movies: kick-ass 2

I decided to cash in some of my Cinebuzz points and go and see Kick-Ass 2 this morning. Turned out to be a good decision, not in the least because I had the entire cinema to myself, which I think is a first.

The first thing with any sequel is how it stacks up against the original movie. Or if you don't even think about making that comparison.

Unfortunately this time around the movie loses a fair degree of the charm and, oddly, the sweetness of the original Kick-Ass movie. Partly that's because it's a much bigger story... the original was really just about five characters (Kick-Ass, Big Daddy, Hit Girl, Red Mist and Frank D'Amico)... this time around there are a lot more characters.

And I think the other reason it didn't work as well for me is Christopher Mintz-Plasse. To me he was kind of one of the weakest element of the first movie, and given that he's the major villain this time around, and a really, really weird villain at that, it was a little grating.

It also felt a little bit like the character of Kick-Ass had almost been reset back to the way he was at the beginning of the first movie. I need to re-read the graphic novel again, but I don't really remember him being like that.

Having said all that, generally speaking the movie was pretty good.

Once again Chloë Grace Moretz completely hits it out of the park as Mindy Macready/Hit-Girl... especially as she tried to become a normal teenage girl. Moretz manages to make the character of Mindy feel completely awkward and like she doesn't fit into her own skin while at the same time making Hit-Girl fluid and dangerous.

If there ends up being a third graphic novel/movie that takes place after this one (and there are a number of elements that seem to point in that direction), I think it would definitely be time to update Hit-Girl's costume... unfortunately what looked awesome on the character when she's a pre-teen doesn't work quite as well on a character who's 15. Most of all I really just kept wishing that they would lose the purple wig.

Other than being desperately in need of a haircut, Aaron Taylor-Johnson completely revived my previous crush on him (hello, shirtless much!)... and despite the fact that, as I said before, the character feels like he's regressed a little, this movie really doesn't feel like Kick-Ass's story at all, it's much more Hit-Girl's story. Even so Taylor-Johnson gives a strong performance, especially in the latter half of the movie.

So while it doesn't quite stack up to it's predecessor, it's still a worthy addition.

yani's rating: 3 last resorts out of 5