While the film made a valiant effort at the wry, black comedy that made the original famous, it failed to recapture the shocking humor of the first "Kick-Ass" and instead falls back on the superhero sequel cliches that it so desperately mocks.
The story takes place shortly after the first film with Dave Lizewski (Aaron Taylor-Johnson, "Anna Karenina") bored with his life of retirement from being Kick-Ass, and Mindy Macready (Chloe Grace Moretz, "Dark Shadows") struggling with having a life outside of her Hit-Girl career. When Mindy drops out of their plans to partner up at the behest of her guardian (Morris Chestnut, "The Call"), Kick-Ass joins a team of wannabe heroes led by the slightly psychotic Colonel Stars and Stripes (Jim Carrey, "The Incredible Burt Wonderstone"). Meanwhile, the spoiled former Red Mist (Christopher Mintz-Plasse, "The To-Do List") plots revenge against Kick-Ass for the death of his father.
If you can tell just by the plot summary, "Kick-Ass 2" is a bit of a hot mess when it comes to the story. Aside from the fact that there are several plot lines going on (including one particularly aggravating teen chick flick subplot with Hit-Girl and a group of popular high school girls), the writing is just a mess.
The focus on the Mindy's high school sub plot takes the spotlight for much of the film--which, to be honest, is not the most captivating story--causing much of Dave's development to be pushed aside. The film tries to juggle Dave and Mindy as the two main characters (possibly because of Hit-Girl's popularity), but the story becomes incredibly unbalanced because of it.
The script seems to be going through the motions of what it deems to be the essence of the original film's success: crude language, dry humor and meta pop culture references. But it lacks the barebones magic of the first film--it's no longer a novelty. While the first "Kick-Ass" was new and bold, "Kick-Ass 2" succumbs to sequel-itis--it's shinier, it's bigger and it's louder.
There is a hollow success in every joke that lands right, and every person who gets stabbed in the hand. "Kick-Ass 2" seems to have embraced the sort of hyper violent vision that the original "Kick-Ass" had made a true satire out of.
This is not to knock the cast though. They are perhaps the strongest part of the film, even the one-dimensional characters who get little development other than a sharp line or an awesome death. Chloe Grace Moretz has grown into one of the most versatile actresses of her generation, and Aaron Taylor Johnson's beautiful, emotional and physical performance is transformative. Everyone else, unfortunately, is a bit of a caricature. But that's the fault of the writing and the cramped cast rather than their talents.
Although "Kick-Ass 2" had some bright spots of brilliance, it mostly suffered from its over-indulgent script and unnecessary high school subplots. It's a shame that bigger doesn't always mean better.
hbui@theeagleonline.com
