Film Review: Kick-Ass 2: An Ass-Kicking Let Down KickAss2

Review by Tom Hunt

Note: The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of RetoxMagazine.com

Kick-Ass 2: An Ass-Kicking Let Down

I have this tendency with a film that's highly anticipated but ultimately disappoints on viewing, to lie to myself, to tell myself it was good and that this strange empty feeling I have is just because the film needs more time to be digested. This same feeling came after Kick-Ass 2, and it's one that can't be ignored now. Plain and simply, Kick-Ass 2 just disappoints.

It was important for Kick-Ass 2 to recreate the same magic as the last time, but go further and give us something new, but sadly that's not what we got. We know Hit Girl has a foul mouth, and while it's hilarious we needed more from her. It was time to see Dave/Kick-Ass (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) really take it up a notch too, he can't keep getting by on luck and little skill. The film attempts to meet these demands, but somewhere along the way it loses itself. Mindy/Hit Girl (Chloe Grace Moretz) is given an equal sharing in the film following her popularity during the title's first feature. Mindy is trying to put her life of crime fighting behind her and battle with something much more ferocious, being a teenage girl in High School. She initially trains Dave, before deciding to hang up gear and try being a normal every day girl. Dave, however is trying to get back into his Kick-Ass way of life and looks to find a new group to join. After an initial (and it must be said hilarious) meeting with Dr. Gravity (Donald Faison) Kick-Ass teams up with a group called Justice Forever, headed by Colonel Stars and Stripes (Jim Carrey), who are more of a community service group rather than anything else, but it's what Dave's been looking for. In the background, Chris D'Amico/Red Mist (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) has been hiding away, letting his anger towards Kick-Ass build up to breaking point. He creates a new evil persona, The Mother F**ker (yep, I just typed that, had to make sure it was real) to combat Kick-Ass and his team of Superheroes. His new evil gang set about town murdering police officers and wreaking havoc where ever they go. Which leads us to a final showdown between the good guys and the bad guys in what looks like a game of superheroes that you'd play when you were kids, but more violent.

While it's not as funny as the first film, director Jeff Wadlow tries to make up for it with more action, but it's all a bit nauseous with too much shaky cam, and you can only wonder why Matthew Vaughn wasn't brought back after doing such a good job on Kick-Ass. The film does try though, and credit has to at least be given for that, as Dave learns what it truly means to be a Superhero and you sense that his journey is only really beginning rather than ending. It's a shame that the film is a bit too try-hardy, pandering for our attention, giving us an excess (more so than the first) of gore and violence as well as ruining Dave's character, making him more irritating this time around, like they were trying to make him too geek-cool.

This film is interesting for Jim Carrey (who has publicly criticized the film), we've not heard his name for a while, yet he's always a draw. It's a shame that one of Hollywood's most talented and entertaining comic actors manages to drop off the radar so often, mainly due to his poor choices, such as Mr Poppers Penguins (he must owe some people in Hollywood some HUGE favours), but then he has hits that bring his career back to relevancy; Bruce Almighty and Yes Man. Hopefully Kick-Ass 2 can once again help him reach the top and finally he'll stay there, allowing him to take control of his career and make more flicks such as Man On The Moon and Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind .

Individual performances try to save the film, but sadly it's to no avail. Jim Carrey was good, but sadly isn't in the film enough, and Donald Faison was a happy surprise in a role that helps him shrug off the Turk character we all remember him by from Scrubs. The stand out performance has to go to Chris Mintz-Plasse, who plays his role as Mother F**ker perfectly.

While Kick-Ass 2 was an enjoyable film with good individual performances, and at times an improvement from the first film, it was still a let-down with its over the top action sequences and at times sporadic scene jumps, resulting in losing the spark and magic that the Kick-Ass had back in 2010.