Relocation

If you haven't read that note to the left, you should probably have a look at it now. Or better yet, just click here and be magically whisked away to my website.

Yes sir, I've finally got it off the ground. All that remains is the arduous process of reposting dozens of articles, reviews and musings. Feel free to have a look around, but it'll still be a few days before I'm entirely settled and ready to start posting new material regularly.

http://www.confederatewing.com/

The Losers (Not a "Movie Review" by any stretch of the words)

I just came back from watching The Losers, and I have absolutely nothing to say about it. Seriously. It's one of those rare movies from which you can come away with absolutely nothing. Oh sure, there's nothing particularly wrong with the movie, but then again there's nothing particularly good about it either. It just sort of "is," failing to entertain, engage, challenge, etc. "Bland" would probably be the best word to describe it, although it truly is so inconsequential that if defies definition.

Next week's not looking any better either between Furry Vengeance and A Nightmare on Elm Street. Iron Man 2 can't come soon enough...

Kick-Ass (Movie Review)

As more and more time passes, I find myself wondering if North American audiences will ever tire of superheroes. Examinations of the subject have come in all manner of flavours in recent years, ranging from the traditional exploits of Batman, Spider-Man, and Superman (with varying degrees of gravitas,) to the infrastructural implications of Hancock, and now to a sort of deconstruction with Watchmen and Defendor. I'm obliged to maintain enthusiasm for these films until Iron Man 2 at the very least, but it's becoming increasingly difficult not to feel mired in the genre's apparent over-saturation, to say nothing of sequel fever. But until May 7th finally rolls around, we have Kick-Ass, a movie that places a trio of unlikely heroic candidates in the sights of ruthless crime lords, delightful gore and all.

In a city that has the profile of New York and the street level of Toronto, a frustrated and hopelessly dim teenager named Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) wonders why nobody has ever attempted to don the guise of a superhero and fight injustice in real life. To learn the answer for himself, he buys a green wet suit, calls himself "Kick-Ass," and promptly begins to agitate local thugs with his asinine shrieks and flails. After a YouTube video of one of his mildly successful exploits attracts the attention of two professional vigilantes, "Big Daddy" (Nicolas Cage) and "Hit Girl" (Chloe Grace Moretz), as well as the mysterious "Red Mist" (Christopher-Mintz Plasse), Kick-Ass finds himself deeply entangled in the affairs of crime boss Frank D'Amico (Mark Strong), and discovers firsthand that the glamourous life of a superhero is not all its cracked up to be.

Even from its very first previews, something felt a bit off about Kick-Ass. While it may just be semantics, the notion of ordinary citizens dressing up in ridiculous costumes and taking it upon themselves to fight crime feels less like a superhero satire and more like a garden variety vigilantism premise. Certainly this is more or less exactly what being a superhero is, especially when there isn't anything particularly "super" about the hero in question, but these thoughts aren't exactly mitigated over the course of the film.

The simple fact is that Kick-Ass has two tightropes to walk: The far more pressing tonal tightrope between Superbad banter, Spider-Manspoofing, and the visceral punch of Sin City, and the subtle somewhat intellectual tightrope that must examine things like character, motivation, ethics, etc. And while I will admit that Kick-Ass for the most part deftly dances along the former, it has virtually nothing to say about the latter. Mind you it's not as if anyone is going to be bothered by this fact. When Kick-Ass isn't wearing its Screwball Comedy hat, it's nimbly eviscerating mobsters with whatever sharp edge is currently within the reach of its 11-year old female protagonist instead. And odds are highly likely that those into the former are as much into the latter as well (or vice versa), especially if you're between the ages of 14 to 25 with that pesky Y chromosome.

Characters like Big Daddy and Hit Girl are prime examples. They're both superbly portrayed and the two behind the costumes are clearly having a blast. But Kick-Ass' fascination with the idea of having an 11-year old girl single-handedly bring down an entire ring of organized crime in the present means that questions of why she was conditioned to do this in the past and the implications of the idea beyond the theatre are avenues left unexplored. To be fair there is a shade of backstory which is presented as panels in Big Daddy's comic book diary that trace the main details of the matter, including the death of a loved one, corruption, and five years of wrongful imprisonment. But inconsistencies peppered throughout the film poke holes in the explanation, such as the revelation that Hit Girl has three million dollars tucked away in a duffle bag somewhere and that Big Daddy somehow found the time between incarceration, training and brainwashing to generate enough to income to buy an arsenal large enough to wage war on Europe (indeed they loot their quarry, but would that really be enough?) Even Big Daddy himself seems willing to accept his daughter as more of a weapon or tool than an actual person, although I suppose a person pressuring their child into living out their failed dreams as a crime fighter is better than pressuring their child into their failed dreams as an actor or athlete, if only because it would at least be altruistic.

My issue with Kick-Ass is that in its haste to appeal to such a narrow demographic with every tool at its disposal, it has absolutely no desire to strike any balance whatsoever with the rest of the movie-going populace. The ingredients for a widely successful movie are all here: humour both sharp and subversive, action both visceral and immaculately captured, characters both charismatic and likable, and a premise both novel and inventive. But the presentation with little to no patience for the details which can really make a production sparkle is so aggressively puerile that those hoping for a bit more will be sorely disappointed. Kick-Asshas so much going for it, yet is content to squander it all trying to impress the people that it has already captured hook, line and sinker.

Yet is Kick-Ass "morally reprehensible?" Much like Léon from 1994, Kick-Ass suffers from its decision to place a prepubescent girl at the centre of a maelstrom of criminal chaos and violence. However unlike Léon, Kick-Ass' characterizations aren't strong enough to merit such a bold move. At least Mathilda (played by the young Natalie Portman) had control over actions whereas Hit Girl is locked into her role, presumably out of fear from being murdered in her sleep by Big Daddy for such a consideration. Mathilda also displayed more depth. The only dimension to Hit Girls' persona is her ability to enjoy murder as much as a normal 11 year old girl would enjoy Hopscotch or a jump rope. Rest assured, then, that Kick-Ass can't possibly be morally reprehensible because that would require a conscious decision on the filmmaker's part to be provocative or challenging, and wanton violence for its own sake just doesn't cut it.

What I can't forgive is the sarcastic voiceovers by Kick-Ass himself that narrate the entire film. There's a particular scene where Kick-Ass appears to be about to meet his demise and the entire film grinds to a halt so that his voiceover can reassure us that because he's currently narrating events, he can't possibly end up dead after the ordeal. This is a baffling decision on the filmmaker's part. Here we have a movie that is rather unique, exploring uncharted territory within a genre that has mostly been worn thin by telling a story that is interesting and largely original, and the film endeavours to spoil itself. To what end? So that it may satirize and dismiss an unsavoury trope by employing and drawing attention to it? Rarely have I ever witnessed a film make use of such a crippling blunder for no other reason than perhaps to reassure itself.

Juggling between several disparate tones and attitudes is a tricky balancing act, and Kick-Ass generally succeeds quite well. Scenes between ultra-violence and exposition tend to gel seamlessly thanks to moments of comedic downtime between Dave Lizewski and his friends, and even the requisite romantic angle between Dave and Katie Demeaux (Lyndsy Fonseca) manages to find a home. Nonetheless, there are still a couple of stumbles. For one,Kick-Ass never manages to mesh its candid demonstration of what it would really be like for superheroes and evildoers to attack each other brutally by keeping all the gore and colourful language in tact within the constraints of the real world. To the film's credit, it ends up jumping the shark more subtly than most by reserving the truly inane shenanigans for the end, but the impact of Kick-Ass getting his ass kicked several times is still lessened when you're constantly getting repulsed by absurdity. However I'm willing to forgive this quibble simply because I was quite fond of a certain scene neatly juxtaposing Kick-Ass sissy fighting his rival while the fierce "real" battle between Hit Girl and her rival raged on in the adjacent room.

Kick-Ass is not perfect, then. There are several flaws which seem to permeate the entire production, many of them seeming to have been glossed over in favour of focusing on a sharp and novel presentation. Yet as flawed and brainless as it is, the discrete and perhaps even insidious manner in which it conceals its imperfections enables a fairly high degree of entertainment to be extracted from the proceedings. If you enjoy ultra-violence for its own sake regardless of whether or not it's depicted in a rational and legitimate context, and if you find an ostentatious, juvenile, and brazen presentation agreeable, then by all means watch Kick-Ass. It certainly succeeds in delivering what it offers. Just don't expect anything more.

_{For further viewing on the subject of vigilante crime fighters dressed in ridiculous costumes, Andrew recommends watching the 2009 independent Canadian film "Defendor," starring Woody Harrelson. It's a far more mature and appealing treatment of roughly the same material. Keep in mind that's mature as in "stronger narrative/theme" and not "more blood, guts, and dismemberment."}