Kick Ass

Trailers have 2 very important purposes, studios use them to highlight the best parts of the movies before they are released in order to entice audiences. More often than not we get so overwhelmed by the bits and pieces that we saw in the trailer we tend to hold our hopes way too high only to crash in disappointment (think the remake of Clash of the Titans). Sometimes the trailers act like a covert agent, they only show you what they want you to think the movie is about, but upon seeing the actual movie you realize you gotten more than you bargained. And the surprise in store does make that particular experience lot more memorable.

Kick Ass is one of those movies that if you see it from the trailer, looks like another typical superhero / teen-coming of age / comedy spoof movie that moulds itself closely with the likes of Spiderman. The story tells how Dave, a high school teen who decides to take his superhero dreams to a new realistic level and become an actual masked crusader. The premise is almost like 2008's Superhero Movie, which happens to be an actual spoof of Spiderman. But director Matthew Vaughn took great pains to steer Kick Ass away from any cliched whirlpool and offered us a fresh take of how an actual teen would deal with the issues of becoming an actual masked vigilante, at the same time dealing with issues such as family, friends, love and sex. On Dave's first attempt at crime fighting for instance, he actually gets himself so badly beaten by the thugs that he ends up in hospital. Though it was a pathetic end for our crime fighter, it does set Kick Ass apart from the other superhero movies and does away with the concept of invincibility. It's almost like watching a teenage version of Watchmen.

What worked for Kick Ass is how the director was able to skillfully project the anxiety of Dave's secret identity and his teenage desires altogether, yet never trapping itself to over indulgence at the expense of the story. Instead he led the different characters drive the plot ahead and in the proceed of that propelled the story to different heights, that in the second half began to take on a darker tone. Young Chloe Moretz gave a stellar performance as Hitgirl, who was trained from childhood by his father to become a masked vigilante. She is the martial arts expert who slices and shoots her enemies without any moral hesitation. It's an unexplainable feeling when you watch her cut her enemy down with lullaby music playing in the background. Or the way Nicholas Cage shoots his own daughter to make her overcome her fear of bullets. Kick Ass not only steers clear of the stereotypical gags, it dives head down to show us what we long wanted to expect out of real superheros.....real danger!

Nothing is atypical as far as Kick Ass is concerned, the performance by the cast sublimely fits the childish tone at once and then subtly switches gear as it gets darker. Mark Strong who plays the drug kingpin finally seems to be having fun with his character. He does away with his usual stoic performance this time, instead his villain is a father figure who struggles with the upbringing of his adolescent child, managing his ineffective thugs and dealing with the superhero threats. His muddled, confused expression is simply a joy to watch. Kick Ass is a refreshing and entertaining take on a popular movie theme that we felt may have seen it all. But the way the story unfolds and how the characters are written does make it seem like we are here for the first time and it is definitely enjoyable to be surprised like that. So don't always believe the trailers, sometimes the movie may turn out to be good afterall!