Kick-Ass
2010
***½
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Cast: Aaron Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Chloë Grace Moretz, Mark Strong, Nicolas Cage, Lyndsy Fonseca, Michael Rispoli
An inconspicuous high school kid Dave Lizewski, whose only superpower is being invisible to girls, decides to become a real-life superhero Kick-Ass, with painful results. At the same time a father and daughter duo, Big Daddy and Hit-Girl, have the same plan with a more serious intent. This action comedy adaptation of the comic book by Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr starts as a tongue-in-cheek satire that asks what would happen if normal people became superheroes. The second half answers the question with a rather formulaic action-packed finale with stunts and gadgets out of this world. The story of Dave is pretty much that of Peter Parker; the ending even sets up the sequel exactly like Spider-Man did. Followed by Kick-Ass 2 (2013).
