Let me begin this one by talking about one of my biggest movie pet peeves (I'll write a whole article about these sometime in the future). I can not stand it when people forgive a horrible movie simply because it had "good action" and "stuff 'sploded real good". Sure, the ultimate goal of any piece of entertainment is to keep the audience entertained, but if it comes at the cost of a decent cohesive story and interesting characters can you really say it was worth it? What I'm proposing is that you CAN eat both sides of this delicious chocolate coin without having to give up anything in return. Don't go setting your standards too low here, folks; "Kick-Ass" is one of those rare movies that delicately balances all the elements together into a smorgasbord fit for a fleet of Vikings in the halls of Valhalla.
As you may or may not know, the film was adapted from a fairly popular comic book which was being published around the same time the film was in production. What hit theaters was a masterpiece that parodied the genre by deconstructing its tropes and being self-aware of the limitations and logistics of real life heroes. The movie was very funny, had some great action segments, and experimented with a lot of quirky, albeit, lovable new film ideas that pleased all but the most curmudgeonly of old cooks (here's looking at you, Roger Ebert). "Kick-Ass" gave audiences everything they could hope for in an action flick and raised it high above the competition by remembering to give us those all important materials of story telling: a structured narrative and interesting characters.
Without a doubt the movie follows a traditional three act plot that goes through the tried and true motions of a hero's journey. In act one, we are introduced to the nerdy comic book kid. We get to know about his life, what he enjoys, and most importantly we see his frustration with other people's lack to help others. Act two begins after the hero rises to the challenge and accepts his calling. We then spend our time being introduced to the supporting cast and allowing for the characters to go through some interesting moral dilemmas and confront some of their darkest moments. Managing to overcome their defeats, the hero goes on to defeat what ever evil threat or obstacle stood in their way in act three. After that its a done deal and we watch the credits roll. Simple, sweet, familiar, and no wasted time or awkward development of fourth or fifth acts.
To compliment the story we are also given characters we can relate to on a human level. The movie spends a large portion of its time lingering on the events of their daily lives and gives us a fleshed out map that illustrates every aspect of their psyche. Even the characters that are clearly meant as comical parodies seem strikingly human and realistic thanks to this effort to develop them as real people first and characters second.
This extra effort to go the distance and ensure all pieces of the puzzle are properly put into place is what set this movie apart from other mindless action schlock. No matter how mentally enfeebled we may think the average movie goer is, there is a portion of the brain that picks up on these subtle touches and recognizes them as the all important cherry that completes the cinematic sundae. "Kick-Ass" had everything most action movies have been failing to incorporate and as a result it managed to stick around as one of the top movies I remember watching in 2010.
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