A FEW years ago all we had to satisfy our titular comic book fantasies on the big screen was a baby-faced Toby Maguire prancing around in a red spandex suit. Now it would seem we are spoilt for choice as the age of the comic book sets into full, unflinching flow. The latest panel to film conversion is indie flick Kick Ass. This however, is a different coloured set of spandex altogether. Rated with a 15 certificate, it's not one of the family friendly comic tales of which the world has become accustomed to of late. Instead, it is a rough and tumble, action packed adventure with copious helpings of in-your-face violence and colourful profanities from unexpected mouths. Regular American high school student and comic book fan Dave Lizewski lives a simple life alone with his father. Personal trials, hardships and popularity aren't problems which really factor into Dave's life, until one day he decides to become a super hero - without powers or training. This simple concept opens up a realm of possibilities which resonate on a more personal level with an audience who live in the same universe, as opposed to the eccentricities of the Marvel and DC worlds portrayed in previous comic book adaptations. Because of this, the hilarity of the situations Kick-Ass finds himself in are amplified tenfold; giving the audience a more realistic, often painful, representation of what being a real-life super hero would be like. It would seem Dave is not alone in his quest either. He soon runs into crime-fighting duo Big Daddy and Hit Girl, a father-daughter combo of devastating proportions. Veteran Nicholas Cage gives a suitably high quality performance as the doting Dad tutoring his lethal little girl, but the plaudits from most critics have gone to 13-year-old Chloe Moretz, who was only 12 at the time of filming. Her role and performance will inevitably be redolent of previous young starlets like Jodie Foster in Taxi Driver and Natalie Portman in Leon. All of Moretz's co-stars and crew have heaped praise on the youngster, with many confessing to being forced into raising their game at the risk of being acted off screen by the pocket-sized puncher. Samurai swords and ninja throwing stars are Hit Girl's weapons of choice, and she is a dab hand at using them. Slicing and dicing her way through hoards of bad guys, Big Daddy's daughter carries out her job with an unflinching, hard-as-nails attitude. However, the small hero is also where the film draws the bulk of its controversy. One scene in particular sees Hit Girl beckoning more baddies on by calling them a four letter profanity currently considered one of the language's worst. Those who stir the controversy though are, for the most part,those who have not seen the film but only heard about this on-paper noteworthy situation. Those who then see Kick-Ass though, will probably employ hindsight as they realise the subtle yet evident portent of emotional hardship Hit Girl has had to endure as she grew up with her father in prison. As such, the language she uses is not for the shock effect on its audience, but more a faithful reprise of the comic book character's melancholic upbringing. Moving away from the controversy, a potential sidekick of questionable morals in the form of Superbad's Christopher Mintz-Plasse arrives to help Kick-Ass in his quest. Red Mist is the on screen son of super (yet still normal) villain Frank D'Amico, played by the ever despicable Mark Strong. The rich kid son, desperate to please his father, goes undercover to infiltrate Kick-Ass' superhero circle and provides some classic hilarity as he finds out that being a scrawny comic book nerd is not the best qualification for becoming a superhero. The film's grounded reality is its most empirical feature. At first glance, Kick-Ass' costume looks like a wet-suit you could pick up on ebay with a few extra pads stuck on. At second glance it turns out that that's exactly what it is. His first attempt at super heroism consequently ends up getting him hospitalised and throughout the film he keeps his homely characteristics that make him a normal teenage boy, all the while developing the courage and bravery of a true superhero. Grittily realistic is an adjective too far though. The film strikes a perfect balance between apathetic realism and over-the-top, completely un-PC action. Seeing Big Daddy teach Hit Girl how to 'take a bullet' by shooting her with a machine gun while she has a bullet-proof vest on is something that, for all the world an audience feels it should be shocked and appalled at, but the conviction and temerity of the characters make it utterly hilarious. The story plays on an interesting concept which the majority of its audience will find easy to relate to: The overwhelming desire to become a super hero in real life. The fact that the movie was commissioned before the third edition of the comic was even published and its first story arc completed speaks volume's about Kick Ass' potential as a low budget blockbuster destined for infinite critical acclaim. Perhaps the film is not one for the more conservative viewers who like their super heroes well-spoken and family-friendly (Aside from French audiences, who can see the same Kick-Ass at their local cinemas with a PG certificate), but it remains an absolute must for anyone outside of that classification. Spider Man and Batman are everything a super hero movie should be, and this movie is absolutely nothing like them, which is its crowning achievement. In Kick-Ass, writer Mark Millar has managed to create a viable alternative to the super hero norm which matches the quality of those clad in tight costumes who have come before it in a completely different, radical way. Just don't go getting any ideas...
Reviews
3 Reviews
Repo Men
(2010)
The Law isn't always right
1 July 2010
THE prospect of Jude Law coming to take a kidney or two is something that would send most women weak at the knees, but maybe not quite as much in his morally fraught profession in new thriller Repo Men. Set in the near future, the film follows two contemporary 'repo men' who make a living reclaiming artificial organs from people who have fallen behind with their payments for them. Law plays Remy, a high flying collection agent with a wife that's predictably, though somewhat understandably, a bit miffed with her husband's chosen vocation. Remy's best friend and partner on the road is Jake, played by the looming figure of veteran Forest Whitaker trying to be 20 years younger. The pair work for a suitably villainous multinational corporation called the Union and spend their time tasering moms, dads and kids, cutting them open and leaving them for dead depending on how much of a rush they're in to get home in time for American Idol. It would appear that in the near future the world has solved the problem of organic life but is still susceptible to universally conventional clichés, as Remy soon finds himself in a real pickle after unwittingly having to get a new heart and consequently dismays for an hour and a half at how he has become the hunted instead of the hunter. The concept of artificial organs is a smart one which brings with it a number of philosophical issues for exploration, but this is where the film becomes confused and wayward in its direction. It seems as if the director has given up the opportunity to discuss these interesting topics further, instead scratching only the surface of friendship, capitalism and personal responsibility, then feeling like he has to justify the film's 18 certificate by spraying everything in sight with blood and replacing the already flagging dialogue with knife fights. That being said, the soundtrack for the film redeems it to a certain extent. Blending classic soul with the electronic operas of contemporary pop culture it is an auditory joy and fits the overly graphic action scenes to perfection. Repo Men's other redemptive feature is the third figure of its acting spearhead, Liev Schreiber. On a rich vein of form coming off the back of WWII hit Defiance, pestering the X-Men as Sabertooth in Wolverine's Origin movie and about to play mentor to Angelina Jolie in upcoming summer blockbuster Salt, Schreiber plays the head of Union with cool conviction and slick, shrewd humour. Other brief chuckles come in the form of intermittent voice-overs from Remy. However, in aspects of both his narration and acting, Law leaves a lot to be desired. His aural descriptions feel forced and more scripted than they should, not wholly unlike his overly compensating English accent, which is a tad peculiar being as his back story depicts him growing up on east coast America, not in the East End with Oliver Twist. However, you cannot help but feel that Law is perfect for the role, as figuratively it encapsulates him. We hate him for his unbecoming arrogance, yet somehow his cool, charming swagger redeems him no end. Forest Whitaker is a whole other box of kidneys though. He appears to be playing Will Smith playing someone in his twenties. His inadvertent Fresh Prince impersonation is downright peculiar and has to be seen to be believed. In addition to this, the prospect of him being only three on-screen years older than Law is one that stretches the imagination almost as much as, if not further than, the concept of artificial organs and their collection agents itself. At times, Repo Men success in being a heavy handed exemplum of the world's ever increasing struggle with indebtedness, at others it succeeds in being a run-of-the-mill, gory action film with dialogue so stiff it could straight out of a Michael Bay movie. For all its faults there is a subtle, albeit very subtle, charm about Repo Men which keeps you interested from start to finish, it is just a pity that the final third of the film is so atrocious that it pays you back for staying with it by throwing your loyalty in your face and laughing as you curse the fact that you had any ounce of faith in it. See Jude and the gang's new flick on the big screen at your peril. But beware, this is nearly two hours of your life you will not be repossessing any time soon.
Killers
(2010)
Kill me now
1 July 2010
ONCE in a blue moon there comes a movie which hits every criteria spot on, and Killers has honed all of its attributes in order to make a truly, unequivocally bland and forgettable hour and a half-worth of tosh. Newly single Jen, played with no charm or skill by Katherine Heigl, is on vacation with her parents when she meets her ideal man Spencer, just about acted by perennial action figure Ashton Kutcher. The pair fall in traditionally quick fake movie love and get married. Little does Jen know though, her new husband is actually a secret government spy who kills people for a living and is trying to settle down. The fact that Kutcher looks in or around 30 years old and is playing the 'I don't want to kill people any more, whimper and sniffle' card does nothing for the integrity of the storyline. It wasn't until I looked at my watch either that I realised nothing more than that had actually really happened for the first 45 minutes. The trailers portray the premise of the film as an unwitting and clumsy Jen being dragged into a kill or be killed quarrel between Spencer and assassins hired to kill him because he's a liability in suburban life. However, it's nigh on an hour into the woeful film before anything of significance even happens. They say start as you mean to continue, and director Robert Luketic has done just that; he began with a barrel-full clichés played without any conviction and then went on to provide the audience with nothing more than an homage to every action rom-com in a drawn-out montage. Admittedly, neither Kutcher or Heigl has strayed far from their comfort zones, which in many ways has served against them as the pair seem almost complacent in their efforts to make the characters believable. At times there is a childlike playfulness between the two, but even that serves to the detriment of the film as the standard appears not wholly dissimilar to that of an amateur school drama production. Even the dry wit of Tom Selleck fails to provide much consolation. He brings experience and a touch of class, but the poor dialogue he is handed just proves too much for him to salvage. In fact, probably the best thing about the film is probably Tom Selleck's infamous moustache, partly because it doesn't get any lines. Occasionally in the movie industry there will be two promising actors who carry a film, perhaps struggling to shoulder the burden of a lacklustre supporting cast which doesn't communicate well through inexperience. However, it is never a good sign when you literally find yourself wincing throughout a film at the sheer lack of chemistry between its two leads. Perhaps the best testament to the lack of quality in the film is that Katherine Heigl cannot even scream convincingly, which is strange seeing as she has so much practice throughout. The shining light of Heigl's career so far was Judd Apatow's Knocked Up, which seemed to set up a potentially promising career. That being said, she now seems intent on penning her name to any bit part rom-com coming her way. Yes, she may have got the kooky, loser-in-love part down to a redundant tee, but it is evident from this that she needs a charismatic cast and script to support her, otherwise she appears as nothing special at all. As for Kutcher, the six foot-plus husband of contrastingly skilled Demi Moore could quite easily have been replaced by a large slab of granite with more personality. By all means, if his niche is sub-standard romantic comedies where he can run around topless for as long as possible, he deserves a typecast Oscar. If he wants to be taken seriously as an actor though, it's time buck up his ideas or just take on twittering full-time. Couples eager to find a movie which suits them both should undoubtedly hang on for the hotly anticipated Cruise-Diaz summer smash Knight and Day. Such a promising movie would really have to go some to lower the bar set by Killers. From the trailers, Knight and Day looks to straddle the line of satisfaction for both sexes incredibly well, whereas Killers attempts to do the same but gets lost in an insipid void somewhere in between. Maybe I've been a tad harsh, it was never intended to be an Oscar winner or one that would go down in the record books I'm sure, but I just can't help thinking you'd have to be void of at least four out of your five senses to really enjoy this.
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