A Public Service Announcement! ;)

A Public Service Announcement! ;)

Friday, April 16, 2010

Kick-Ass Movie, Well....

..kicks ass!!!!

I am less than thirty minutes removed from seeing the last credit roll, and I am pretty impressed. There are many critics out there calling this movie a satire of the super-hero genre. The joke's on them, and on anyone who buys into their misunderstandings. The awesome thing about Kick-Ass the movie is that it might appear to be satirical because it overtly tropes so many conventions of the capes and cowl films, but the references are so clear -- heroes are mentioned by name and their mythoi explained or critiqued in script -- that it really is more of an homage to the genre than a satire.

Anyone who looks at teen super-heroes, cracked-out villains, predictable origin stories that set up a sequel, and bloody violence in this film and suggests it all pokes fun of the genre is missing the point that the movie is still a stellar exemplar of the genre.

Sure, the film takes on the question of "what if people tried to be super-heroes in real life?" but don't be fooled: you're still entering a fantasy world. That's the big trick of Kick-Ass: it tricks the tricksters, pulls the wool over the eyes of the folks who want to make us all feel they're the smart ones keeping our eyes sheep-hair free. It's a straight up bad-ass super-hero movie, make no broken bones about, and it lives up to its name.


** This commentary relates to the film only, as I've still not read the GN. :(

**** I still think the guy who plays Kick-Ass looks like senior-year-of-high-school-Bucky-Carter. ;)

1 comment:

mj hollman said...

Interesting discussion of this film in Friday's Wall Street Journal, Weekend section. Pretty much agrees w/what you saw and say. It made me want to see it.