![]() ![]() There’s a lot that’s right about Kick-Ass, particularly the performances from Cage, Moretz and Mark Strong and Michael Rispoli as the intriguingly pragmatic bad guy and his main henchman respectively. My reaction to Kick-Ass the second time around was pretty much the same as the first time around. The film’s romanticization of Hit-Girl’s violent sociopathy feels not just gross but irresponsible, particularly during a scene where the CHILD dresses up in a Catholic school girl outfit as bait to attract the attention of a potential kiddy-diddler she then executes swiftly and without remorse. It feels like the film is giving the audience permission to think that the potty-mouthed, blood-thirsty vigilante WHO IS MANY, MANY, MANY YEARS BENEATH THE AGE OF CONSENT is, in fact, kind of hot, or extremely hot. A better film would push him to the side or cut him out altogether and focus on the infinitely more charismatic and compelling supporting characters, most notably Chloë Grace Moretz’s instantly iconic eleven year old assassin Hit-Girl and her doting father/mentor in the ways of murder Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage). He is the title character and the lead yet he’s also quite possibly the least interesting character in the film. ![]() But Kick-Ass biggest problem is its title character.Īs blandly realized by Aaron Taylor Johnson, homemade superhero Kick-Ass, AKA nerdy high school student Dave Lizewski is a blank slate, a dope, a sorry excuse for a protagonist and a hero. Kick Ass has a lot of problems, beginning with a tone that’s smug, self-satisfied and transgressive in the most juvenile possible sense. Instead it’s self-consciously “edgy”, extreme and in your face the same way a Mountain Dew commercial from the 1990s might be. This is not your daddy’s superhero movie. Kick Ass exists for the sake of empty, facile shock. Studios don’t want to take that kind of chance with marquee names, so R-rated superhero movies have generally focussed on lesser known characters like the various homemade crime-fighters of Mark Millar and John Romita Jr.’s Kick Ass.Ī PG-13 version of Kick Ass would make about as much sense as caffeine-free Red Bull. Superhero movies dominate pop culture but “edgy” R-rated provocations are unmistakably the minority. Even Christopher Nolan’s dark, gritty and violent Batman trilogy was PG-13, as was the even darker, even grittier and MUCH longer 2022 reboot starring Robert Pattinson.Įven after Deadpool’s success, an R-rated superhero movie is a risky proposition. Read previous entries in the column here, listen to the podcast here, pledge to the Travolta/Cage Patreon at this blessed web address and finally follow us on Twitter at ĭespite the seemingly game-changing success of 2016’s Deadpool, R-rated superhero movies remain an anomaly. Soon they have every gang in the city out to get revenge and they must make their way across the city to their own turf.The Travolta/Cage Project is an ambitious, years-long multi-media exploration of the fascinating, overlapping legacies of Face/Off stars John Travolta and Nicolas Cage with two components: this online column exploring the actor’s complete filmographies in chronological order and the Travolta/Cage podcast, where Clint Worthington, myself and a series of fascinating guests discuss the movies I write about here. The Warriors are mistakenly fingered for the killing of a gang leader. The infamous DJ Whorocdaspot will be coming down from Philly to set things off with a guest set at 7:30pm, plus there will be food options and other amenities nearby.Īt each CAN I KICK IT? new and cult classic martial arts and action films are screened, and scored live (scene-by-scene) with a mix of hip-hop, funk, rock, jazz and more mixed live by DJ 2-Tone Jones.Ī turf battle between New York City street gangs that rages from Coney Island to the Bronx. Come out on July 12th for a very special screening of the cult classic '80s gang-inspired film that went on to inspire hip-hop culture in so many ways. This year's series is sponsored by Whole Foods and will take place every Tuesday through June and July at the newly renovated Franklin Park. The CAN I KICK IT? Downtown DC Summer Flicks series presented by Shaolin Jazz and the Downtown DC BID is back for another season of new and cult classic action flicks remixed with an unforgettable soundtrack.
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