Kick-Ass

“Kick-Ass” is a film that does not live up to its name. The film follows the rise of Dave Lizewski in his effort to become a superhero. The journey is maligned by terrible circumstances such as poor dialogue and pointless character development. The trouble with the film is direction. For a film about a boy’s odyssey, it sure lacks a sense of it.

A teenage male, raging with hormones is the main character for the film. It is strange that the film goes out of its way to make Lizewski horribly uninteresting on top of his already embarrassing character traits. Lizewski narrates the tale. He explains to the audience that he isn’t smart, a hardcore gamer or possessive of any talent.

For a film that attempts to advertise toward young teens, there is a great deal of gratuity. The film is Rated R. The film relies on violence and gore to express its MPAA rating. There isn’t a seemingly mature subject matter handled by the film. There are no major thematic elements or even a social commentary on the value of superheroes to the modern world.

“Kick-Ass” positions itself as a film geared toward teens. But the level of violence and the MPAA film rating will block that entire demographic from viewing “Kick-Ass.” The film caters to no particular audience because it lacks themes and is peppered by pointless violence.

Aaron Johnson does the best he can as Dave Lizewski. The name Lizewski is pronounced Looser-ski. The character’s name choice should be evidence to the quality of thought by the creators. Johnson’s performance hovers between levels of apathy and tears.

Lizewski spends most of his time at a comic book store with his equally uninteresting friends. At one point he unwillingly puts the real heroes into real danger. He isn’t clever or courageous. He is simply present and available. By the end of “Kick-Ass” he is nowhere closer to possessing heroic qualities than at the beginning of the film.

Nicholas Cage appears as Damon Macready. The scenes with Cage are nothing short of awkward. He plays a character who is meant to be taken seriously, but his dialogue is filled with cringe-worthy humor. He makes terrible jokes and is terrible at trying to be sweet.

Cage comes off as a creepy uncle. Yes, it is that bad. Nothing about the character’s dialogue is worth listening to; he isn’t charming, wise or witty. Yet, Cage’s Macready is so integral to the story that it feels like the film is doing a disservice to the audience by not making his character more likable.

The villains of “Kick-Ass” are underdeveloped as well. The audience is never told what type of drugs the criminal organization in the film sells. In one scene a passing comment is made about lost “kilos” of some product. Is it cocaine? Crack? No one knows because the film never really shows kilos being pushed around, which makes the audience think that the crimes are all imaginary.

None of it is to be taken seriously because Frank D’Amico, the film’s criminal mastermind, states that his business is put into jeopardy by the death of one drug dealer. He states that the death of one drug pusher completely disrupts his entire criminal enterprise. A complex criminal organization being dependent on one drug pusher doesn’t seem logical. For a film that takes violence seriously it is strange that logic isn’t a big concern.

The film also lacks morality. The violence is harsh and bloody. It is a gory film and for a comedy this is an important point to understand. The violence feels needlessly excessive. Characters freely fire pistols at each other without flinching. Death is present in every scene, yet there isn’t a character that expresses contempt for murder, not even the film’s heroes.

When Hit-Girl starts attacking several armed men with a double-edged blade the film really loses its ground. She murders with such fervor that it is hard not to think about the consequences of her actions. Although the film presents villains as pure evil, the heroes are just as guilty or more guilty of being reckless with human life. There isn’t anything heroic about the murder of another human being. “Kick-Ass” doesn’t care about any of that.

What is left of “Kick-Ass” is a series of meaningless action sequences tied together by a series of uninteresting interactions between characters. Violence in action films is to be expected. But when the plot fails to be coherent and meaningful, the violence fails to be anything more than visual filler. Films shouldn’t just be about visual spectacle but about character growth and development. A film that fails to provide these fails to be a film worth watching.