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With a vision of a world full of superheroes, Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) comes back as Kick Ass along with co-stars Chloë Moretz as Mindy Macready a.k.a. Hit Girl, Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Chris D’Amico and new character Colonel Stars and Stripes played by Jim Carrey. A follow up to 2010’s Kick Ass, part two offers the audience intensified scenes of violent battles between costumed heroes, vigilantes and villains as they all show the reality of a place inhabited by comic book-inspired characters.
The first movie ends with the death of Frank D’Amico, as Kick Ass (Dave Lizewski) and Hit Girl (Mindy Macready) put off their masks and goes back living as people with no hero alter ego. Kick Ass 2 opens with the struggling Dave Lizewski as he misses out on a hero-inspired journey that the city has become ever since he started as Kick Ass. Mindy Macready forms a deep friendship with Dave as they train with an aim to stop crime and continue to protect the city. However, Marcus, Mindy’s guardian forces her to abandon the mask and try to find her identity as a normal teenage girl.
The lone hero, Dave, doesn’t back down as Kick Ass continues to be a part of a league of heroes called Justice Forever whose aim is to try and make the world a better place by fighting petty criminals, assisting the less fortunate and battling their worst adversary– a league of villains. Seeking vengeance for his father’s death, Chris D’Amico returns with an aim to wipe out Kick Ass and everything he cares about. Identities and alter-egos are intertwined and the fate of the city and the person who started it all, Kick Ass, are put in a grave dilemma. The ultimate battle of heroes and villains takes place as vengeance is put to rest and the point of being a masked warrior or villain is truly understood.
The question to why heroes don’t exist has always been asked even in the first film of Kick Ass. Comic books feature individuals who put on masks and have a strong aim to inflict greatness or in the case of villains, fulfill world domination. The film features the boundaries between reality and the world inspired by comic books. From troubled identities and alter egos, the characters try to solve whether the mask is their reality or not and if a person could truly live two lives, one as a hero or a villain and the other as an average person.
As always, revenge and the strength of a promise has been a great drive for many heroes and villains to fulfill their great plan of saving or disrupting. Mindy Macready is found living on a promise her late father left her with – protecting the city. However hindered by her guardian, she finds ways of honoring that promise. Chris D’Amico is filled by revenge for the death of his father and has sworn to honor his father’s death by the annihilation of heroes, especially of their trendsetter, Kick Ass.
The formation Justice Forever inspired by the famous league of heroes in comic books such as Justice League, Avengers, and Watchmen have all imparted the feeling of belongingness for heroes like Kick Ass. Dave, abandoned by Mindy in their training, sought after a group that he could belong in or would make him feel to be part of something that achieves a greater purpose and a better image for the city. Of course, if there is a league of heroes there is a band of villains lead by the revengeful Chris D’Amico.
The film is definitely a great clash between good and evil as these two leagues of opposites are matched with impeccable action scenes that give the audience a huge dose of adrenaline. Kick Ass is shown to be learning how to truly fight just as Hit Girl does, featuring intense training and fieldwork that either ends up a bloody mess or complete victory for the side of the hero.
As violence in battle and action scenes intensify, so does the humor. The film balances the bloody scenes with perfectly timed punch lines, comedic side comments and witty hero-villain arguments that set the audience laughing despite the gush of blood over severed limbs and the sound of broken bones.
However, violent language goes as far as the villain’s names and makes it difficult for the younger audience to appreciate. Comic book enthusiast or children who find interests in heroes and villains may be restricted to watching the movie due to its harsh language.
Nevertheless, the film makes a great continuation to the first Kick Ass movie as it gives the audience loads of action and humor that are enough to glue them to their seats until the movie ends.
