In a sequel that again bears the name of his superhero alter-ego, Dave Lizewski (Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Anna Karenina) – aka Kick-Ass – is searching for a way forward. The events of the previous film have left the mild-mannered high-schooler turned masked crusader at an impasse, having shunned crime fighting for a quiet life; however, the urge to act against injustice can’t easily be shaken.
Mindy Macready (Chloë Grace Moretz, Movie 43), better known as Kick-Ass’ similarly-styled contemporary, Hit-Girl, is faced with the same quandary. More comfortable beating down bad guys after years of training, the pursuit of typical teen pursuits – cheerleading, popular cliques and first dates – proves an uneasy fit for her talents and temperament.
Alas, in the plainly-titled Kick-Ass 2, theirs are not the only attempts to reconcile evident conflicts; the entirety of writer/director Jeff Wadlow’s (Never Back Down) feature struggles in the space between acknowledging the past and paving the way for a new future. Taking on helming duties from Kick-Ass’ Matthew Vaughn (Stardust), the filmmaker lacks assurance in his adaptation of Mark Millar and John Romita Jr.’s cult comic, mistaking silliness for subversion as he grapples with the content and context of both the material and the first film.
If the correlation of on- and off-screen uncertainty had been intentional – a purposefully chaotic sense of aesthetic, story and structure to mirror the messiness and inner ambiguity of the protagonists, for example – then Kick-Ass 2 may have avoided the inanity that eventuates; instead, despite concerted efforts to emulate the slick, spirited 2010 effort, it is left with a scarcity of energy and interest. Wadlow’s offering has the air of an approximation, assembling comparable narrative components (an older mentor, an ever-present threat, the intersection of the law, and a selection of coming-of-age clichés) in a recognisable fashion but without the urgency that made Kick-Ass passable.
The tale itself, furnished with the detail of Kick-Ass’ need to belong and Hit-Girl’s parallel plight to be ordinary, and furthered by a dissection of comic accoutrements, origin stories and obvious hero-versus-villain issues that dare not stray from cliché, is of the recycled ilk oft-seen within the genre. Its execution, fast, frenetic and feverishly flitting past anything that could be seen as serious or substantial, gleefully champions cartoonish carnage and uncouth utterances as the height of humour and entertainment.
In between sits the cast, with Moretz feistily playing to her strengths and Taylor-Johnson always the amiable, relatable every-man, their leading dynamic unevenly weighted in the former’s favour. Offering support, Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Pitch Perfect) is at his most exaggerated as the antagonist, and Jim Carrey (The Incredible Burt Wonderstone) provides an under-utilised adult stand-in. Again, the group goes through the motions, ticking boxes and fulfilling requirements, but adding little more. Such is Kick-Ass 2, a sequel in intention but a rehash by design; a feature that, like its characters, is confronted with opportunity but refuses to escape familiarity.
Rating: 2 stars out of 5
Kick-Ass 2
Director: Jeff Wadlow
USA/UK, 2013, 103 mins
Release date: 22 August
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Rated: MA
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