Jean-Paul’s Rating: 3/5 stars
“Kick-Ass 2”, like its predecessor, is a hyper-violent romp that looks into the world of ordinary people who dress up like superheros and patrol the streets. Strip all of that away, though, and you get a mildly depressing glimpse into the psyche of individuals who you believe actually would dress up like superheros and patrol the streets. Saddest of all is the couple whose son went missing and dress up to make the streets safer for other peoples’ kids. Their superhero name? For Tommy.
The second movie picks up a few years after the first one finished. Dave/Kick-Ass (Aaron Taylor Johnson) and Mindy/Hit-Girl (Chloe Grace Moretz) are in the same high school together, only Mindy always ditches school to improve her crime fighting skills. Dave, sick of the banality of high school and wanting to be a real superhero convinces Mindy to train him to be a real Kick-Ass. Mindy is soon discovered ditching school by hacking the school’s computers to give herself a perfect attendance and then not being there to pick up her award and is forced to give up her role as Hit-Girl. Dave, feeling abandoned, goes looking for superhero support groups and starts teaming up with other masked crusaders.
Meanwhile, Chris/Red Mist/The Motherfucker (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) plots revenge on Kick-Ass for killing his father with a bazooka in the first movie. This is where most of the humor in the movie comes from. The interactions between Chris and his right hand man, Javier (John Leguizamo) are priceless. Chris acts like the privileged rich white kid that he is and Javier tries to keep Chris at his evilest without coming off as a dick.
The movie does a few things quite well. The glimpses into the reasons for people becoming superheroes is touching sentiment in an otherwise mindlessly violent movie. It would have been interesting if they did the same with the villains, but alas, they did not. There is also a “Bad Girls” type glimpse into the lives of high school girls and how they are pressured into being things that they are not that is effective except for the denouement which is filled with unfunny toilet humor.
All in all, another fun summer movie that won’t really stick with you much past the next movie that you see. This one is worth seeing, but if you haven’t seen the first one, I’d recommend that over this one.