Kick-Ass

Aaron Johnson stars as Dave - a nerdy, unassuming high school geek who finds himself getting pushed around by everyone, and he's sick and tired of it.

Still suffering from the loss of his mother, somewhat distant from his father, and the target for street toughs everywhere he goes, Dave decides it is time for someone to start standing up for the little guy, and comes up with a plan to become a superhero named Kick-Ass.

Sure, when he's putting together his MySpace page and purchasing a costume (MySpace? Really?), it sounds like a great way to stomp out justice and defeat evildoers (and win the affections of beautiful ladies, which is why I am thinking about buying a cape and cowl), but the plan doesn't quite go as Dave imagined, and he spends most of his time getting beat up in fights.

Along the way, Kick-Ass starts gaining attention from another, more serious crime fighting duo, the 11-year old Hit Girl (Chloe Moretz) and Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage), who have real adversaries, which might lead to more trouble than he can handle.

Is Kick-Ass ready to go from zero to hero?

If you buy a ticket to see Kick-Ass you will be surrounded by every kid who hangs out at the local comic book shop, but you will have just as much fun as they do. Writer/director Matthew Vaughn and co-writer Jane Goldman (based on the comic book series from Mark Millar) create a movie full of energy, moments that inspire the audience to cheer, and some drama that will have you crying. However, the tone does get a bit muddled.

It's campy at times.

It's dramatic at times.

It's an action movie at times.

It's not always smooth as Kick-Ass moves between all of the pieces and tones.

Surprisingly, Kick-Ass is the least interesting character in the movie. In a way, the Hit Girl and Big Daddy story could have been a movie all unto itself, as Kick-Ass gets relegated further and further to the background until the big climax, where Vaughn and Goldman force him back into the flow of the rest of the story. To be honest, they could have ditched Kick-Ass and made this into a movie featuring Hit Girl and all would have been right with the world.

As Hit Girl, Moretz steals the show with the character's outrageous vocabulary and death-defying ways, while Cage is hilarious and loving as Big Daddy. His character has the best backstory, and the character gives him a chance to use all of those quirky and wild acting antics that don't always work in every project (like that awful Bad Lieutenant film), but are perfect for this movie.

Most of all, Kick-Ass is known right now for lots of controversy over Hit Girl, the language she uses and the massive amount of bloody violence in her scenes, but that is the point. When you see the movie, you learn that how she has been raised has been tainted and impacted her childhood. One character makes an appeal to her father about it. Sure, the kid uses words even I am afraid to utter, but her actions are pointed out as being wrong and unhealthy.

Kick-Ass sets up a sequel right at the end, so don't be surprised if we are talking about this group of characters again.

Kick-Ass is rated R for strong brutal violence throughout, pervasive language, sexual content, nudity and some drug use - some involving children.