KICK-ASS

I've been reading the KICK-ASS series since mid-2009, and I loved it. I started reading comics again sometime in '08 but KICK-ASS is the first series I read book by book. I found myself walking in to Chapel Hill Comics on Wednesdays looking for the latest issue (unfortunately they were often pushed back). The comics start off slow enough, a boy wonders why no one has ever been a superhero and tries his hand at it. It's a believable enough scenario and the world is real enough that its fun to watch what happens to KICK-ASS  as he makes his first attempts at being a hero. Then Hit-Girl shows up and any realism the comic had is lost, Hit-Girl is a character that is too awesome to exist in the real word. Things escalate quickly after Hit-Girl shows up and the story of a goofy boy becomes this hyper violent swear fest that is incredibly fun. The comics stay somewhat grounded in reality as things play out (possibly not as expected) and are a great experience overall. They've got me back in the shops looking for more series to read; I've since picked up Scott Pilgrim, Y-The Last Man, Fables, The Losers, and a few others. Anyone I've talked in to reading it has loved it and I definitely recommend that anyone interested in comics (or violence) read this series; which was recently released in book form for around $20.

So here's the thing, I first heard about KICK-ASS on some film blogs I read; they were talking about how no company would touch a film that had a 10 year old girl swearing and slaughtering older men. Makes sense, but the comic creators found funding and made the movie anyway; a passion project it was called...so it had to be good. It was a big deal when they got Lionsgate as a distributor because many writers didn't think the movie would get anyone to pick it up. I remember thinking that was great news, but then photos leaked, then trailers, building to the inevitable thought "God, this is going to suck." But its a passion project I tell myself, they wouldn't ruin something they love....then I remembered Watchmen...*sigh* And that's the best comparison for KICK-ASS, like Watchmen it is a film made by people who care about the source material and did their best to honor it. I don't know why they made the changes they made, but like Watchmen some of the alterations to the end of the film greatly alter what made KICK-ASS the comic so great.

So is this worth seeing? YES, resoundingly yes in my mind. If only to see Hit-Girl moving on screen. Go in expecting a movie that is a loose adaptation of the comic and you'll be surprised how many in jokes and nods to the comic there are, you'll enjoy the film as its own experience and have fun. Do not go in expecting a 1-to-1 adaptation of the comic because you will be extremely disappointed almost immediately, even if you can let got of some of the minor alterations the ending will have you furious.

Here's what you do.
1. Buy and read the book.
2. Go see the movie.
3. Read the spoiler section below and let me know if you agree with comments.



Here's the trailer if that helps:


***SPOILERS & COMPLAINTS***
For starters movie Hit-Girl and Big-Daddy look ridiculous compared to their comic counter-parts.

Why give Kick-Ass nerve damage? I can't remember if they say it exactly, but they basically give him the superpower of getting his ass-kicked. Realism -1.

In the comics we eventually find out that BD was funding his escapades buy selling off his extremely valuable comic collection, and was nothing more than a deranged nerd who stole the youth of his daughter. In the movie they give him the noble conquest of seeking vengeance for his wife (who is dead in the comics) and while this is kind of a lame change I like it.

I did not like that fact that with this new story for BD came loser morals; while he might have been crazy, comic BD would have never used the drug money out of principal.

So Kick-Ass and Big-Daddy get captured in the film, and BD gets set on fire on webcam? The film spends all this time building up the battle between our heroes and the mafia their facing to the point where the whole world is watching the webcam feed of Kick-Ass' unmasking. This seems to go against the comic, while the action was always epic (at least with HG) the scale of it all was actually pretty small. Kick-Ass does get some small time fame, but he honestly couldn't have been more famous than that squirrel riding water-skis or any other internet phenomena.

Kick-Ass never kills anyone in the comic, honestly if I recall few heroes actually kill criminals and its a big deal whenever they do. So I'm supposed to believe the movie when it tells me that Kick-Ass mows down 3 men with a Gatling gun and doesn't have any emotional response other than to yell "Mother Fuckers!"???

Also did I mention that during that same scene Kick-Ass is flying a jet pack, consider all realism lost. And this is where my Watchmen comparison comes in to play. The endings in the comic vs the movie were so different they lead to two completely different meanings. Now in Kick-Ass the ending scene involves HG working her was through everyone and ultimately triumphing with the help of Kick-Ass, certainly not the most believable thing but it is relatively possible. Unlike the movie ending which is just so absurd and over the top that it completely undoes any of the believability of the rest of the movie.

I think its a matter of Hollywood giving us the same stupid fodder that America needs, Its the same reason they changed the ending of I Am Legend. As much as it pains me to admit, the average person eats up this over the top Michael Bay Hollywood movie shill and can't handle the darker more depressing stories provided in books.

Ok, maybe thats a bit of a rant, but only in a movie would you pretend to be gay to be a girls friend and when you finally tell her that it was a lie and you're really straight, she sleeps with you. In the comic Dave comes clean and gets his ass kicked, realism, that is what would happen in real life.