“Kick-Ass 2” certainly isn’t as fun or unique as it’s predecessor, but it has it’s moments.
When Kick-Ass (Aaron Johnson) killed crime boss Frank D’Amico, the Red Mist (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), his former sidekick, swore revenge. The Red Mist was actually D’Amico’s son, Chris. Now years have passed, and Kick-Ass has been out of the game for a couple of years. Hit Girl hasn’t though. In spite of having to keep her crime fighting secret from her new guardian, Mindy Macready (Chloë Grace Moretz) has been ditching school and training every day, continuing to patrol the city and continuing on the work she used to do with Big Daddy.
She and Kick-Ass bump into each other, and she helps him get back into fighting shape. Together they fight crime again before Hit-Girl gets caught and has to make a vow to her guardian (Morris Chestnut) that she’s through being a superhero forever. Kick-Ass, on the other hand, is finding others who want to fight crime. Just like Kick-Ass, these people long to be superheroes; they make themselves costumes, give themselves names, and meet in a secret headquarters, all in spite of the fact that they have no real super abilities. Leading this charge is Captain Stars and Stripes, an ex-mob enforcer turned good. It’s Stars and Stripes that leads the team to their first real success, busting up a sex slavery operation.
While the team gels and Hit-Girl cools her jets on the sidelines, though, the ex-Red Mist has turned supervillain and is recruiting an army of thugs to take down Kick-Ass and his gang. Will the ragtag group of normal, well meaning folks be able to defeat an entire gang of professional hit men, enforcers and criminals?
The first “Kick-Ass” was an excellent, fun film that also had the advantage of being the first movie I can recall about average people with no powers wanting to be superheroes. Of course, as is the case with successful movies, they often spawn imitators, so while Kick-Ass felt original, by the time Kick-Ass 2 rolled around, there seems as if there’s an entire sub-genre dedicated to “Regular people with no powers deciding to become superheroes” movies. That, coupled with the fact that there’s no Nic Cage to add a dash of cheese to the equation, leaves Kick-Ass 2 feeling a little tired.
That said, it’s not a bad movie, per se. Hit-Girl and Kick-Ass are both given issues to struggle with above and beyond beating people up, and the consequences of being a masked vigilante are as prevalent as ever. Christopher Mintz-Plasse isn’t the world’s greatest super-villain, but he’s fun enough, and watching all these people donning capes and masks for various reasons is pretty humorous. Plus, there’s always the old stand-by of superhero standoffs and some hardcore violence. Sorry Jim Carrey.
Fogs' Movie Reviews 
If wasnt for certain characters it would of been a bad sequel. Lucky some of the characters were enjoyable enough to watch.
Yeah, it wasn’t exactly a home run, but the characters carried the day for me, too. I thought it wound up decent enough. I don’t think it was bad or anything… the Rotten Tomatoes score might indicate otherwise, but, eh, what else is new? 🙄
Thanks Issy!
The style of the fights is different and a dozen other super heroes can’t replace Nic Cage, but it was still fun and did not disgrace the memory of the original.
No, no, definitely didn’t besmirch the first. Not the greatest sequel ever, but not unworthy, either 😉
I can’t imagine this without Nic Cage. He made the first movie. Nice review, Fogs.
Thanks Brik. They did have one goofy picture of him in it. LOL. That was worth a laugh 😀
I agree with you completely! But I think Jim Carey did a very good job taking his place. I wish he had more screen time though! I have attached my review if you are interested:
I wish Carrey was in it a bit more, myself, Jonny.
Note going forward, I deleted the link to your review. I’m sure you have good intentions, but my blog isn’t a link dump. Thanks.
Nice write-up Fogs. I still can’t decide whether to wait to see this on the small screen or to pay for a big screen outing! It’s a toss of s coin…
If you’re looking for advice? I’d wait, Mark. 😉
That does it then. Fogs says wait.
Nice review Fogs. Not as good as the first, obviously, but still fine for some action and entertainment. However, the message from the first is sort of lost and muddled in the blood and the near-rape that’s shown here.
Indeed. The “message” if any, is totally lost. LOL. I’m not as uptight as Jim Carrey or anything, but certainly this IS a violent movie. 😯
Decided to read just your opening and closing paragraphs to avoid anything overly spoiler-y. Sounds like another case of now I can go in with lowered expectations. I’m thinking World’s End may bump ahead of this on my to see list.
Well, I cant vouch for The World’s End, having not seen it yet… but Kick Ass 2 didn’t turn out to be anything I would call a “must see” in theatres or anything. 😦
Nice stuff Fogs. I thought the first was a lot of fun so I am slightly disappointed with the reviews for this one but I still think it looks like a laugh. On a slight tangent, they showed the trailer for this (edited heavily) when I saw The Wolverine, which to me is totally different audiences. Will parents whose 13/14 year olds liked The Wolverine let their kids go see this? Doesn’t sound appropriate to me.
I don’t think they’re completely different audiences… obviously, this is aimed at superhero fans. But you’re right its probably not appropriate for young kids. Even though you know it wont stop any of them from seeing it. I’m sure kids that age see far worse than this nowadays anyways, though 😯
I agree with you Fogs, this one just didn’t have the freshness and originality of the first. I was entertained for sure, but I wasn’t in love.
It was a little disappointing how quickly they wrote off Dave’s girlfriend Katie. Why even include her in the movie if she’s not going to be a supporting character this time around? The other thing was, our super-villain is setting the stage for massive city wide destruction, and they don’t even get the car out of the garage so to speak. Usually the villain at least starts implementing their plan, causing some genuine concern and tension for the audience. I think it would have been better to show the evil army terrorizing the city and then getting foiled mid-way through their plan. It would have opened the doors for more public appreciation of the masked vigilantes fighting for good, and probably would have given a more satisfying ending.
As to Dave’s girlfriend from the first one, maybe Lynsy Fonseca’s got better things to do than Kick Ass 2? LOL Doubt it, right? 🙄
And you’re right, the supervillains barely did anything except trash that group of cops. And hell, even then, Mother Russia was the only one who actually did anything! 😯 Lots of wasted opportunities.
Not a bad movie though. 25% on Rotten Tomatoes is really a disservice, I think. Its not that bad by a long shot.
Yeah, 25% on RT is unfair. There’s lots of entertainment value, just not a lot of substance. And some people like their action movies that way just fine!
Pingback: Kick-Ass 2 Review: F*ck You, Rotten Tomatoes | Rorschach Reviews
Hey Fogs-What did you think of Chloë Grace Moretz’s acting performance as Hit-Girl aka Mindy!! A lot of film reviewers and film bloggers are saying she gives a very vulnerable, capable, diligent, shining, awesome, trustworthy, kick-butt(sorry for the pun there, won’t happen again) performance–the one and only character AND actress who stole the whole show, even if the show was a violent and average mess!!
Would you agree!! I think she is the female-version-of Liam Neeson or Harrison Ford!! Someone who is likeable, vulnerable don’t-mess-with-me-or-I’ll-destroy-in-the-most-violent-way-ever-only-with-in-my-mind baddie?!?! Wouldn’t you agree?!?
I wouldn’t go all that far. I mean, she was good and all, and I still like that character… but it wasn’t as if I rushed home and wrote her name down for my year end awards or anything. 😦
Glad to hear youre such a fan though.
It still kicked ass but not as much as the first installment. Not sure why this film is getting panned so bad. I mean didn’t those haters read the comics? It’s a violent, dark comedy, super hero film deal with it.
I completley agree even without seeing any of the film and while I’ll probably wait to see to film on rental, I can perfectly understand where you’re coming from!! Whther it’s based on a series of comic books or not, when you see he first one, it’s a very violent, graphic, disturbing, and it’s sometimes crude, and it was very successful with audiences all around, that’s what should be expected for this one!! In shorter words, everything that mosty everyone enjoyed or loved in the first film is what a lot of critics didn’t enjoy in this film!! It has the same or mostly the same plot elements the first film had: Violence, Viligilance, Vengence, the crass and violent, but very awesome teen!!
So why are the critics being so hard on this film even though it has mostly the same plot elements that a lot of people enjoyed/loved in the first film?!? Who knows!! Still, it’s an opininon we should all respect, even if we dissagree with most of the reviews stated by critics!!
Not as good as the first but still very fun. Good review Fogs 😀
Nice review. I thought this was alright, though like its predecessor, it doesn’t sit entirely well (though this one’s doing a lot worse than the first movie). Chloe Moretz and Christopher Mintz-Plasse make this thing watchable, at least.
I was fine with the first one, I took it in the tone that it was intended, and even enjoyed that violent aspect of it…. I think that that had worn off for me here though. Probably one of the elements that this one is missing in comparison to its predecessor 😦
Pingback: » Movie Review – The Frozen Ground Fernby Films