Kick-Ass Reviews

So in love with itself and its own supposed transgressions that it loses sight of the fact that it's become the very thing it's supposed to be taking down.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5

Crude, bloody and moody, Kick-Ass embraces, at arm's length, its fanboy origins. But maybe they should have decided if they loved these stereotypes, or wanted to ridicule them to death before rolling the camera.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4

It's deeply immoral to turn a ten year old girl into The Bride from "Kill Bill" and pretend it's just a cartoon.

Full Review | Original Score: 0/5

Let's say you're a big fan of the original comic book, and you think the movie does it justice. You know what? You inhabit a world I am so very not interested in.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/4

I started hating this movie around the midpoint.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4

This ribald romp, thanks to its unrelenting violence, ultimately outstays its welcome.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5

Beware, beware of films designed to tickle Comic Book Guy's undercarriage

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"Kick-Ass" isn't just broken by its flaws ... It's flawed to start with, a hypocritical mess whose attempts to swagger turn into clumsy stumbling and whose knowing wink blinds it to its own problems.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/5

While director Matthew Vaughn channels the spirit of Mark Millar's comic, too often he oversteps his mark with his stylised use of violence, with young Chloe Moretz as the main attraction.

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Never as shocking as it thinks it is, as funny as it should be, or as engaged in cultural critique as it could be.

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The film is amusing, but it's gaspingly inconsequential.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5

As a subversive dissection of a genre, the film has no grit or imagination, and as a work of stock wham-bam entertainment, it's a sloppy trifle, merely the latest piece of disposable Friday night mainstream-cinema juvenilia.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4

Black comedy is one thing (and I like it well done) but this is far from that. Sometimes shootings are intended to raise a laugh and sometimes the killings are in deadly earnest.

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The fact that an 11-year-old is doing the killing -- shooting and stabbing bad guys -- all of whom die very bloodily -- will be understandably concerning for many.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5

The film's misjudged moments and uneven tone make it incapable of sweeping the audience away with the absurd, innocent exhilaration of the 'what if' premise.

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Kick-Ass is only half right.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.0/4.0

For all its posturing, Kick-Ass doesn't risk taking the superhero genre seriously and hence is all too happy to be impotent.

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[It] thinks it's so brave and bold. But it's more like the title character, a dweeb who just thinks he's tough.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5

A tone-deaf pantsing of the superman cause, creating an incredible ruckus as it breakdances on hallowed ground, preferring noise over wit when it comes to giving funny books a comprehensive noogie.

Full Review | Original Score: C

America could probably use a good laugh just about now, what with all the problems plaguing this society. But the exploitation of children even if they are actors and the special effects are occasionally awesome, is way beyond just not cool.

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