Kick-Ass 2 (2013)
2013
R
103 Minutes
After Kick-Ass’ insane bravery inspires a new wave of self-made masked crusaders, he joins a patrol led by the Colonel Stars and Stripes. When these amateur superheroes are hunted down by Red Mis...
User Review
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Kick-Ass 2 puts the "ass" in "sucks-ass". Vaughn settled for producing credits, Carrey famously withdrew from supporting the film due to its depiction of violence (yet seemingly filmed a fight scene or two...) and Taylor-Johnson is now a beefcake. Oh boy, did this sequel go awry. Its unbalanced plot, clichéd-ridden narrative and non-stylistic violence allowed this sequel to wallow in its pointlessness. Kick-Ass trains with Hit-Girl to become a real superhero, and joins forces with other individuals wearing costumes to stop a band of supervillains from killing everyone Kick-Ass loves.
The underlying problem with this sequel is the story it tries to convey. It's predecessor relished in portraying real-life characters trying to be better versions of themselves in the real world. That's abolished here, when everyone is parading around in onesies and lycra costumes. It's no longer the real world, but a heightened variation of a generic comic book city. The purpose, motives and personable charisma of Dave, Chris and Mindy have now dissipated. Poof! Gone. Instead, both of Dave's best friends now acknowledge his superhero identity and choose to become heroes as well. Do not, I repeat, do not get me started on Todd. I have never seen a more obvious plot device in all my life. Wadlow fails to balance the dark humour with the violence, and instead becomes a splintered mess of weird pacing and excessive profanity.
Nothing really happens? Sure, Carrey is doing his best to not be Ace Ventura and Mother Russia was an absolute beast. But when Dave, the character we cling on to as the likeable moral compass, has as much charisma as a glass of water, it's pretty much game over. Frustrating really, considering Moretz was brilliant as Hit-Girl and Leguizamo was provided with some decent lines of dialogue. Yet, the "intense" and infrequent action scenes were plagued with obvious green screen cuts. And practically every character had daddy issues for the sake of a flimsy vengeance storyline. Just give me more of Hit-Girl trying to adjust to ordinary life (standalone sequel/prequel maybe?). Y'know, good stuff.0 member like this review.
