Kick Ass * * *

Director: Matthew Vaughn.
Screenplay: Jane Goldman, Matthew Vaughn.
Starring: Aaron Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Chloe Moretz, Nicolas Cage, Mark Strong, Elizabeth McGovern, Clark Duke, Evan Peters, Michael Rispoli, Dexter Fletcher, Jason Flemyng, Tamer Hassan, Xander Berkeley, Craig Ferguson.

Director Matthew Vaughn had mixed results when he adapted Neil Gaiman’s “Stardust” in 2007 and I found his results were mixed again with this adaptation of Mark Millar’s comic.

Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) is your average high school geek who reads too many comics and since nobody has ever tried it, takes it upon himself to fight crime and be the local superhero. He dons a spandex suit and mask to become his alter-ego “Kick Ass”. This leads to some hilarious results as he soon realises why nobody has done it before… because it’s dangerous. However, the trend catches on and more spandex hero’s hit the streets.

What then ensues is a pastiche of superhero films, managing effortlessly to blend graphic violence with some hilarious dialogue and characters, namely Nicolas Cage’s “Big Daddy” and young Chloe Moretz as his 11-year-old assassin daughter “Hit Girl”, who after dispatching of a room full of villians says things like…”Okay, you Cunts! Let’s see what you can do now”. It’s darkly humerous and it’s moments like these that make this film enjoyable and there are several of them.

But although this is a spoof of superhero films it ultimately becomes the very thing it’s sending up and I’m not the biggest fan of the genre.

Mark Walker