Kick-Ass Reprised

I wanted to shine a spotlight to a portion of a post from May of 2010. In that post I reviewed some movies, including the movie Kick-Ass.  That movie is a favorite of mine, and it contains my all-time-most-favorite-character . . . Hit Girl.

Read this excerpt to gain further understanding into my character and what some consider  a very odd outlook to life.  But most of all read it to get motivated to watching this movie.  Know it is violent, the girl swears like a drunken sailor, but you should watch it just the same.

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. . . And that brings us to my favorite movie of the year.

A long time ago I saw little benefit to reproduction, and therefore I opted to be stingy with my genetic material, keeping it out of the genetic pool.  I might have opted different had I watched this movie during my fertile years, for who in their right mind would pass on the chance to raise their very own Hit Girl.  No one ever told me you could mold kids into efficient, cheerful, snarky killing machines.  Yes, I am speaking about the main reason to watch my favorite movie of the year, Kick-Ass.  A few minutes after we finished watching the rental I was on the net ordering my own copy of Kick-Ass.

I understand the movie is based on a comic, and purists out there will likely laud the paper medium, and find fault with the movie adaptation.   They will not sway me from my firm belief this was the best film I saw all year.  The best film I saw in the past few years.  In fact it ranks up there in my very short list of Most Favorites Ever.  MFE movies are an eclectic mix of movies spanning genres and decades, but have one thing in common.  They presented me not only with something new, but also with characters I wish I would have met in real life.   

Pre-refrigerator Indiana Jones, Quigly, the crew of Serenity, Jason Bourne, Leon, Agent 47, and so on.  And to that list, I now add Hit Girl.  In fact, she vaults to the top of the Most Lethal Good Guys list, and does so with little effort, a great attitude toward killing, and a dedication and fearlessness matched by few.

Of course, there is more to the movie than a slice-and-dice killer kid; there is a genuine attempt to bring people to task for their increasing unwillingness to act, get involved, take ownership of the very human responsibility of helping others, and for people’s reluctance to challenge wrongdoing.  Sure, it’s not a deep message, but it is presented with lots of humor, lots of bullets, and an over-abundance of squibs. 

The title character exemplifies the positive motivation of the would-be hero; a desire to help.  What motivates Kick-Ass is not revenge, or the responsibility associated with great power.  There is great line in the movie; ‘With no power, comes no responsibility.  Except, that wasn’t true’.  He knows he possesses no special power, as brought home by a very painful lesson at his first outing, but he perseveres.

Bid Daddy is somewhat flawed because he is motivated by revenge, but Hit Girl has a chilling innocence to her.  She is killing bad guys, and that’s just the way it is . . . or rather, from my point of view, how it should be.

There is no malice to it, no remorse, no angst; she understands the simple truth.  There are bad guys; they hurt and kill others, and that makes them fair sport. The casualness of the bad guys as they go about being bad guys is a great counter to Hit Girl’s casualness in taking them out; it’s just how things are.

I should mention . . . perhaps the best moments in the movie are those where the head bad guy, Frank D’Amico (well played by Mark Strong) attempts to comprehend the slaughter of his henchmen.  Unlike the bad guys in superhero movies, he is not the kind of stupid who goes up against a super-powered hero.  I’m sure were he challenged by a Superman or Spiderman, he would be smart enough retire, or move to another city.  But these are regular heroes who dare oppose him, and the concept is obviously foreign to him, as is the culling of his minions.

A large factor in me liking this movie is the heroes are not restricted by idiotic limitation such as self-imposed rules against killing bad guys.  And being regular people, there is no weakness to their powers; their power is their willingness to take action.  Once that decision is made, their determination is the only limiting factor.  Mind you, there are still weaknesses that can be exploited by the bad guys, but retribution is swift, deadly, and dealt by a little dynamo in purple hair and home-made regular-hero costume.

I know a lot of people do not like violence.  Many others object to coarse language.  Many will find it offensive to hear certain words spoken by an eleven-year old girl.  Do yourself a favor; get over all that, and enjoy one of the best movies of the year. 

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The movie is streaming on Netflix, and if you happen to watch it this evening, know I sit near the top of Monument Hill doing the same.

As usual, thanks for visiting, and for reading my stuff.

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