on the low end of the totem pole Dave (Aaron Johnson) decides to fight back, becoming a super hero called Kick Ass. The thing is that this isn't a comic book. There are no radioactive spiders or dead billionaire parents to spur Kick Ass on. There's just an insane idea and since this isn't a comic book and Dave isn't some trained fighting machine his first trip out in uniform doesn't go so well. He actually ends up getting the shit beaten out of himself, but as most real life losers go in the movies Dave literally stumbles into comic book popularity, meeting "real life" super heroes Hit Girl (Chloe Moretz) and Big Daddy (Nicholas Cage). The thing you have to remember is that what is a superhero without villains.
At the core of Kick Ass is the idea of playing comic book mythos into a situation that is as realistic as possible. Is this the way something like this would go down? Probably. Idiots become idols on You Tube by doing something stupid or pulling a Homer. Sure, you've got to stretch the imagination just a tad, but it would work. You could call this movie a puberty laced version of The Dark Knight where our hero isn't in it because of a moral code but for a girl. Going a bit further you could classify Kick Ass as John Hughes taking a crack at a comic book movie. It may be a bit raunchy, but it has his prints all over it. It's always about a girl or a boy. This is what teens care about and if they learn something along the way that's just a bonus.
Of course Kick Ass is not a kid friendly film, so don;t be stupid when you rent it for your youngsters and get pissed off. That letter is on there for a reason. This is a late teen/adult oriented film that delivers a different spin to a genre that has become well worn over the years.
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