Kick-Ass is awesome!

Oh, and you want spoiler tags, the third guy in the thread said "hey guys, anyone who hasn't seen this movie shouldn't come in here for fear of spoilers." There's your tag. Grow up.

:confused What thread are YOU reading???
You may want to check your facts before you tell people you don't know to "grow up".
 
Saw it Sunday with the Wife and Kids...

Wife (32y/o).........(y)thumbsup
13 y/o Son............(y)thumbsup
12 y/o Son............(y)thumbsup
11 y/o Son............(y)thumbsup
2 10 y/o Sons.......(y)thumbsup(y)thumbsup
Me 44y/o...............(y)thumbsup

My one 10 year old came out of the theater and said,... Well Dad,... Kick Ass or Star Trek (Refering to the last movie we saw that I paid full price for the Family, as I did yesterday)..........

I replied.......... "Ouch":unsure


Stay Hard,
Snoose
 
I saw it again last night and I've gone through the original comics again.

Hit Girl stole the movie.

I'm not a Nicolas Cage fan at all... I generally avoid movies with him in it. So yeah, the way he presented his dialog was terrible for me... it didn't remind of Adam West at all (as people are stating it's a homage to).

But, other than that (and I'll say there are spoilers below for those that are way to sensitive to that, yeesh).


The jetpack Kick-Ass uses is terrible. Took me out of the movie completely.

Also, in the book, Kick-Ass doesn't kill anyone - the only time we see him with a gun, the bad guy's even call him out on it... when he finally gets the gumption to shoot, he hits the guy in the crotch. In the flick, without a wince he unleashes the gatling guns and kills while... flying.

I understand that comics are film are different media (mediums?!) and changes have to be made. I kinda like that aspect of it... the "what are they gonna do differently to make it work?" mentality. (I think The Crow is the comic book movie that works the best for me, and there are some pretty major differences). Which is why the whole girlfriend thing wasn't a big stickler for me (maybe a film audience needs something like that?).
 
I'm not a Nicolas Cage fan at all... I generally avoid movies with him in it. So yeah, the way he presented his dialog was terrible for me... it didn't remind of Adam West at all (as people are stating it's a homage to)

Really?..Really? :confused Go back and watch the series dude.


I understand that comics are film are different media (mediums?!) and changes have to be made. I kinda like that aspect of it... the "what are they gonna do differently to make it work?" mentality. (I think The Crow is the comic book movie that works the best for me, and there are some pretty major differences). Which is why the whole girlfriend thing wasn't a big stickler for me (maybe a film audience needs something like that?).

I already said why its different.

For all that wondered why the film was different from the comic near the final quarter, it was because the comic wasnt actually finished when the film was being made :)
 
I saw this last night and boy what a let down. This film couldn't decide what it wanted to be - it stars as a comedy about real world superheroes and how impossible would it be for someone to do it - then at the end of act 1 they toss the main premise and embrance every superhero cliche in the book - topping the whole thing off with a JETPACK at the end and two kids flying over the city -... For as poorly as it handled it's tone it reminded me of the old Troma films like Toxic Avenger in terms of characters and atmosphere.

There is only one scene in this junkpile that makes it all worth it - when he's putting lotion on his gilfriend's back. That woke me up in an otherwise tired premise.
 
Really?..Really? :confused Go back and watch the series dude.

I already said why its different.

I'm quite familiar with Batman series... no need to go back, "dude." I don't think Cage did that good of a job. If you got it, good for you... I didn't (and still don't after two viewings), it might have something to do with my admitted dislike of the actor.

As far as the story, yes... a lot of it came from that it was totally finished, BUT the basica plot was there (Co-Creator/comic writer) Millar worked with (director/screenwriters) Vaughn and Goldman. In fact, Millar decided to use some of their ideas in the comic. It was collaborative. Either way it's no excuse for the jetpack.

Big Daddy stayed a cop, because Vaughn thought him actually being a comic book fanboy (ala the comic) threw off the momentum.

The cop in the film that adopted Hit Girl was added to the comic... and will have a role in the next series.

Millar/(co-creator/artist)Romita also stated that Kick-Ass getting the girl was Vaughn's idea.
 
Last edited:
I don't think Cage did that good of a job. If you got it, good for you... I didn't (and still don't after two viewings), it might have something to do with my admitted dislike of the actor.

I got the whole Adam West thing the second time I saw the movie. He was, obviously exaggerating the routine with the pauses. Having watched "return to the batcave," recently, I got the joke. It was supposed to be bad, because the Adam West dialog was bad, campy, cheese and sometimes over-dramatic, specially for a vigilante. Cage was, pretty much parodying West.



The movie does start with a "what if a kid decides to be a super-hero in the real world" plot, but switches, when Hit-girl is introduced, to fantasy.

The answer is clearly no, you can't be a super-hero because you will get you butt kicked, if not killed (Kickass). This was addressed and implied all over the movie. A super-hero stuck in reality could only get his ass kicked all over the movie. That would makes us laugh, at his failures, for the first half-hour, but not for 2 hours. There had to be a contrast, such as Fantasy.

A super-hero can only exists in fantasy (Hit girl and Big Daddy). That's when the movie takes the audience away from reality, where kickass fails, onto fantasy, were super-heroes save the day.

Red Mist, pretty much, shoves Kickass, hit-girl, Big Daddy, AND THE AUDIENCE back to reality, which makes one of them end up in the way a super-hero would end-up in the real world.

Hit-girl saves the day by taking the movie back to fantasy, where super-heroes can give an entertaining fight and win, specially an 11 year old girl who can reach the car pedals. The jet-pack scene is, pretty much, the last time the audience will be reminded of how Super-heroes can triumph in a world were they can operate iconic comic-book props from the golden age, which, BTW, are yet to exist in an efficient way. The jet-pack might as well be Batman's hand-held grappling hook/spear gun, or a Jedi's lightsaber. Fantasy.

At least, that's how I interpreted the movie.
 
That's a pretty good interpretation. I hadn't thought of it like that but, it does make sense.

As far as the jetpack, I seem to recall an interview in which it was stated that everything in the film was something that could be bought in some form or another. Jetpacks do exist albiet with much more limited flight times. They go for about $250,000 actually. Miniguns in various calibers and sizes also exist. So a jetpack with miniguns isn't really that much of a stretch.

The sudden shift in character required for the subsequent carnage was a bit more off putting for me than the inclusion of a flying aparatus.
 
It is true jetpack technology has existed since before the Rocketeer came out on theaters, but the stretch comes in availability:

A kid off the streets, such as kickass, could never afford 250,000.00 to buy a jetpack. If a kid had the cash, he would rather spend it in a fancy chick-magnet car or something seen in the Fast in the furious movies, such as Red Mist's car. But, as the car of an average teenager's dreams, the money amount and jetpack might as well stay in fantasy bubble.

In Kickass's case, he came across someone who had a jetpack, but what are the chances, in the real world, you will find someone who paid $250,000.00 for a jetpack and will lend it to a kid who thinks he can be a super-hero but only gets his ass kicked? Having a working jetpack available might as well be movie magic.
 
It is true jetpack technology has existed since before the Rocketeer came out on theaters, but the stretch comes in availability:

A kid off the streets, such as kickass, could never afford 250,000.00 to buy a jetpack. If a kid had the cash, he would rather spend it in a fancy chick-magnet car or something seen in the Fast in the furious movies, such as Red Mist's car. But, as the car of an average teenager's dreams, the money amount and jetpack might as well stay in fantasy bubble.

In Kickass's case, he came across someone who had a jetpack, but what are the chances, in the real world, you will find someone who paid $250,000.00 for a jetpack and will lend it to a kid who thinks he can be a super-hero but only gets his ass kicked? Having a working jetpack available might as well be movie magic.

It wasn't so much all of what you mentioned that made me roll my eyes a little, it was the fact that he could actually fly the thing so well having never touched one before that point. But hey, it's a movie. If an 11 year old can wade through goons like a mini Rambo, then a kid can fly a freakin' jet pack! ;)

I can't wait to see it again!
-B89! :D
 
My biggest question through it all was "How much fuel does that thing have in it"?

He seemed to cruise around forever in it.
 
The movie does start with a "what if a kid decides to be a super-hero in the real world" plot, but switches, when Hit-girl is introduced, to fantasy.

The answer is clearly no, you can't be a super-hero because you will get you butt kicked, if not killed (Kickass). This was addressed and implied all over the movie. A super-hero stuck in reality could only get his ass kicked all over the movie. That would makes us laugh, at his failures, for the first half-hour, but not for 2 hours. There had to be a contrast, such as Fantasy.

They didn't HAVE to switch to fantasy, in fact, doing that is abandonment of what you initially set out to do. I say the writers gave in either because they ran out of ideas after one scene - which would be pretty sad, or the more probable cause, the studio when they optioned this, thought they were buying a straight forward Superhero movie and rejected any early drafts where fantasy didn't take over by the end.

If you don' think the core idea can be followed to a satisfying conclusion go rent or buy HERO AT LARGE with John Ritter, it's this idea but executed 1 thousand times better.
 
I'm pretty sure this was shot indepedently.

Haven't seen it yet, but your summary makes me think I'm going to wait, Jet.
 
If you don' think the core idea can be followed to a satisfying conclusion go rent or buy HERO AT LARGE with John Ritter, it's this idea but executed 1 thousand times better.

Wellllll...to be fair, in Hero at Large, he didn't intend to be a hero where these people are. I would think this would change the feel of the whole dynamic, no?
 
Wow, finally saw this and it does Kick Ass!
Hit Girl is clearly from another planet and she is awesome. I hadn't seen the comics but will now look for them.
I loved Nicholas Cage's Adam West impression.

In Kickass's case, he came across someone who had a jetpack, but what are the chances, in the real world, you will find someone who paid $250,000.00 for a jetpack and will lend it to a kid who thinks he can be a super-hero but only gets his ass kicked? Having a working jetpack available might as well be movie magic.

Well, sure, but they cover it in the movie. They order and by the Jetpack online and after BD goes, and she is probably too small to even wear it, why not? HG let's KA take it while she is virtually out the door already, to avenge BD. She was sort of desperate at that point AND she saw potential in KA from the start.
 
Wellllll...to be fair, in Hero at Large, he didn't intend to be a hero where these people are. I would think this would change the feel of the whole dynamic, no?

Not really. You're talking about the details of motivation and Ritter's character Steve, un-lucked into his first battle with crime - being in the grocery store in the costume while it's being robbed, Kick Ass was saving the cat and fell into his first fight where people video taped him. The characters had a lot in common, the lead in Kick-Ass being a comic book fanatic, and Steve believing that all people were decent under the surface. The media still play a huge part in driving the characters - Kick Ass seeing all the news coverage and youtube response, Ritter seeing the news and the anchormen asking him "what's next". Both felt less than satisfied with their real lives, but with the costume on people loved them. It's all there, the only difference is in Hero we are following a man and in Kick Ass we're tracking a kid. The point in Kick Ass where it steps into fantasy is the point in Hero where it steps deeper into reality by Ritter's character getting shot and locked out of his apartment, unable to tend to his wound. Hero then steps into fantasy, but they had the perfect explanation by the mayor needing to be re-elected and setting up Steve's superhero activities.

And the ending of Hero at Large is still one of my favorite endings in movies - truly heroic. Kick Ass gives you a jet pack.

I guess you could say the guy in Kick Ass put on the costume simply for the glory of being a superhero where Ritter continued doing it because of his love for people - but if you were writing Kick Ass and I was writing Hero at Large, you come over a read what I'm working on I'm pretty sure we'd feel we were working on basically the same thing.
 
Last edited:
Overall, I thought it was a fun movie, though what I considered the best part (Hit Girl), my wife managed to get offended by. Weird, she and I usually have similar senses of humor.
 
or the more probable cause, the studio when they optioned this, thought they were buying a straight forward Superhero movie and rejected any early drafts where fantasy didn't take over by the end.


they made this out side of the studio system and sold it after it was finished, so the studios cant really be held to blame in this case

i think the back and forth from reality to fantasy was my biggest problem with the film, it just made it to me a very uneven movie.

i dont think the movie is terrible, but i was let down a bit.
 
Haven't seen it yet, but your summary makes me think I'm going to wait, Jet.
I think you'll be missing out on quite an experience. I can think of worse super hero movies where the "world within the world" is all over the place and utterly clichéd - dumbed down for the audience perhaps - , such as Elektra, Ghostrider and Sky High. I've seen those and they were cringeworthy. Cool ideas and cool premises ruined by hamming things up and completely unrealistic settings and "world within worlds" that don't fit together.

Sure, there is a switch from Dave's no-powers superhero reality, but he lands in something he wasn't prepared for - a whole other ball-game, where things are more than he imagined. You can take away from that what you want, but personally I don't see the switch - from the more "real world" POV of the beginning to the more extreme, when Dave is introduced to the realities of the world he's trying to enter as Kick-Ass - as unrealistic or in any way contradicting. You always get the feeling of escalation... and Dave is constantly forced to choose to continue or walk away.
 
Back
Top