**After a long break from posting and the encouragement of a friend, I've decided to bring the blog back! I think I'm (hopefully) going to be a tad more regular about postings from now on.
-I went and saw Kick Ass this weekend...I hope no one has high hopes for this film. I think most of us knew going in that there wasn't much to be desired especially when one of their protagonists is played by Nicholas Cage.
Unfortunately I had forgotten that little tidbit and boy was I so excited to see His Awkwardness enter the frame. Gross. Still, I had figured it would just be an easy going, entertaining movie for uncritical audience members....WRONG. It was not at all what I thought it was going to be. My perception of the movie going in (uhhh based on the SYNOPSIS...) was that it was going to be about a band of misfits fighting crime and helping those who are in bad/unfair situations. Not so much... I mean, that was the quest of the main character Dave Lizewski (played by Aaron Johnson) but there was a lot more going on in that plot. They also give you this picture that the "misfits" are on the same team. That's not even true, either. Two of the characters only butt in on Lizewski aka Kick Ass' character when he gets into a lot of trouble. The fourth "super hero" Red Mist, played by Christopher Mintz-Plasse is only getting in on the action so that he can find who's sabotaging his dad's business. And he doesn't directly "fight crime" with the other two...ever...Now after that description you may be completely lost, and I apologize but there were about 1000 different things going on plot-wise at all times. Sometimes that's a good thing...when it's done well. I assure you it wasn't here.
The plot was so forced and it felt like the screenwriters couldn't decide what they wanted it to be. Was it supposed to be a quirky comedy full of awkward situations for Kick Ass? Was it supposed to be a story about love and loyalty and doing random acts of kindness? What about just a plain ol' action movie? Was it a serious revenge movie? The truth is it was a little bit of all of those things. And unfortunately, it wasn't done well. I do like meta-narratives and plots that are all twisted up but this one just didn't do it for me. It was too compartmentalized. We'd go from serious, to awkward, to funny, to angry in different scenes, but I never felt like they were intertwined or complementative. In my opinion, that needs to happen to be able to pull off all of these different ideas. This was just weird.
Casting wise, they had about a 50% success rate. I honestly don't understand WHY Nicholas Cage still has a career. With that being said, for Mr. Cage, this is one of the better things I've seen him in in a long while. He'd honestly gained back some integrity in my eyes until his last scene where I about vomited from all the corny-ness. Christopher Mentz-Plasse was another big name and I'm still undecided if casting him was a good idea. I don't really picture anyone else in that part now that I've seen it and maybe his nerdy self did add something to the part...Here's my problem: This guy is typically type cast as the dorky, awkward kid that we saw in Superbad. And truth be told, I don't know if he has the chops to do anything much more intense. This character wasn't funny at all...it was a more serious role...he wanted to be like his father and join him in the mob business. However, when you put Chris in this role he still portrays a dork because of that "adorable" listhp. It was confusing...why would this rich, yet inherently nerdy dude have any interest in being a gangster? It just didn't work for me. Speaking of listhps, I believe Aaron Johnson (Kick Ass) should have been cast instead of Daniel Radcliffe (yeah, I said it...) in the Harry Potter series. He actually has green eyes (as opposed to Mr-I-won't-wear-green-contacts-Radcliffe) and he doesn't have that annoying lisp. His character wore round HP glasses and I could totally see him as Harry.
So the one most adorable aspect of this film was the character Mindy/Hit-Girl played by Chloe Moretz. She was just precious. Sometimes I thought she was too violent for a twelve year old girl, but there you have it. That's the writer's fault, not Chloe's. I think we're going to be seeing her in many more films to come. She reveals her true name to Kick Ass at the end of the film: Mindy Macready. When she said it I laughed out loud because I thought it was a joke. When I went to look up the movie on imdb though, I saw that that really was her and her dad's last name...Did the writers not know there is a famous country singer with that name? I mean it wasn't in a context where they'd have been paying homage to or joking about her, so what's the deal?
So that's my spiel..it got me on shock value because it wasn't what I was expecting, but it really is nothing I have any interest in seeing again. If you are really dead set on seeing it, wait til it comes out on DVD...
-I went and saw Kick Ass this weekend...I hope no one has high hopes for this film. I think most of us knew going in that there wasn't much to be desired especially when one of their protagonists is played by Nicholas Cage.
Unfortunately I had forgotten that little tidbit and boy was I so excited to see His Awkwardness enter the frame. Gross. Still, I had figured it would just be an easy going, entertaining movie for uncritical audience members....WRONG. It was not at all what I thought it was going to be. My perception of the movie going in (uhhh based on the SYNOPSIS...) was that it was going to be about a band of misfits fighting crime and helping those who are in bad/unfair situations. Not so much... I mean, that was the quest of the main character Dave Lizewski (played by Aaron Johnson) but there was a lot more going on in that plot. They also give you this picture that the "misfits" are on the same team. That's not even true, either. Two of the characters only butt in on Lizewski aka Kick Ass' character when he gets into a lot of trouble. The fourth "super hero" Red Mist, played by Christopher Mintz-Plasse is only getting in on the action so that he can find who's sabotaging his dad's business. And he doesn't directly "fight crime" with the other two...ever...Now after that description you may be completely lost, and I apologize but there were about 1000 different things going on plot-wise at all times. Sometimes that's a good thing...when it's done well. I assure you it wasn't here.
The plot was so forced and it felt like the screenwriters couldn't decide what they wanted it to be. Was it supposed to be a quirky comedy full of awkward situations for Kick Ass? Was it supposed to be a story about love and loyalty and doing random acts of kindness? What about just a plain ol' action movie? Was it a serious revenge movie? The truth is it was a little bit of all of those things. And unfortunately, it wasn't done well. I do like meta-narratives and plots that are all twisted up but this one just didn't do it for me. It was too compartmentalized. We'd go from serious, to awkward, to funny, to angry in different scenes, but I never felt like they were intertwined or complementative. In my opinion, that needs to happen to be able to pull off all of these different ideas. This was just weird.
Casting wise, they had about a 50% success rate. I honestly don't understand WHY Nicholas Cage still has a career. With that being said, for Mr. Cage, this is one of the better things I've seen him in in a long while. He'd honestly gained back some integrity in my eyes until his last scene where I about vomited from all the corny-ness. Christopher Mentz-Plasse was another big name and I'm still undecided if casting him was a good idea. I don't really picture anyone else in that part now that I've seen it and maybe his nerdy self did add something to the part...Here's my problem: This guy is typically type cast as the dorky, awkward kid that we saw in Superbad. And truth be told, I don't know if he has the chops to do anything much more intense. This character wasn't funny at all...it was a more serious role...he wanted to be like his father and join him in the mob business. However, when you put Chris in this role he still portrays a dork because of that "adorable" listhp. It was confusing...why would this rich, yet inherently nerdy dude have any interest in being a gangster? It just didn't work for me. Speaking of listhps, I believe Aaron Johnson (Kick Ass) should have been cast instead of Daniel Radcliffe (yeah, I said it...) in the Harry Potter series. He actually has green eyes (as opposed to Mr-I-won't-wear-green-contacts-Radcliffe) and he doesn't have that annoying lisp. His character wore round HP glasses and I could totally see him as Harry.
So the one most adorable aspect of this film was the character Mindy/Hit-Girl played by Chloe Moretz. She was just precious. Sometimes I thought she was too violent for a twelve year old girl, but there you have it. That's the writer's fault, not Chloe's. I think we're going to be seeing her in many more films to come. She reveals her true name to Kick Ass at the end of the film: Mindy Macready. When she said it I laughed out loud because I thought it was a joke. When I went to look up the movie on imdb though, I saw that that really was her and her dad's last name...Did the writers not know there is a famous country singer with that name? I mean it wasn't in a context where they'd have been paying homage to or joking about her, so what's the deal?
So that's my spiel..it got me on shock value because it wasn't what I was expecting, but it really is nothing I have any interest in seeing again. If you are really dead set on seeing it, wait til it comes out on DVD...
|
Post a Comment