Damn I wish I'd seen this before Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, since both are flip sides of the same coin. They share more than a few traits since both were directed by Brits, both were based on comic books and were released in 2010. But that's where the similarities end, since compared to Scott Pilgrim (and as lazy as comparisons go, I think this is a valid one), this film doesn't do half as well.
Ever wondered what the world would be like if the average schnook could became a superhero? Nah me neither. But let's pretend you have harboured thoughts about how things would be, if one of the guys or gals at work donned a cape and spent their evenings righting wrongs, and battling the forces of evil instead of sitting in front of the idiot box. Well if that was the case then this is the film for you. Possibly.
You see the thing is, it's a funny idea and if it was aimed at kids it might have worked. But Kick-Ass is far too violent and bloody for me, there is some humour in there but not much. Which is odd since it doesn't seem to take itself very seriously. Good things about Kick-Ass, well top of the list would be Nic Cage at his mad bastard best, all crazy tics and pitch shifting vocals. When you need someone to just go that little bit further, Nic's your man. Like Kinski before him he's always watchable, even if he does only appear in films that I wouldn't touch with yours. What else? Well I liked the home made ill fitting costumes, um, and that's about it really.
Sadly it's easier to run through what I didn't like than what I did. Well as I said I thought it was too bloody for a start, the sets looked like the old backlot Universal ones that would crop up on the A-Team and other shoddy TV no no's. They looked proper fake, really badly dressed too. I didn't find anything funny, was I supposed to? I didn't really think the action scenes were exciting either, bland, seen it all before was my humble opinion. When you start checking to see how long is left of a film then you know something isn't working. Maybe it just wasn't aimed at me. As for Matthew Vaughn, he is such a pedestrian director, every stupid little cliché he could crib from some other film was present here. The worst of them all being the continual cutting away to a high angle shot of the city at night. Awful, awful, awful. So lacking in originality. If there is such a thing as the language of cinema then Vaughn must be mute. Still any film that manages to shoe horn in a Sparks track and a reference to John Woo can't be all bad, and despite how the above reads I didn't think it was terrible, just not my cup of tea. I can't imagine ever sitting down to watch it again either. Ho hum.
No comments:
Post a Comment