It's got a few problems but we love it for them
Let me start off with saying that I have never read the comic book of Kick-Ass. I've never been inclined to read much of writer Millar's work and sometimes Romita, Jr.'s art just doesn't do it for me. So I kind of had the benefit of going into this with "clean" eyes, looking at the film just as a film, and disregarding whether or not it is a "good" adaptation.
From a non-comic book point of view, this is a decent film. The first half in particular had just the right amount of humour, and the writing was tight. There were some great little comic-book references, and I think the particular comic-book aesthetics (such as the captions when there was a change of scene) worked pretty well. Casting was good, especially that of Chloe Moretz as hit-girl, and as mentioned earlier, the writing for the characters was excellent.
However, Kick-Ass experiences some difficulties in the second half, when there is a fairly drastic change in tone. Whereas the first half of the film features a distinct comedy/black humour tone, the second becomes somewhat more serious. You can literally feel the change as it happens; I looked at my watch around about the time that I noticed things were getting a little darker, and it was slap bang in the middle. It's like the writers thought 'right, we've got all the funny stuff out of the way, now let's get to some serious business'.
My problem here is not the fact that the film goes from comedy-drama to serious-drama with some peril thrown in for good measure, it's the ambivalence between the two that left me rather conflicted. Christopher Mintz-Plasse, who plays Red Mist, has stated that the thing about the violence in the film is that it's all funny, it's all good. This is fine in the first half, when the violence is clearly in a comical context and it is funny; it's black humour. But the problem is that this film turns from funny violence to serious violence so rapidly that it doesn't give the viewers a chance to adapt to the new tone, and so it's difficult to know how to react when the characters that you've spent an hour getting to know and love are being set on fire. Also, I think the writers maybe wrote the post-1-hour violence still with the comical tone in mind, but this too is unclear. This leads to a whole lot of confliction. The person next to me, at one point, was laughing, whilst I was recoiling in horror at what was happening (because due to the writing, you do actually end up caring for a good number of these characters). It would have been fine to have the serious tone, if they had relied more on verbal humour to ease the tension up (which they did do to an extent, but the violence kind of overthrew it). I have absolutely no problem with violence, but tone here is everything. What we essentially experience is a serious case of emotional whiplash which is less than enjoyable.
Also, clocking in at just under 2 hours, Kick-Ass is in need of a small trim, especially the aforementioned second half. Nearer to the end, it's clear how strongly director Vaughn was influenced by the work of Tarantino. This was unneccessary as Vaughn is a fine director in his own right and he doesn't need to reach over and do homages to someone who, in my opinion, has had his heyday.
Finally, Nicolas Cage, as always, makes an unintentionally funny performance, recycling much of his 'No, not the bees!!' exhibition from the Wicker Man 2006 remake. I can't stand Nicolas Cage, and it's questionable what the hell he was doing in this film. People always say 'but it's Nicolas Cage, what were you expecting?', but really, no more excuses Nic, just go away.
Overall, though, Kick-Ass did a good job. I was laughing all through the first half (and some of the second), and I think as a whole it's a fairly tight film. Good performances from all (except Cage) and it's definitely the most entertaining film I've seen so far this year (I know it's only March, but still...). The animated segment by Romita was a welcome addition, and gives the film even more of a comic feel whilst expanding the characters and story. Despite its pitfalls, I really enjoyed it, which is actually its biggest feat. Normally you'll find me nitpicking all the things that are wrong with these sorts of films which usually demote them into the "average"-category. This didn't happen with Kick-Ass. It's a great film, I'm nearly inclined to give it 4½ . I actually came out of this in a great mood, so I guess it qualifies as a "feel-good" movie, huh?
