Wednesday 30 March 2011

Kick-Ass: Blood, Guts and Swearing …

*Parental Advisory: Explicit Content*

Hmmm …

That was something to hear: I’ve got the TV on in the background.

Just so you know, I’ve got a BBC 4 documentary on, in the background, called Time To Remember: they’ve just covered the abdication crisis

Hmmm …

Nice to actually hear Edward 8th’s speech …

»»•««

Lets get moving on, shall we … ?

Yes, lets …

Now you’ve probably noticed it’s Wednesday, haven’t you … ?

And probably worked out, of course, that yesterday was Tuesday.

And no, that doesn’t mean that Ruby was hanging around.

It’s gotten to be something of a regular thing, now, that me, Movie Night Adrian and Kevin D all get together to catch a film.

Joined, last night, by Kevin’s wife, Tootles Sarah, and Kevin D’s copy of something he wanted to share with me and Adrian.

The 2010, Matthew Vaughan directed comic book adaption that is Kick Ass.

Which is …

Hmmm …

Actually quite colourful … !!

»»•««

Actually, that’s possibly understating it …

Kick Ass tells the story of every-day teen, Dave Lizewski — played by Aaron Johnson — who decides to emulate his heroes by donning a costumes and fighting crime. Starting with a pair of local muggers.

And who finds his super-hero alter-ego, Kick Ass, really taking off, after becoming involved in a fight with some local drug-dealers that gets filmed … and posted to YouTube.

Which is when his rather geeky attempts at fighting crime get complicated. By the simple fact he’s not the only person in New York to be wearing a strange costume.


»»•««

Hmmmm …

Now, I’ve got to confess, I’m actually quite impressed — although with some reservations — with Kick Ass.

As you can probably tell from that clip, the character of Hit Girl — played by Chloë Moretz — is an absolutely foul-mouthed and emotionally damaged character.

But also the one character that — going by the Wikipedia and IMDb entries about the film —has had the most positive fan reaction: including several positive comments from Adrian, himself. Usually, that’s a good sign a film maker has a hit on their hands!

Actually, I think I can understand that: Hit Girl’s possibly one of the stronger female character’s I’ve seen in genre fiction, ranking up there with River Song, Servalan and — relevantly, I think — Tiffany Aching, in Terry Pratchett’s Chalk arc of Discworld novels*.

Saying that … ?

I’m also very aware that her language is what some of us will consider to be … …

Vernacular, to say the least.

Several uses of the F word along with one use of the M word …

And one use of of the C word, as well.

I know at least one person I know who — at a guess — would definitely object: I’d love to see his reaction to the question I’ve put on Facebook about it …

At any rate, I can see why Kick Ass got the 15 rating it did!

Kevin D even admitted that that one word is usually enough to justify an 18: I can’t say I’m surprised, there, actually.

Especially considering it triggered a post-film natter that went in all sorts of directions: all the way from the sort of language that justifies various ratings, all the way through to the fact various countries gun-laws allow children of all sorts of ages to own seriously nasty weaponryº.

»»•««

Phew … !

However …

However, I think that’s where I’m going to leave things.

As Debbi was just reminding me, it is getting late, over here … !

Before I do, though … ?

Well …

I’ll let Kevin and Adrian add their comments in, later, as and when.

But will tell you I felt Kick Ass justified this:

★★★☆


Actor

Rôle

Aaron Johnson

Dave Lizewski/Kick-Ass

Christopher Mintz-Plasse

Red Mist

Nicolas Cage

Damon Macready/Big Daddy

Chloë Moretz

Mindy Macready/Hit-Girl

Christopher Mintz-Plasse

Chris D'Amico/Red Mist

Mark Strong

Frank D'Amico









* They, along with The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, are the only entries in the Discworld to be aimed specifically at younger readers.

º Both Adrian, Kevin and Sarah made the very good point that several items in an average family kitchen can be lethal: but that still leaves me uncomfortable. After all, here in the UK, children as young as 10 can apply for shotgun licenses. And Brenda Spencer, the girl who committed the I Don’t Like Monday shootings, was given a gun for Christmas, just over a month before shooting her way to notoriety back in 1979. At the age of 16.

4 comments:

Debbi said...

I'm nabbing that video and posting it on my Facebook page. :)

Thanks!

Anonymous said...

This film is the nuts dude. i do object to the use of the c-word but thats because im generally not fond of the word.
Its a breath of fresh air if i'm honest. It was a lot of fun, but still had a good story line with strong characters whihc were played by some great actors.
THe only thing that put me off as a visual was someone that looked like batman using guns.
But all in all its a cracking film :)

Nik Nak said...

The trouble is, Peter, you SAY that … 

But, in his early years, the Bat had very little compunction about using pistols.

Anonymous said...

Really? I only know batman from the movies to be honest mate.