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The open ending to Kick-Ass made way for a sequel, a sequel that three years later has finally arrived. Just in time since Chloë Grace Moretz can’t play Mindy/Hit-Girl forever, and since that was the original’s break-out character it’s hard to imagine a sequel without her. Here we follow Mindy’s exploits at school and how she’s trying to fit in. Dave (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) has retired as Kick-Ass but is training with Mindy to return and become a better hero. Chris D’Amico (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) is still very upset (understatement) about his father’s death, but is grounded by his mother. When he accidentally kills her he inherits his family’s money and uses his new-found wealth to become world’s first super villain: The Motherfucker.
I loved the original movie and had high hopes for this one, but sadly the movie doesn’t completely deliver. There are a number of reasons for this, mainly because the movie doesn’t know on what to focus. On one hand we have Mindy’s story about trying to fit in on school. Her scenes as Hit-Girl are still the strongest and funniest parts of the movie but Hit-Girl is put on the sidelines for the majority of the movie. We have Dave’s story of Kick-Ass trying to become a better hero and teaming up with a band of vigilante heroes under the command of Captain Stars and Stripes (Jim Carrey) while keeping his alter-ego a secret to his father who ends up suspecting his son of doing drugs. Then there’s the shenanigans of The Motherfucker who’s the most unconvincing super villain ever. That’s part of the gag, but his lunacy is played so over the top it becomes ridiculous in a bad way. In the first movie he just wanted to please his father who just so happens to be a mob boss, in this movie he’s trying to avenge his father but any sane moments are hard to be found.
A lot of people have been giving Nicolas Cage a hard time due to his questionable choices of movies but he was one of the best things of the first movie. Big Daddy was a great character with that Adam West impersonation, Jim Carrey could have run wild with his character but plays it fairly straight and is almost unrecognizable due to a nose prosthetic. Here’s a character that could’ve generated a lot of laughs but is wasted and with his limited screen time nothing more of a glorified cameo. Carrey should try to do better because in my book his last notable movie was Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I’m not expecting many emails about Mr. Popper’s Penguins.
Luckily there are some moments the movie actually hits the right notes. Motherfucker’s main henchwoman “Mother Russia” is a great nemesis and how she deals with a squad of policemen is as hilarious as it is brutal. Hit-Girl’s moments are still great as well as a lot of her scenes as Mindy. Loved the way she handled the girls at her school.
Kick-Ass 2 is decent, but fails to capture the magic and tight plot of the first movie. If there ever will be a part three, and they should decide fast because a 20+ year old Hit Girl is hardly as fun as a pubescent one, I hope the movie will have a more focussed plot and a character more like Big Daddy and less than Colonel Stars and Stripes.
