Some people may indeed consider a movie with the title of “Kick Ass” to be a bit presumptuous. If someone promotes a film with such a title, one should be able to deliver on such a lofty title. However, in the newest addition to the comic book adaptation, the title is fully earned. This flick is most certainly “kick ass.”

The plot doesn’t take a genius to put together; a highschooler decides he wants to emulate the antics of the costumed heroes of comic books and dons his own yellow and green costume in the quest to free the streets of fear by kicking some butt and taking some names.
Through his journey, he meets the vigilante crime fighting team (who aren’t too keen on letting the bad guys walk away alive) known as Big Daddy and Hit Girl.
However, as costumed justice begins to interfere with the activities of a local crime lord, the criminal head’s son hatches a plot to join up with the vigilantes and snare them in a trap to get rid of the costumed menaces.
To get some basic things out there, this is not a kid’s film. This flick is violent, crude and at times incredibly dark. However, that does not mean this film is anything but fantastic. The film is a gleefully realistic satire on the conventions on the super hero origin story to begin with, then slowly treads into the warped parody of most glorious comic book insanity that many have come to relish.
Nicolas Cage hasn’t been doing much in the way as far as respectable cinema is concerned, but in “Kick Ass,” he redeems himself to those who were fans of his work in “Face/Off,“  “Con Air” and “The Rock.”
His voice as the hero Big Daddy is a glorious pistache on the Adam West version of the Batman voice, which people can’t help but feel a little warm and fuzzy hearing that Nic Cage still has that quirkiness that made audiences fall in love with him all those years ago.
Also worthy of much acclaim are the film’s relative newcomers, Aaron Johnson and Chloe Grace Moretz.
Johnson serves a completely believable mid range comic book nerd, and has a sort of counter-charisma as Kick Ass; he’s dorky enough and has enough depth to be real, and it is in his realism that he becomes endearing, despite his blunders.  One quote sums up the film perfectly.

However, if any one actor should stand out in this flick, it is the psychopathic 11-year-old, portrayed by Moretz. Indeed, Moretz steals the show.The entire time one watches this movie, it never really dawns upon the viewer the logistics of Hitgirl. Moretz is convincing enough that audience members not only buy into the idea she is a pre-teen killing machine, they eat it up.
Audience members cheered and whooped as Hit Girl tears apart a gang of drug dealers in her first in-costume appearance within the film.
Hit Girl may be an action hero to rival the likes of Ash J. Williams of the “Evil Dead” Trilogy, Harry Calahan of “Dirty Harry,” John McLane of “Die Hard,” or even the legendary John Rambo. Oh, and she’s about 12 years old.
The score is pretty decent. I recognized parts of it from “28 Days Later,” which while unusual, served remarkably well to build certain emotions in certain scenes.
However direction is really where this piece stands out. The action scenes are amazing, with each and every scene done in a different style.
One moment the scene will jump back and fourth between onlooker and Kick Ass mid fight perspective, to the next scene where it’s a tracking shot of Big Daddy just tearing criminals apart in a lumber treatment warehouse.
All in all, “Kick Ass” is a wonderful and enjoyable romp of a movie. It’s not for the faint of heart or the squeamish, but for those with the constitution for swearing 11-year-olds, comic book insanity and tastefully luscious amount of gore, this is the film for you.
“Kick Ass” is rated R for Violence, Language, and some sexuality.