Kick-Ass DVD: Review By T.Clark

It's a rarity that I see a movie in which I want to stand up and cheer at the end, and I think that can be said for any film buff. Kick-Ass is one of those movies...if you can contain yourself until the end, that is, because there are numerous instances throughout this film where you will want to give a standing ovation during said instance.

The film is a hyper-violent, "real world" look at what would happen if a teenage boy decided to dress up as a super hero and fight crime. But to call it a "real world" look without using the quotations would be doing the movie a dishonor. Yes, this kid is put in situations that would probably happen if he were to dress up in a green jumpsuit just for the hell of it, but its like watching real world situations through Snyder-goggles. These are, of course, the equivalent to beer goggles, but instead of seeing the world in an inebriated state, you see it as if you were watching a Zack Snyder movie.

This hyper-realistic world is the perfect setting for a story like this, in which you have drug dealers led by Mark Strong, a little girl killing-machine and her Batman-looking father played by a brilliant Nicolas Cage, sex, cursing, and a whole lot of gun fire. When 300 hit in 2007, it gave new meaning to the stylized R-rated action flick. Sine then we've had similarly-styled films, such as Wanted in '08, Watchmen in '09(whether that's a good thing or bad thing is for another discussion), and now Kick-Ass at the beginning of this new decade. Out of all those movies, Kick-Ass is the best. It's the perfect combination of action and humor, with a little sadness thrown in for good measure, and a story that wraps all of these elements in an immensely enjoyable soft taco of excellence.

The film is based on a comic book series by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. I haven't read this so I don't have anything to compare this to besides the other films I listed...I didn't read 300 or Wanted, either, and I loved those movies. I can't say how closely director Matthew Vaughn adapted this to the source material, but I don't think I have to. This movie rocked my world to tell ya the truth, and I'm kinda glad I didn't read the comic beforehand because I probably wouldn't have been as blown away. Vaughn really knew what the hell he was doing when filming this thing. The action sequences are top notch. Every scene that Hit Girl and Big Daddy are in costume, you know sh*t is gonna go down, and it's gonna go down in the best way imaginable.

In one particular scene, Hit Girl is carrying out one of her numerous assaults on a bunch of drug dealers. Vaughn pulls out every trick in his utility belt of goodness to make this scene kick-ass, going from a first-person shooter perspective, to flashing lights that could very well give someone a seizure. It's hard to make out exactly what is happening, but it's still awesome, and it's the chaos and intensity of this scene that makes it so perfect. The other action scenes don't quite live up to this quality, in which Vaughn utilizes the standard slo-mo, blood splatter technique...but it's no less cool, and the circ*mstances taking place to bring about the scene I detailed rightly garner it a little more creativity.

However, it's not just killing people in Snyder-style that make Hit Girl and Big Daddy the stars of the film. Their interactions with each other are tremendously humorous for the most part. It's an outrageous father-daughter relationship that will pull plenty of laughs out of the audience, and you have the performances of Nicolas Cage and Chloe Moretz to thank for that. When Big Daddy and Hit Girl aren't in costume, these two-a veteran actor with what I'm considering a comeback performance and a young actress with a breakout performance-give humanity to their characters...it's a deranged sort of humanity, but humanity nonetheless. Cage gives his best performance in a long time, fully embracing the vengeful and awkward father by day, and the Adam West-like speaking vigilante Big Daddy by night. This is the type of character Nic Cage should be playing in every movie: the obsessive, cast out by society character. The type of character you know would be labeled as crazy in reality but who you want to root for in the film. What is he doing playing a normal, "heroic" womanizer in the National Treasure movies? As for Moretz, if she doesn't have a career in acting after this film, something's wrong. Protest groups can shove it.

The rest of the cast is great also. While I've been talking about Cage and Moretz and their respective characters, Aaron Johnson gives a convincing performance as Dave Lizewski, a.k.a. Kick-Ass, capturing the typical teenage guy. It's not a stretch to say he's a cliche version of what we've seen in other movies, though: a nerdy kid with a lust for a certain girl who's out of his league, but he still plays the part well. Mark Strong gives an excellent performance as the big bad of the film. He's just awesome, there's no better way to describe him.

Overall, Kick-Ass may seem like nothing by a hyper-violent action movie, but its characters give the movie some substance, even if that substance is glazed over with the chocolate syrup that is blood and sex. The film shifts from humorous to a little darker in the second act, but it's no less funny or great. You can find a message in this movie if you want to-that the world needs its heroes even if those heroes don't have super powers; that there needs to be people in this world willing to do the right thing for no other reason than to just do the right thing. But you don't have to. You can just watch the movie for the satisfaction of seeing people get their brains shot out or guts ripped out. And that's the beauty of the film. You can try to find an underlying message or you can just watch the movie for the sake of having a good time-you will be satisfied either way. The movie's "title character" may not steal the show, but he's relatable, and there might come a point in the movie where you realize that there's so many characters that get equal attention, that the title may not refer to one person at all-it may just refer to the movie itself.

As mentioned, the extras are barely there. The only thing that I would even call a "special feature" is:

It's On! The Comic Book Origin of Kick-Ass

This extra is basically a "making of" the comic. While I would have liked to see a "making of" feature on the actual film, this feature is still interesting for a comic book reader, even if I haven't read the comic the film's based on. The best part? Mark Millar's Scottish accent. It's just so cool.

The only other "extra" worth mentioning is:

The Art of Kick-Ass

This is a really un-interesting slideshow-like feature consisting of different art pieces for the film, from on-set photos, to costumes, to storyboards. There's a closer look at the John Romita Jr. art for the in-film comic by Big Daddy, but it's still in slide show form. There's not commentary for any of this. It just involves you pressing the "forward" button on your remote a bunch of times, going through pictures that I could honestly care less about.

Beside these two extras, the only thing left is the option of audio commentary during the film by director Matthew Vaughn, which I suppose would be okay if you've seen the movie already a couple times, and a marketing archive that includes trailers for a film that you must obviously own. Woo-hoo.

*16X9 Widescreen 2.40:1DVD screen format

Like the comic, from what I gathered from the "It's On!" special feature, the film is a highly vibrant and colorful viewing experience. Overall, the picture is clear and pretty much perfect. The action may have had a bigger impact on the big screen, but hey, what are ya gonna do?

Nothing bad to say about the sound. If you have your volume up to a reasonable setting, it should be perfect.

The DVD case is packaged in a slide-over cover. Both share the same images. I would have liked to see an original picture for the front cover. The faces of the four main characters isn't that exciting for such an exciting movie, but it's not bad. The front cover is graced with a neat shot of the aforementioned four characters in their street clothes, with Mark Strong. Overall, not a bad package for a relatively disappointing DVD.

I loved the film, which is why I, if I had known about it, should have waited for the 2-disc special edition. I would have gotten a cooler package, an extra feature(one that actually matters-the making of the movie), and the satisfaction of knowing I had a special edition of one of my favorite movies. Oh, well. I give the DVD an overall 4 stars because of the lack of special features. As for the film itself, it's completely awesome, but since it's most definitely not a complex feature, you won't have to come back for multiple viewings to see what you might have missed...it's worth watching more than once, though, if you like the action scenes as much as me. Vaughn's audio commentary also gives something to come back for if you're into that kind of stuff. So, if you aren't a big fan of the movie but want to see it again, or if it's your first time seeing it, this is the perfect DVD for you. I suppose it's a good DVD for not being a special edition, but if you're a fan, I'd wait for that special edition.