Kick-Ass - Review

Kick-Ass was an interesting film. It was action packed and incredibly funny as expected, but it was also very surprising and took a brutal and realistic view of what would happen if regular people tried to be Super Hero's. And how basic is that plot by the way? It makes me wonder why this has not been done by now. Over 100 years of film making has run the industry out of ideas and that's what leads to unnecessary sequels and terrible remakes. It seems like something a person can come up with off the top of their head. But apparently this is a comic, which is pretty cool. As for it making it's way to the big screen, Well, there have been a number of complaints and articles about the film and over the top characters. So now that I've had the time to see the films, gather my thoughts and also listen to the reviews and complaints, I'm ready to lay down my thoughts on Kick-Ass (The Most Epic Super Hero Flick since Dark Night).





So about the plot, Like I said, It's Basic. Dave Lizewski is an average every day school geek who enjoys Comics and palling around with his buddies. He has a boring life. He soon decides that he is going to try to be a super hero. So he orders some sort of Green Ninja costume online and makes a Myspace page where people can ask for help if they need it. Before seeing this film, the first thing that came to mind is "How does this kid just go around beating up bad guys like it's nothing?" Well, the first time he fights crime he gets stabbed and then run over by a car. The only way to save him apparently, was to put metal plates in his body that protect his bones. A great idea but there could have been more thought put into it. So no he's unstoppable. He goes around town beating up bad guys and saving innocent people. It's not long before footage of him doing this is uploaded to the Internet. So he becomes famous around the city.



Mean while, Nick Cage's character and his daughter are going after an arch enemy from the past. This is where things get weird and a lot of the comedy is stripped away from the film. Damon (Super Hero name: Big Daddy) is an angry rambo type murderer who is training his daughter Mindy (Super Hero Name: Hit Girl) to be a skilled killer like him. It's insane. This little kid steals the show. Hit Girl is a Vulgar 12 year old girl who is unrealistically skilled when it comes to battle. I don't care as much about the swearing but when Hit Girl first appears in costume, I was completely thrown off. Up to this point in the film, we've seen nothing but comedy and good action fun. But now we have a 12 year old who is cutting people's legs off, shooting people in the mouth, Killing people. And all though she's not doing this to innocent people and she's fighting the bad guys, It's a bit disturbing. Especially since she is presented as a Super Hero. So as epic as these battle scenes between hit girl and the bad guys are, I still find them a bit disturbing.

But back to the story. Eventually the mobster Big Daddy and Hit Girl are going after, discovers that it's a "Super Hero" who's killing his men. And he goes after Kick-Ass, thinking he did it. This is where Red Mist comes to play. This would be the Mobster's son who is pretending to be a super hero in order to get Kick-Ass Where his Father wants him. Christopher Mintz-Plasse is a delight as always. However, He does not seem to be taking on a different role in this film. He's the same sort of character he always plays. Just put McLovin in a Super Hero costume and there you go, Red Mist. Still, he's awesome! Gotta Love Mclovin as a Super hero!

Past this point in the film. Things get hard core. There are epic battles, explosions, guns wars, Everything. People get torchored, Super Hero's die, it gets intense. Once again, it shows that an ordinary person cannot mess with the mob with out getting into big trouble. And that's something I love about this film. If all the Super Hero's where unstoppable it would be too cheesy and unrealistic. Not that Hit Girl is realistic but she's besides the point.

Over all, this film was fantastic. INCREDIBLY EPIC AND OVER THE TOP. And as much as the Hit Girl character bothered me, after seeing the film all the way through and having time to think about it. I just need to except the fact that this is an epic and over the top film. It's epic insanity. In what other film will you see a 12 year old using begrimed language and battling against 40 mobsters?

So Kick-Ass gets 4 stars.

Karate Kid 3 - Review

How did this happen? Seriously? How do they go wrong with Karate kid? They must have had a change in writers. Possibly some 10 year old who won a chance to write the screen play for the next Karate kid film by finding a golden ticket under the lid of his Go-gurt bottle, because this move is terrible!

Until Karate kid 3 came a long, we had two perfect Karate kid films. So I had high hopes for the next Karate kid film. I of course was let down. The film really could have been good. In this 3rd installment, Danny is living with Mr. Miyagi while his mother is away and he is planning on going to college. But when he learns of Mr. Miyagi's dream of owning a tree store. He spends his college money on a shop for him. While all this is going on, Martin Kove's Character John Kreese is sending a friend (Mike) after Mr. Miyagi and Daniel as revenge for beating his student in the tournament. These guys are nuts! Seriously! There is a dialog scene where they actually get into how they or going to go about hurting Daniel and Miyagi fiscally and mentally. Jeez! Like I said before, Karate kid villains are so over the top.

So while the bad guys are arranging this epic revenge battle, Danny is helping Mr. Miyagi around the shop and meets a girl who works at a pottery store across the street. He hangs around with her through out all most the rest of the film. But back to the bad guys. Mike Finds this tough Karate kid who is really dangerous and sends him after Daniel. He keeps trying to get him to sign a contract to fight in the next Karate tournament so he could beat him up. But Daniel refuses repeatedly, as Mr. Miyagi had taught him earlier in the film that Karate is used to defend honor and life, not a trophy. Once again, this bad Karate kid is way over the top! He even threatens to drown Daniel and his girl at one point in an attempt to get him to sign the contract again. At this point, Daniel is so angry he wants to fight, but Mr. Miyagi still refuses to train him. Which is stupid because by fighting a kid who has been pushing him around, he is defending his honor. But Dan is too stupid to come out and say it.

Once Dan is frustrated enough, Mike starts playing games with his head. He introduces him self to Daniel and comes off as a real nice guy who wants to help train him. And boy is this guy an actor. But once he starts training Daniel, he goes against everything Miyagi taught him about skill and turns Daniel to using rage and anger in karate, Turning Daniel into a monster. He starts lashing out at Miyagi, bringing him to tears and breaking some kid's nose out of anger. It's insanity.

So coming down to the end. Dan gets back on the right track and realizes Mike is out to get him. He turns down the challenge against his Karate kid, resulting in a fight in which Miyagi shows up and kicks every one's butt. Awesome as always! After this Miyagi decides to train Daniel. However, there was no awesome training montage like in the others. Just one scene of Miyagi and Dan doing Karate moves slowly on a hill. What was that? Come on! And in the final battle in the tournament against the bad Karate kid, he gets BEAT UP, only to win in over time or whatever by one point in which he flips the kid on to the ground. As the bad guys look at each other in disappointment and Daniel and Miyagi hug with joy as if they have just triumphed, I'm thinking "WHAT IS THIS? ARE YOU KIDDING?"

This so not Karate kid. All the Karate kid movies sit you through scenes of Daniel getting beat up and pushed around, making it all the more fun to watch him beat them up and fight back in the ending scene. But after all the crap Daniel has been put through again, he win the tournament by one point in over time. That is Horrendous !

Over all, a terrible way to end the trilogy.

1 Star