The film once again concerns itself with Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Dave Lizewski – AKA the wannabe super-hero Kick-Ass – and Chloe Grace Moretz’ Mindy Macready – AKA the actual super-hero Hit Girl. Also returning is Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Dave’s nemesis Chris D’Amico.
Dave’s exploits as Kick-Ass have inspired a raft of other home-made super-heroes to take to the streets – an army of lycra-clad Community Support Officers – and this burgeoning wave of light vigilantism spurs Dave into joining a super-hero team. He ends up with Jim Carrey’s Colonel Stars & Stripes, who gives the disparate, meandering “heroes” a focus and a cause.
While Kick-Ass is joining Justice Forever, Hit Girl has made a promise to her new guardian to be a normal girl and put Hit Girl to bed once and for all, while Chris D’Amico has given up on his super-hero mantle of Red Mist, and instead turns to super-villainy, under the name The Motherfucker.
First and foremost among the good of Kick-Ass 2 – as one might expect – is Chloe Grace Moretz, who once again belies her tender years with a performance of much maturity. Her attempts to be a real girl lend the film its heart, and provide a far more compelling storyline than the titular hero receives – Kick-Ass himself remains relatively uninteresting.
The other highlight is Mintz-Plasse, whose inept attempts at super-villainy are great fun – “My super-power is being rich as shit!” – until a baffling Iain Glen cameo shifts things from the comedic to the dark and savage. It’s the sort of wild shift in tone that keeps Kick-Ass unpredictable – one minute it’s Batman, the next it’s Mean Girls – and when they’re judged well, those shifts are a joy. Unfortunately, director/writer Jeff Wadlow has, for the most part, mishandled them here.
A sequence with a stick that makes people vomit and causes diarrhoea might have been amusing if played more subtly, but the graphic nature of it renders it embarrassing in a film that should aspire to more. A gag about an attempted rape being foiled because the villain can’t achieve an erection is similarly and spectacularly misjudged.
There’s much to enjoy about Kick-Ass 2 – there are plenty of nice touches (The Motherfucker’s lair is a hilarious exercise in excess, right down to the shark-tank) and enough geeky in-jokes, both obvious and understated, to keep fans happy – but they sit ill at ease alongside crude attempts at gross-out humour.
The plot features much discussion of what it means to be a hero, but none of it particularly goes anywhere. Or, rather, it doesn’t go anywhere new. The first Kick-Ass was a much needed, well, kick in the ass for the bloating super-hero genre; it was an awesome, unexpected, neon satire of the brooding, po-faced Batmans of the world.
Kick-Ass 2 falls into the trap of delivering the same, boring monologues about super-hero-dom that it should be satirising. It tries to make points about the ludicrous nature of being a hero in the “real world”, whilst simultaneously and deliberately presenting a world that is as far from “real” as anything seen in Marvel’s output.
Even the action falls somewhat short, as it feels like the film is one big set-piece short, and with nothing that compares to the visceral thrill of the fights from the first movie. It’s always great to see Hit Girl strut her stuff, but for the most part, she’s busy being Mindy Macready.
There is fun to be had: John Leguizamo’s attempts at dealing with The Motherfucker’s villainous nonsense are entertaining (and The Motherfucker’s costume – made from his late mother’s fetish gear – is the gift that keeps on giving), while the series has a knack for amusing names (Genghis Carnage, anyone? The Toxic Mega-Cunts?)
On the whole, though, Kick-Ass 2 is a disappointment; not a disaster, but certainly not worthy of standing in the shadow of its predecessor. Jim Carrey – sadly underused here – has since disowned the film for being too violent. While that’s not likely to be too much of an issue for the film’s intended audience, there are unfortunately plenty of other reasons to disown this frustrating, missed opportunity.
Released in UK cinemas on Wednesday 14 August 2013.