KICK-ASS 2 comes in below its predecessor; it's funny and violent but doesn't have both of those in spades like KICK-ASS. It does thankfully continue to gloss over and remove the abhorring elements of Mark Millar's original comic-book series, though a few are still creepily hinted at. The sequel has a nice look at the power of social media when dealing with "real" superheroes, how every scumbag walking the streets has a smart-phone cameraman to record their beat-down of a costumed individual or to proclaim their exploits through their Facebook page. Unfortunately, this novel idea is often hidden underneath writer-director Jeff Wadlow's cribbing of the major elements from MEAN GIRLS and THE DARK KNIGHT. Not exactly the right duo to bring in both male and female audiences nor those who enjoyed the first one.
Considering that Hit-Girl (Chloë Grace Moretz) is the top-tier superhero in this gritty world, she is the one who must be severely nerfed and separated from the proceedings until the end. Hit-Girl a.k.a. Mindy is now under the guardianship of a friend of her father's (Morris Chestnut), who asks her to forgo the crime-fighting antics in order to make up for her lost time as a youth. Because she promises him, and this film wants us to foolishly believe in the power of a promise, Mindy comes under the wing of the high school's queen bee (Claudia Lee) and begins to fall for a One Direction parody group (the ravishing Juicy J) and dance squad practices. Strangely on the other side of the school, David a.k.a. Kick-Ass (Aaron-Taylor Johnson) is somehow still a senior. Like Mindy, he has stopped being a crime-fighter but the plethora of people inspired by his actions has him scratching at the itch. After first teaming-up with the bat-wielding Doctor Gravity (Donald Faison), he later helps form the Justice Forever group, consisting of others who wish to seek universal peace after past injustices (the kid-mourning duo "Remembering Tommy", the gay and mask-less Insect Man) and rounded out by a born-again mafia enforcer Colonel Star and Stripes (Jim Carrey). Meanwhile, Chris D'Amico (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), the former Red Mist, is still lamenting how Kick-Ass killed his father in the first film. He wishes to supervise the first super villain mega-group and get his revenge on the do-gooder, all under his new guise as The Mother Fucker.
As you can tell by the last costumed name, this film is vulgar and pretty juvenile. It at least has people call out on this comic-book stupidity, such as how Chris names nearly all of his subordinates by their race (Black Death, Genghis Carnage), much to the chagrin of "his Alfred" Javier (John Leguizamo). There are even some jokes, particularly in one infamous scene, that are customary for a Adam Sandler joint but actually have that narrow moral edge where it is both harrowing and hilarious. Commenting on the film's violence is a bit harder to judge. There are times when the film fails at replicating the punkish, shaky-cam action tone from the first film. That's what happens when you remove Matthew Vaughn and replace him with the guy who did NEVER BACK DOWN. The gore is noticeable tone-downed, meaning less arm and head slicing, or is sadly clad heavily in CGI work. On the other hand, there are many brutal takedowns and well-executed violent touches, most notably a badass gauntlet match between the cops and a villainess in the suburbs.
The biggest problem with the picture is that the story is something you've seen before because it truly is. Mindy has to contend with not-Rachel McAdams and the stereotypical high-school politics before she can don a cape again and has to settle the score with something more embarrassing than being hit by a speeding bus. Meanwhile, David is sulking like Bruce Wayne, getting into debates about whether he is helping or hurting the world, and often has to watch as bad things happen all around him by a chaotic madman. If the Nolan-esque pieces somehow escaped you, like THE DARK KNIGHT, there is a huge body count when it comes to the cops. However, it one of the truly stupid moments of the film, instead of going after The Mother Fucker and his crew for this heinous carnage, the police instead just take down the vigilantes who have been helping them, which then leads to more despair and more dead cops. Why was this plot hole added to the script? Because it was in Mark Millar's book but all of things that made it make sense there is lost in the translation. Also, there's a character who, if this film was somehow under the Hays Code, would have been killed for their betrayal yet he/she is gravely given a free pass in the end.
The cast is fine though, except for Mintz-Plasse, they often aren't helped by spending too much time in the drama instead of the comedy. Moretz is at least given more time to shine as an actress, continuing her promising career into adulthood. The film's showstopper and the new breakout star from the KICK-ASS franchise is Olga Kurkulina, a Ukrainian bodybuilder who plays The Mother Fucker's tag team partner, Mother Russia. She is the one who partakes in the entertainingly gruesome suburban fight and has more menace and slow-burn charisma than Ivan Drago. She is also one of the few people to pull off a rare feat in a superhero adaptation: she is a truly fearsome individual who can make a scantily clad female outfit work. All in all, and especially considering this summer's output, KICK-ASS 2 is a fun movie where the superheroes have some nobility but know when to prevent catastrophic damage. They are there to save citizens and not annihilate New York City.
FINAL REVIEW: 3 / 5
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