Dosty Glory makes her debut with a review of "Kick Ass" (2010)

This is the first of what we hope are many contributions from FOTS Dosty Glory, Enjoy!

Kick-Ass (2010)

It's a premise that definitely hooks the trailer viewer. Comic book nerd, Dave, wondering why no one has followed the example of the heroes in his mags, takes on the city's underbelly in a mask and wet suit. The fact that he, and the other crusaders featured in this film, is a teenager, pushes the appeal even further.His persona, Kick-Ass, has a career that isn't very dazzling beyond youtube sensation, but his heroics aren't really the point. Instead, the movie wants us to see the reality of his attempt, not in the blood and guts way of recent comic adaptations, but the day-to-day identity reconciliation and the world of knives, guns, and fists.  That line of thought is most certainly to its credit.  Unfortunately, that's not an attitude that it maintains.  

With all comic book, sci-fi, and fantasy films, certain assumptions have to be made before the credits begin.  This is an easy genre understanding.  The trouble with Kick-Ass is that we are asked to dispel those assumptions and watch this as if it were an average teen film with above-average goals, which is wonderfully refreshing until it does things that requests leaps of faith.  This change mainly comes in the climax of the fighting where the characters do things that defy regular logic of kill and be killed, as well as provoke a cheesy cringe reaction.  It's mainly concentrated in the second half of the film, which creates the feeling of disappointment in light of the preceding information.

Which brings us to Nicholas Cage, who could arguably be a genre of his own.  I think I understand what they were going for, but that doesn't change the fact that one side of Cage's portrayal falls as flat as his stereotype.  However, he is part of one of the greatest introductory scenes I've seen in a very long time.  That scene also highlights an important asset the film employs: the set up and pay off.  Far too often overlooked by filmmakers today is the notion that you establish one thing and see a direct result at a later point, which sounds easy but can be lost in the shuffle without much trouble.  It was great to see a film that recognizes this plot device, which showed they kept in mind the project as a whole instead of just scene by scene.  But like with all of the other good points in this film, there is the lame underbelly.  As talented as they were with utilizing tension to execute the pay off, too much time was wasted languishing in that execution which tumbled the tension and left me impatient for them to get on with it.

In short, it's a fun romp through the more pleasant side of vigilante justice.  In long, it was also another dismal example of what, for now, I'll call the crush genre.  Championed by the likes of Michael Cera, this genre centers around what we are meant to believe are anti-heroes, which really only amount to weak, cookie-cutter characters who still get girls and glory while not performing any great strive.  This is particularly marked in the fact that the females in these movies are undeveloped, and if so, only to the slightest degree.  In Kick-Ass, the women are Dave's girlfriend, who smiles, bats her eyes, and had some sort of relationship with a junkie that really could have used exploring; the teacher he fantasizes about; and silent mothers.  The only fleshed out female character is not Dave's age, but several years younger, putting her beyond the grasp of femininity in that pre-gender zone.  Basically, a sexual nonentity.  This genre creates a new set of assumptions, in which young men are pushed aside because they’re not "cool," but will still end the victor even though they haven't really earned their prizes.  But perhaps, that's a discussion set for fuller exploration another day.  

Oh, and if you want to use hackneyed songs for your soundtrack, call Wes Anderson and his pals, at least they can tell you the right places for it.

  --Dosty Glory

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