Kick Ass 2

The sequel to Kick Ass is completely and utterly unnecessary. Need proof? Well, it didn't even crack the top 3 at the box office this weekend, so I am seemingly not the only person who feels this way. The original Kick Ass was like catching lightning in a bottle. That movie and it's success was a freak of nature. There was absolutely no way that was happening again and the closest this movie came to capturing anything like that, was Jim Carrey's unhinged performance (and this from the actor who disavowed the film due to its violent nature).

Kick Ass 2 picks up three years after the original film. Dave (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) has put his Kick Ass uniform away and is living the life of a boring teenage boy, but when he begins to see all the real life super heroes that he has inspired, he gets the itch to return to his crime fighting ways. Mindy (Chloe Grace Moretz) is still struggling with the death of her dad (Nicolas Cage, in the first film) and is living with his former police partner (Morris Chestnut) while struggling to fit in the world of high school where she definitely doesn't belong. She takes an extended absence from her Hit Girl ways to play the popular game with a bunch of high school mean girls and Dave is forced to team up with a rag tag group of vigilantes who call themselves Justice Forever. They are led by Colonel Stars and Stripes (Carrey). Meanwhile, Chris / Red Mist (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) is suddenly an orphan / the richest teenager in New York City, so he decides to become the world's first super villain and get his revenge on Kick Ass. He renames himself The MotherF**ker and decides to form an evil army. Fighting and violence ensues, obviously.

The thing about the first Kick Ass is that it felt fresh. Kick Ass 2 just feels like a retread of the same script but with different, lamer jokes. The other thing about the original Kick Ass was that it felt taboo. It featured a then 12 year old Moretz as a potty mouth crime fighter who was totally bad ass and cursing up a storm... and it was shocking. Now she is just another fifteen year old cursing on camera. None of this is shocking anymore and this time it's not even fun. The other major problem is Mintz-Plasse. I like him just fine. I thought he was sort of a revelation after seeing him in Superbad, but he most certainly does not have the acting prowess to deliver the sort of performance that his character's arc requires of him.

Sure, the movie was violent. I'm not going to sit here and attack it on those merits. Violence in movies doesn't bother me. It's just a movie. But the difference between Kick Ass and Kick Ass 2 is that the original was, at the very, very least, FUN. That is something this movie is lacking BIG TIME. It's just the same old thing again. And while it worked three years ago, it just isn't doing it for me this time around. With the exception of Carrey's great performance and Taylor-Johnson's KILLER abs, Kick Ass 2 was completely unnecessary and sort of a disaster.

Grade: D+