Alias Smart-Ass, a black comedy marking another advance in the decadence and self-consciousness of superhero mythologies. The central premise of a teenage comic-book geek (Aaron Johnson) donning a green wet suit with ropy yellow trim to act out his crime-fighting fantasies, prosaically dubbing himself Kick-Ass for the purpose, is not as original as the script makes believe — “How come nobody’s ever tried to be a superhero?” — although the current generation of fanboys (were they known as fanboys before the current generation?) could not be expected to remember a thing like Nunzio, dated 1978. (Things like Blankman and Unbreakable are not so dust-covered.) Such a premise cannot stay for long in touch with “reality,” and soon the teen sex comedy — “My only superpower was being invisible to girls” — crosses paths with a Death Wish revenge story, and a “real” superhero surfaces: Big Daddy in a Batsuit knockoff (Nicolas Cage) and his bred-from-the-cradle prepubescent sidekick, the raccoon-masked, purple-haired Hit Girl (Chloe Grace Moretz, who steals the show from her elders), together pressing a private vendetta against a Manhattan druglord (the tritely cast Mark Strong). You might say that the film deconstructs and then reconstructs the superhero fantasy, or anyway you might say it if those words are in your vocabulary. And if truly gory and nasty and ugly violence does not drag down or perhaps even boosts up your high spirits (consider Tarantino a test case), you are fairly well guaranteed to get at least a little kick out of it. Directed by Matthew Vaughn. (2010) — Duncan Shepherd
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