Warning: Contain some spoilers for the 2013 movie Kick-Ass 2. If reading through my web site, spoilers should be marked, but if reading through an RSS reader, you may still see them. You have been warned. Also contains spoilers for Kick-Ass, because we’re beyond that now.
So I went to see Kick-Ass 2 on Wednesday. The cinema was packed: haven’t seen it so busy since The Hunger Games.
Here are my thoughts on Kick-Ass 2.
Kick-Ass 2 continues the story of Kick-Ass (surprised?!) after the events in the first movie: he’s bored being a normal kid again, and Mindy/Hit Girl is still fighting crime.
They briefly team up, before Mindy decides not to don the mask again (her guardian doesn’t want her to–it’s not that interesting or compelling, mainly because she’s good at what she does and really shouldn’t be being taken out of the loop. But anyway.).
Kick-Ass joins with a group of vigilantes while Mindy takes part in a remake of Mean Girls.
Meanwhile, Chris D’Amico/Red Mist is stewing after Kick-Ass killed his dad in the first movie, and after accidentally killing his own mother on a sunbed, he decides to become the first super villian, known as “The Motherfucker”.
What follows is 90ish minutes of bright colours, blood, foul language, ridiculous villain names, and a wicked–if slightly repetitive–score.
So yeah, this movie won’t be winning any awards for subtlety or tact, but I loved it, with a few exceptions.
In the first movie, Hit Girl was my favourite character, and she’s retained that title this time, though I felt a definite void without Big Daddy. I got teary when Big Daddy died in the first film, I did. Particularly where he’s dying but still shouting instructions to his daughter. When a similar thing happens this time, I didn’t really connect in the same way.
I liked the idea of the vigilantes banding together, creating an actual team to fight crime. Stars & Stripes was a great–slightly masochistic–leader, and it was fun to watch the team taking down some bad guys.
A few of the jokes really missed the mark for me.
I liked watching D’Amico become the first super-villain, The Motherfucker, and in particular, his scene with Ser Jorah Uncle Ralph: watching Chris’s face change in that scene was chilling.
I loved Mother Russia. The rest of the super-villains didn’t really leave much of an impact on me.
On the heroes side, I enjoyed Carey’s performance as Stars & Stripes, and Dave’s school friends were both charming. Turk Dr. Gravity was a laugh, and I liked Night Bitch’s hair, but again, the large cast meant that the others were a little lost.
And a few things I saw coming a little too soon–like how Mindy’s first date would end, and the constant lingering shots on Big Daddy’s costume, and how Dave’s other friend would respond to feeling rejected by the group.
Didn’t see the shark coming, though. Which was good.
There were only two parts I had any real issue with:
- The attempted rape scene. It made for uncomfortable watching. Unnecessary, in my opinion.
- The cafeteria scene. I mean, I get it. Those girls were absolute jizz stains, but I didn’t need to see them suffer like that. I mean, really. Poop jokes are never funny.
But yeah, overall I thought it was great. Fun, funny for the most part, action-packed, gritty when it needed to be, heartfelt other times…I enjoyed it.
And of course, as soon as I got home, I bought the soundtrack and the score from iTunes.
Provided you liked the first one, you will like this movie.