Kick-Ass

Chin down, thumbs up. I like Matthew Vaughn for his approach to filmmaking alone, but the actual result far outweighs my sympathy. Kick-Ass has everything that a proper pop culture film of its time should have - losers, the internet, comic books, crazy humor, absurd violence, and a hefty helping of hyperbole. You can't go wrong by putting this all into one mix, polishing the visuals, and throwing exactly the right music into the playlist. I doubt I'll come across a more musically and editing-packed scene in the movie theater this year than the FPS shootout in the warehouse. Other than that, Nicolas Cage is back in form and Chloe Moretz is the cutest little cutie. Edit: It’s not the movie of the year (The Social Network is a bit different caliber after all), but it is definitely the most stylish movie. (11/05/2010)

A beautiful film. One of the last films where watching certain scenes in the movie theater really gave me chills. The scene in the warehouse is simply captivating, and every time I've seen the film again, at least twice if I'm not mistaken, it completely captivated me. A wonderful example of how a comic book in a film can look great, mainly because of the excellent source material and the selection of great actors. The casting was perfect. Here I fell in love with Chloë, purely platonically, because I admire her as an actress. Every time I remember that amazing scene in the warehouse, it gives me chills again. (10/02/2014)

I didn't expect that a film of this kind could surprise me so pleasantly. Kick-Ass is a hundred-minute dose of funny scenes that may not have made me laugh, but I admired their sophistication and visual artifice. The whole film is accompanied by a hyped-up soundtrack, set aptly in the plot. And for the first time in a while I can say that I didn't find a single moment in an American comedy somehow disgusting (like American Reunion and and other similar bullshit). Finally! The cast is universally good, Mark Strong was great as the villain, and young Chloë Grace Moretz was as brutal as Uma Thurman in Kill Bill. I don't require blood in a movie, but here it spurts with such "elegance" that you don’t even think about it. Like I said, it has a bit of Kill Bill and Sin City about it, but it's better. It may not have the layers of Matthew Vaughn's previous Stardust, but I don't regret the time I spent watching it. (23/05/2010)

Nomen est omen. A comic book movie about kids that isn’t for kids by any stretch of the imagination. Because gallons of blood flow, severed limbs pile up and an eleven-year-old girl accompanies the butchering of dozens of human bodies with cussing that would even make the proverbial trooper blush. But hold on, despite all of the above, this is an inventive movie and as much as it is bold and funny at the beginning, it changes smoothly into a serious and very heavy affair. Matthew Vaughn simply proves from the third time that he is special, very special. Which is good, really good. (29/04/2010)

Even after all these years, I still enjoy the film, and I consider it much better than most films about "actual" superheroes. There are several reasons for that - I like the work of Matthew Vaughn, I like the film’s humor, I don’t mind its violence and the cast was spot-on. Mark Strong always plays his villains excellently, Aaron Taylor-Johnson was instantly convincing in the role of a loser, and Chlöe Grace Moretz gave a perfect performance. There must be something wrong with me, but I really enjoy scenes in which a thirteen-year-old girl hacks professional killers into bits. Especially with such a great soundtrack. (22/07/2019)