I've recently seen "Kick-Ass", and if you haven't yet, I very much recommend seeing it. However what interests me more about "Kick-Ass" is not so much the film, but the critical reception it's receiving. An argument has erupted over the film concerning the violence, more specifically concerning the violence inflicted upon but also inflicted by the 11 year old scene stealing wonder Hitgirl.
The film is called "Kick-Ass" which follows the exploits of a young teenage kid who has the idea of wearing a scuba suit and go out and fight crime in this real world of ours. Kick-Ass the character is truly the heart, the naivete, and the optimism of the film, but really the show belongs to Hitgirl played with gusto and confidence by 13 year old actress Chloe Morez. She played Joseph-Gordon Levitt's wise beyond her years younger sister in "500 Days of Summer". Each time she's on screen, Morez owns the film and makes more out of it than it deserves, she's the reason you should see this "Kick-Ass".
The problem arises with the fact that Morez is 13, her character in the film is 11, yet she does and says things that we shouldn't expect from a girl at her tender innocent age. Throughout the film, Hitgirl almost singlehandedly does away with an entire Mob syndicate, and not with any clean G-rated, or even PG-13 rated niceness. Her blows to her enemies are as harsh as anything Uma Thurman was asked to do in "Kill Bill". The difference of course is Thurman's a mature woman, while little Morez doesn't even have a learner's permit. Hitgirl's mouth isn't all that clean either, her words are about as harsh as her hits, which brings the question of appropriate behaviour in a film like this to the forefront.
"Kick-Ass" is without a doubt being aimed at its teenaged boy demographic, most of which were in the audience I saw the film with. At the end of the movie, I heard many of the guys say how much they thought it was awesome, yes awesome was the prominent word in the air. I'm not sure if they were at all sensitized to the idea of an 11 year old girl being beaten to a pulp, or stab a guy at point blank range, or saying the "C" word, I suspect to them, it was all cool.
However I will try not to speak for them, and speak only for myself. To me "Kick-Ass" worked just barely and that had a lot to do with Morez's natural charisma which she should be praised for. I for one believed in the world of Hitgirl, she fits in to the film better than anyone else, and I wish it was through her eyes we could see it. I can't say I was disturbed by the violence, because Morez makes Hitgirl almost indestructible, I always believed she was going to be okay, much like Uma Thurman's The Bride or Indiana Jones for that matter, she was the hero.
I don't blame the controversy on Morez or the character of Hitgirl at all, the blame should go to director Matthew Vaughn for making "Kick-Ass" into a tone deaf mess. Perhaps critics wouldn't pound so much on the film had Vaughn decided to make one kind of movie, but he tries to have his cake and eat it too. "Kick-Ass" is suppose to be what happens when a real life kid tries to be a super hero in the real world. We get some of that, but then Vaughn also wants to make a real super hero story involving cartoonish action sequences involving bazookas and jet-packs. All reality is thrown out the window when this happens, the only thing that makes it watchable is...Hitgirl, she just rolls with the punches, Morez sets her own tone and we're able to follow her.
I think what Vaughn should've done is gone completely the "Kill Bill" route and scratch all the reality. Perhaps it wouldn't have been as controversial if Hitgirl was in a truly comic book environment. The violence in "Kill Bill" was never taken seriously (only to those who didn't understand what Quentin Tarantino was doing). In that film, we see huge amounts of blood squirt out, but it's mostly seen as humorous or way over the top. Vaughn insists on reality constantly overtaking fantasy too many times, and that's where I think people are taking an issue.
Hitgirl in the comics. Remind you of "Kill Bill" at all?
I think I looked at "Kick-Ass" as a movie it should've been had a director with the right tone directed it. What saved it for me were the performances, particularly Morez. I would say after all, a young 11 year old girl who can take care of herself in a fight is ultimately a positive thing, perhaps it went to the extremes, however let's not pretend this was the first film to do so. If you want, you can go all the way back to Linda Blair in "The Exorcist" for children doing inappropriate things for the sake of the cinema.
However due to box office receipts it's unlikely "Kick-Ass" will be high in the minds of movie goers anyway. I suppose parents were smart and took their children to see a cartoon about a dragon instead of a foul-mouthed ultra-violent super-heroine in her tweens. It's hard to say who won this round, but it was enjoyable to be a part of the discussion.
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