Superhero Media: Kick-Ass (2009)

I understand why this film gets the praise it does. I understand why some people are big fans, even calling it their favourite superhero film. There are some great fight scenes, memorable characters and one of the best performances Nic Cage has ever delivered, but, and I'm sorry to say this, the film just isn't that good. As was already covered in my Kick-Ass 2 "Superhero Media", the problem primarily stems from the insistence that Dave Lizewski, aka "Kick-Ass" is the protagonist of the film, which really shouldn't be the case. Big Daddy has the more interesting arc, with a decent motivation, more agency and better dialogue, the film really should be his story, expanding on the flashback/comic narrative that appears in act two. Yes, I am aware that the narrative is roughly following that of the graphic novel of the same name, but with the raft of changes made already, one more, to make the film stronger, would hardly have gone astray. 

Actually, the film is already stronger, in narrative terms, than the graphic novel, because it gives Big Daddy more agency and better motivation; working towards revenge rather than simply wanting to play superheroes. I really like that Kick-Ass' own motivation is, primarily, altruism (after a fashion), he doesn't want to hurt anyone if he doesn't have to, even being reluctant to fight Red Mist in the climax, because he knows that Mist is not directly responsible for the death of Big Daddy. I wonder though, would that reluctance to do harm have been more impact, more memorable if it was shown in juxtaposition to Big Daddy's monomaniacal path of violence? The violence in the film is extreme for the genre, but for some reason, it is mostly played straight, not over-emphasized for effect like in the graphic novel (and quite a bit of Millar's work). I mostly put this down to an attempt to win more teenage audience members, which also explains the "underage" partial-nudity scenes (thankfully, the actor in question was actually 22 at the time of filming).

If you love this film, that's ok. As I've said time and again, there is nothing wrong with liking something that's imperfect, not literate or even just plain bad. But. Kick-Ass is not a great film. It is not, as is often espoused, the "Gen-Y Watchmen". It's fun. Even I get a kick out of Hit-Girl swearing her head off, despite the Australian tendency to use c*nt as a term of endearment rather than an insult. In retrospect, having seen this again, I'd have to say that Kick-Ass 2 is probably the better film, though I'm still not keen on the idea of Kick-Ass 3. After watching this once more (probably for the last time), I want to put Big Daddy and Hit-Girl in more of my Ultimate Alliance games moving forward; possibly even giving Big Daddy a starring role in the Civil War campaign I'm sketching out for next year. Time will tell.