I met up late Saturday night in Parsippany with my best friend Doug to see Kick-Ass. It came out two weeks ago, and it’s had some pretty good reviews. In honor of my birthday, Doug suggested that we meet up, and it was his treat. How could I ever turn down that offer? For a long time, I didn’t go out on the weekends because I felt too guilty leaving my wife to fend for herself with one or both kids. Now we’ve come up with a system — after the kids have eaten dinner and gone off to bed, what’s there to worry about? She has nothing to worry about, and I don’t have to feel guilty. It’s a win-win situation! Doug and I catch the occasional movie somewhere in north Jersey, which is about the mid-point for both of us.
We caught the 10:40pm movie up at the Rout 10 AMC in East Hanover, which was in the middle for both of us. I was worried about getting terrible seats to a new movie on a Saturday night, but we caught the last showing, and the theater was empty. I suppose all the teenyboppers were already heading home via the Mom & Dad shuttle service, as we were the first in the theater. Great seats, popcorn, and Coke Zero, and most important of all? Peace and quiet.
The movie’s basic premise is that this teenager believes people should take a stand to help others and be a superheroe. He doesn’t have special abilities or anything, but just wants to make a difference. Oh, and impressing the hot girl that has a school locker next to him wouldn’t be bad either. He becomes the “superheroe” named Kick-Ass, but he regularly gets his ass kicked. Meanwhile, real superheroes (played by Nicholas Cage and Chloe Grace Moretz) are the real deal as Big Daddy and Hit Girl, and are going up against the crime boss / drug lord Frank D’Amico. Kick-Ass gets roped into through mistaken identity, and that’s how the movie progresses.
The filmis based on Kick-Ass, a creator-owned comic book series written by Mark Millar and illustrated by John Romita, Jr. I thought the teenager (and Kick-Ass) character were ok. He really got beaten up a lot, so that wasn’t that much fun. However, watching the real superheroes Big Daddy and Hit Girl rocked the house. They were awesome and fun to watch. Hit Girl was absolutely awesome and a total blast.