Saturday 17 August 2013

Kick Ass 2

A good sequel which seems to end the era of many superheroes but to open the door for a solo Hit Girl film? I understand that the sequence has been slightly different in the comics with a Hit Girl limited series set between Kick Ass 1 and Kick Ass 2 and with a Kick Ass 3, to be the last, still to come.

In the film, it really looks like it can happen: ordinary people in obviously homemade costumes with absurd names like "Battle Guy" and "Night Bitch" encouraging each other, finding strength in numbers, unleashing real violence from the first ever costumed supervillain, who is inspired in reverse by the heroes and rich enough to buy his own mad team - but the heroes somehow make it work for a while anyway.

The cops clamp down on costumes, as has happened more than once in "real" super hero universes. The only major implausibility is Hit Girl who might as well be super powered. We just have to accept that she was trained from a very young age, really got with it, is fearless like Siegfried and does resort to a strength-enhancing drug when necessary.

The villain with the absurd name has more going for him than just inherited wealth. A horrible stunt intended to intimidate him merely strengthens his resolve. He prefers death and an everlasting legend to being rescued by the hated hero who warns him that there are no resurrections in real life. He seems to survive by falling into water but then dies horribly in a way that was predictable by what had gone before.

So far, the Kick Ass film series holds up. If anything, 2 is slightly less implausible.

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