Movie review: 'Kick-Ass 2' scores A+ for bloody adult entertainment

Two things to know about this sequel to Kick-Ass (2010): one, it’s Rated R-16 by the MTCB and, two, because of its rating, adult themes abound through out the movie.

The first is meant to warn parents who think this is another Walt Disney/Marvel/DC superhero adaptation and caution them against bringing their little tykes; you’ll just get stopped and turned away at the cinema. The second may be a tricky concept for those adults who think that just because there are people getting mauled and getting off on making rape jokes, that this is the same kind of heavy handed dramatic Chris Nolan kind of endeavor that made Batman gritty and noir-ish.

We open in the aftermath of the first movie, a few years later, where Kick-Ass is no more and his real-life face David Lizewski (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) is living a very bored, retired life as a high school upperclassman.

Meantime, Mindy Macready (Chloe Grace Moretz) has been remitted to the custody of her guardian and her father’s ex-partner, Sergeant Marcus Williams. She’s going to the same school but as a freshman.

In the wake of both their exploits and the exposure they got online and through mainstream media, their insane bravery inspires a new wave of self-made masked crusaders. One of the most prominent cells is called Justice Forever, led by Colonel Stars and Stripes.

Where Kick-Ass is having a crisis of conscience (how can I let all the good I did pass me by when everybody else is dressing up and being superheroes?), Hit Girl is having a crisis of identity (how can I be forced to live the life of a normal teen girl when I know 99 and one ways to kill people?).

Set against both of them is the rise of a bold new antagonist: the former Red Mist, or Chris D'Amico (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), the child of fallen crime lord Frank D’Amico, now reborn as The Mother F%&*^r. The MF wants nothing more than revenge for the death of his father (by RPG in Kick-Ass’s hands, if you recall) and he begins recruiting his own posse of supervillains.

He calls them The Toxic Mega C*nts. And boy, do they ever live up to their name.  

As Kick-Ass joins forces with Justice Forever and finds his calling amid the heroes he paved the way for, the TMCs hunt down the amateur heroes’ secret identities and lairs in a very violent fashion. For one thing, they use guns and they kill people. The MF is not, as you can imagine, joking around.  

Which is a plot setup that, later on, all this lowdown evil doing forms the core of the moral justification that allows the viewer to enjoy and even condone the escalation of violence that culminates in the hero vs. villains hand-to-hand finale battle.

Moral gray areas

We can say: well, the villains started it. We can say: they did worse and violated the unspoken superhero  code of no guns so they deserve all this whooping. There are even allusions to old bones of political contention here. Consider: former-mob-hitman-turned-born-again-Christian Colonel Stars and Stripes of Justice Forever, and the totally ripped and ultra-violent cannibal Mother Russia who belongs to The TMCs.

The Colonel (and Jim Carrey is great in this role in spite of his later protestations) is a great straight man foil to the moral ambiguity of Kick Ass and the other superheroes, who just want to do good and do it while in costume. But the character also clues us in on the dangers of patriotism taken to extreme, where love for American values comes close to blind zealotry.

Meantime, Mother Russia (Olga Kurkulina) is evil for money dressed in a red bikini, revelling in its own power. And such power it is when, as one of the villains beholds this jacked up woman decimate several police cars and officers who’s just confessed she costs $50,000 a month plus expenses, he screams “She’s totally worth it!” Even the MF balks at her lack of empathy when she elects to kill Colonel Stars and Stripes’ dog.

Razor-sharp socio-politcal commentary

Millarworld (the comics multiverse that Mark Millar created and who penned the Kick-Ass original material) employs generous use of sarcasm and reference comedy that would border on parody if it didn’t contain astute socio-political commentary as sharp as razors.

If you've seen the first movie, then you’ll be familiar with this milieu’s tone and scope. In the trailer, you can clearly witness Mindy shooting Dave in the chest just like Big Daddy did to her (to get him used to the impact), but this time she shoots Dave in the back again with a bigger caliber handgun. That’s the kind of humor found here. So, sure, this movie can crack a smile.  

Which is likely why all the guns, laughs, and fists may well obscure the sharper points this movie is trying to make. Some of it may very well fly over the heads of more than half the viewers. It doesn’t matter, though. It’s there for those who have the wherewithal to dig.

Despite this, all the blood and death does tend to shock. You can’t underplay that. It is exactly the reason Jim Carrey (who plays Col Stars and Stripes) later did a 180 and refused to promote the movie as per his tweet declaring, "I did 'Kickass' a month b4 Sandy Hook and now in all good conscience I cannot support that level of violence."

Better minds than mine (and, notably, with access to people like Millar) have already tackled the controversy that pertains to the hoo-haa that is Millar’s alleged pejorative use of sexual assault, racial epithets, and ultra-violence bordering on gore.

Plus, I have only begun to read the source comics, so all I can safely say is that this film lives up to its title. Yes, there is much kicking of ass, profanity, and melee combat that turns gruesome at some points—including creative use of death by lawnmower. It is also a very fun film to watch.

Imperfect spectacle, great attention to detail

As good as the spectacle is, this one is far from perfect. The directorial attempts to create drama and tension in the personal lives of Dave and Mindy during their high school scenes often jangles, with some genuine opportunities for emotiveness, bypassed all too quickly. For one thing, I can’t believe Dave ditched his girlfriend Katie Deauxma (“Nikita’s” Lyndsy Fonseca) so quickly and with so little preamble.

So, no, the violence doesn’t bother me and anybody who’s enjoyed a Tarantino film won’t find anything out of place here, except maybe some sensitive racial epithets in our PC world violated.

Another thing I love about is the attention to detail that the very colorful costumes (and sometimes very revealing, in the case of Canadian beauty Lindy Booth as Night B*tch) and the cameos bring. Watch out for MMA legend Chuck Lidell and Iain Glen as Chris’s Uncle Ralph D'Amico, the de-facto leader of the crime family who frowns on Chris’s efforts to funnel the family money into a life of supervillainy.

Just to reiterate, if you’re squeamish, skip this one and go watch the Percy Jackson movie. Oh, and this is also where we get to find out: who is Hit Girl’s first kiss? — VC, GMA News


“Kick-Ass2” is Rated R-16 by the MTRCB and is now screening in all Metro Manila theaters.

Karl R. de Mesa is a regular contributor to GMA News Online. The views expressed in this article are the author's own.