Johnny Saturn

Hi, Folks.

There are a zillion “Kick-Ass” reviews out there, so I decided not to do one at this time.  I really enjoyed the comic, and I thought the movie was excellent.  You can probably draw all the review from that you want.

Since I’m not doing a review (A+), I’m going to talk about the movie-going experience.

The theater is about ten minutes from my house, and there is a great cinema at Hamilton Town Center, all new and clean.  From what I could see, two other men were in the audience with me.  One I didn’t get a good look at because he sat up above where I sat in the middle, more or less, or the theater.  The other fellow who sat parallel to me looked like any of a thousand guys that visit comic shops.

The action was so refreshing, because there was none of the ridiculous wirework and slow motion actions that are so common to modern action movies.  Characters could not take endless beatings and get back up for more, but keenly suffered their injuries.  The only scene that rattled me was when Kick-Ass was hit by a car—I knew it was coming, but it still shook me up.

Unlike other superhero movies I’ve seen, this movie made great use of the here and now.  There were tons of references to Youtube and Facebook and GPS navigation, and all the other technological oddities we surround ourselves with.

The movie rattled along, and I never got bored or distracted, and the endless violence was far more realistic than any John Woo movie. Now that I think of it, that would be one of this movie’s basic points—that real violence is nothing like comics or action movies.

After the movie, one of the guys who had also watched the movie approached me in the bathroom to talk about the show.  I was a trifle uncomfortable being approached like that in public restroom, but the guy seemed enthusiastic and nice, and he let me finish at my urinal before he spoke up. Leaving the bathroom, we spoke for several minutes, and I quickly learned that he too had read the comic and loved the movie.  Under other circumstances I might have hung out with him at a comic convention, but as it was I wished him a great day and headed home.

I guess I’ve come to expect emotional resonance and heart from my superhero movies, and Kick-Ass, much as Watchmen, the Incredibles, and Mystery Men has loads of heart.  I felt somewhat uplifted by the whole movie experience, to be honest.

Addendum:

I forgot to mention the previews that were shown prior to the movie.  The Expendables, the A-Team, Robin Hood, and some others I have already forgotten.

These things were full of that ridiculous wire work, over the top animation, and logic-defying action that is so common to action movies.  Every one of these movies touted “they are best at what they do,” or “they specialize in the impossible,” etc. ad infinitum.

How freakishly boring!  Why does Hollywood think that a movie needs to defy all probability and physics to be interesting?  And, why are “only the best at what they do” the main characters in these movies?  As I’ve said before, wouldn’t the fourth best be more interesting?  Ah well—I won’t belabor the point.

Addendum II:

With the premiere of Kick-Ass, all the real superheroes, or “Reals,” are getting a lot of good attention from the mainstream media.  This is fine with me, because this scene has always intrigued me.

Real Life Superheroes (aka RLS or Reals) rarely fight or engage in violence, but they do sometimes put themselves in dangers way.  They have been known to break up brawls, stop domestic violence, chase off and turn in drug sellers and users, and perform a role that is similar to that of non-costumed citizen patrols and citizen watchdog groups.  They also distribute supplies to the homeless, and this undoubtedly can be risky when walking the streets or subways at night.

Combat is not the main focus of these costumed people.  They are usually unarmed and rarely armored.  I suspect few of them have studied martial arts seriously.  This would be the main difference between the Reals and Kick-Ass, or the Reals and the standard comic-book heroes. Well, that and the conspicuous absence of super powers.

It would be easy to label these folks as fetishists, or cosplayers, but I feel confident in saying there is more to most of them than that.  The fact that this movement really bloomed after 9-11 illustrates the general feel of helplessness we all felt.  Maybe this isn’t the most orthodox way of donating time to your community, but you can’t fault their intentions.