Kick-Ass 2 Review

In 2010 the original Kick-Ass brought Mark Millar and John Romita’s comic kicking and screaming to the big screen; with it’s fun and chaotic take on real life superheroes it gained a massive cult following. Three years on and the sequel is now faced with matching or even besting its predecessor; inevitably there have been some casualties in shooting for this high point.

Kick-Ass 2 tells three stories at once that continue the plot from the previous film; the first is Kick-Ass/Dave’s (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) insistence on continuing to be Kick-Ass, this time he teams up with several other superheroes he inspired in a league called Justice Forever led by Colonel Stars and Stripes (Jim Carrey). Kick-Ass’s story did have some potential for introducing new characters but unfortunately aside from the Colonel and Dr Gravity, few of the new vigilantes are very developed or worth caring about. Meanwhile Hit-Girl/Mindy (Chloe Grace Moretz) promises to retire from vigilante work and instead faces new challenges in fitting into normal life. It’s a good change of pace from the previous film that puts Mindy in more down-to-Earth territory but it may also disappoint some audiences; it does take time for Hit Girl to return to all the action packed glory everyone loved in the original. Lastly and probably the most humorous of the bunch, Chris d’Amico (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) resolves to avenge his father’s death by building a super-villain army under the banner of ‘’The Mother-F**cker’’. Again apart from the humongous Mother Russia, none of the super-villains are developed meaning this plotline fails to match the original band of criminals ran by Chris’s father. Kick-Ass 2’s narrative also raises some eyebrows where similarities are concerned; when Justice Forever makes a raid on a mobster hideout, it’s a little like when Kick-Ass tried to take down a drug operation alone in the first film. When Kick-Ass is again captured by the mob it’s again up to Hit-Girl to save him. These links to the original make it difficult for Kick-Ass 2 to set itself apart from the original and in doing so it may not be as well-remembered as the first.

The performances of Kick-Ass 2 remain similar to the original though there are a few standouts in the cast; Christopher Mintz Plasse is hilariously unlikeable as ‘’The Mother-F**cker; although he isn’t as ruthless as his father, he is by all accounts a whiny, bratty teenager who deserves to be taken down a notch by the heroes. Chloe Grace Moretz is given the chance to be much more emotional in Kick-Ass 2 as her character and there’s a strong dual personality at work as Mindy is torn between a normal life and that of a vigilante. When things heat up towards the end of the film Aaron Taylor Johnson morphs from the teenager seemingly obsessed with his superhero life into a more serious protagonist bent on stopping d’Amico from throwing New York into chaos. Other roles do seem like a missed opportunity however; Jim Carry as Colonel Stars and Stripes is very charismatic and enjoyable but he isn’t given enough time to properly fit in alongside the other characters. The most disappointing character in the film is Lindy Booth as Miranda Swendlow/Night B**ch who seems present only to boot Dave’s previous love interest out of the way to become attached to Kick-Ass automatically, a huge shame considering how well Kate was woven into the plot of the original Kick-Ass.

Ultimately Kick-Ass 2 is a sequel that takes a step backwards; a lot of things audiences loved about the first, particularly the comedy are given in slimmer supplies here and often times it feels like an unfortunate rehash. It has entertaining action and does go in a new direction with some of its characters but better than the original it isn’t.

Rating: 3/5 Stars