Most superheroes have super powers or if lacking such skills, lots of money to buy lots of cool gadgets to make them appear super and heroic.

Unfortunately, Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) has neither super powers nor two cents to rub together, actually he has enough money to buy comics but that’s about it. Hanging out at the local comic book store, with his loser friends, the gang argue and lust after girls that will never, ever, talk to them.

A neat montage sets up the motivation for Lizewski to don the wetsuit but its revealed as a parody, the reality being much more down to earth. Dressing up in a green and yellow wet suit with non matching work boots whilst posing as “Kick Ass”, will most definitely fit the bill of making life more interesting. Well, it will until he gets beaten up on his very first superhero act.

One more vigilante outing later and this being 2010, “Kick Ass” becomes an immediate You Tube sensation. Following some understandable mistaken identity, “Kick Ass” is at the mercy of some very ruthless crooks and discovers that posing as a superhero leads to all sorts of unanticipated trouble. This involves microwave ovens, bazookas, super hero assassins and more ultra violence than you can shake a decapitated limb at.

What makes this different and will have the UK Daily Mail frothing at the mouth, is that much of the uber violence is doled out by an eleven year old girl with a potty mouth. C & F words litter the eclectic soundtrack and the overall tone is darker than a box of very dark things, despite the comic book pretensions. There is humour aplenty but provides little remission, as comes from the same big dark box.

A slaughter fest to the tune of the Banana splits “Tra La La La” anyone?

You have father Damon McReady (Nicolas Cage) and daughter Mindy a.k.a “Hit Girl” (Cloe Moretz) spending quality time together which is always a joy to watch. Unless of course, the father is shooting his own daughter at close range with a revolver. At this point, you know you are slightly off the well beaten entertainment track.

Example dialogue, Father to daughter, “Tool up, honey bunny. It’s time to get bad guys” and Goon #1 “Fuck this shit, I’m getting the bazooka! “

This is a good film, Frank D’Mico (Mark Strong) snarls and wipes out sniveling crew members, minor drug dealers and anyone in his way, whilst still allowing family time by taking his son (Mintz–Plasse) a.k.a “Red Mist” to the movies. The action sequences are well staged, fierce, brutal and with graphic violence which may not please all. The acting is all first rate, Cage especially in a very different role and Moretz having the time of her life as “Hit Girl”, she is unlikely to be bullied at school anytime soon.

One could argue whether the ultra violence is necessary, as obviously this restricts the audience and dampens the mainstream appeal but obviously director Matthew Vaughan, has decided this is the way to go.

In many ways this film is everything that Spiderman is not, outfits look like they have been mail ordered, almost everyone is bad and redemption of any sort is not on the menu. Worryingly there are loose strands to be picked up in the sequel, at least “Hit Girl” will be 2 or 3 years older by then, so outage maybe somewhat muted.

The film looks good and although light on effects, apart from exploding squibs, has the appearance of being big budget despite it’s $28million cost, a figure that would barely cover Spiderman’s onset catering bill.

Summary

Bright colourful and immensely self aware, essentially both a parody of a mega budget comic book crowd pleaser, whilst actually being a comic book crowd pleaser for real, albeit reserved for a R18 audience.

Definitely not for young kids but perfect for the older kid in everyone, unless the sight of a cussing eleven year old girl, slicing and dicing drug dealers with huge swords, is not your cup of latte.