Kick-Ass vs 500 Days Of Summer

The narration (and all of the advertising) for Kick-Ass leads us to believe that the movie and its characters serve as some kind of response to the unrealistic depictions of superheroes we’ve been fed since the concept was invented. The comic it’s based on didn’t necessarily do that. The movie and the comic have the same plot, but with comics, the distinction is this: if you are holding a comic book, you already buy into the idea that no characters in a comic book are living in a world where comic book characters aren’t real…because that’s what they are in the first place. Even if they say they aren’t comic book characters, I know that’s not true, BECAUSE I WAS HOLDING THE COMIC BOOK THEY WERE IN WHEN THEY SAID IT. It’s the same with a movie. The main character in Kick-Ass tells us time and again that he’s different than those fakey-fake characters in movies and comic books, and then does the things those characters do, in much the same way. Kick-Ass is a fun, exciting movie. But this idea that it’s a fresher, smarter take on superheroes? That’s pretty ridiculous, especially since Kick-Ass comes so soon after Iron Man and The Dark Knight, two movies that need no satirical response.

Aaron Johnson plays Dave, a high school kid, who, thankfully, isn’t a complete movie loser. He has friends, they have fun hanging out, and of course, reading comic books. Dave wonders why no one has ever tried to become a super hero before, and takes it upon himself to try. He orders a scuba suit online (it’s the most super hero costume-looking scuba suit ever), puts a couple clubs on his back, and hits the streets. He’s no good at it, of course, getting his ass handed to him almost instantly. After a scary trip to the emergency room, Kick-Ass (his official hero name) gets back out there and, well, he mainly just gets beaten up. But he becomes an internet sensation, and even though he keeps his secret identity, Dave scores a girlfriend out of the deal as well. Dave’s high school life, with his friends and the girls who ignore them, is straight out of some unproduced Michael Cera comedy, and drags the movie to a halt every time it appears. During these scenes, curiously, Dave uses a scratchy little kid voice he doesn’t use any other time. Is this a nod to Christian Bale’s change in voice from Bruce Wayne to Batman? Even though his mother is dead, Dave assures us that avenging her isn’t part of his origin. Which is where the problem starts, for me. Dave goes to great lengths to show us that he doesn’t care about anything, that his mission is just a thing to do. Fine. But that also meant, for me, that everything else he did was meaningless as well.

For meaning, look to Hit Girl and Big Daddy. They’re the only characters in the movie with any true ties to a conflict that might necessitate being a super hero (Kick-Ass has a contrived and implausible confrontation with the drug-dealing pimp ex-boyfriend of his high school girlfriend, and also tries to rescue a kitty from a billboard), and also link to the villains of the movie (who are straight out of every lazy 1980s action movie). Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage) was a cop sent to prison on false charges. Now he’s out, and training his daughter, Hit Girl (Chloe Moretz) to be an urban vigilante. He’s doing a hell of a job. They’re basically the Punisher and the Bride, out killing thugs and leaping across rooftops. At home, they’re the picture of generic domesticity, but on patrol they’re vicious and focused. For Big Daddy, Cage speaks with Adam West’s inflections, paints black around his eyes, and extends his mustache. Hit Girl wears a bright purple wig and drops the c-bomb. Their fights are edited and scored like energy drink commercials. Everything is in place for them to the tongue-deepest-in-cheek jokes of the entire movie. Nope. They rock, they’re funny, they kick you-know-what, and still, despite everything the movie tries to be cool and detached, they’re touching as well. No matter how hard it fights, Kick-Ass will make you feel for its characters, to its benefit. A lot of noise has been made about Hit Girl being too violent too young, but it all sounds a little too much like sexism to me. Hit Girl is smart, funny, independent and physically capable. I don’t have a daughter, but I suspect Hit Girl is a more welcome Halloween costume idea than Miley Cyrus, for most parents.

Matthew Vaughn directed Kick-Ass, and while I would watch the movie again, I suspect a lot of my criticisms fall on his shoulders. Kick-Ass is alternately rooted in real life, where people bleed, comic book characters aren’t real, and actions have consequences; and in a movie world where purple-haired middle-schoolers kill mob henchmen in hyper-edited Joan Jett montages. Thanks to Hit Girl and Big Daddy, the gap is bridged, just enough. Maybe for the sequel, Vaughn will be more comfortable picking a theme and sticking to it.

Chloe Moretz was in another genre-rebelling movie, last year’s 500 Days of Summer, which took a swing at romantic comedies, and asserted itself, if I may be kind of dickish, as one of the few smart people can feel comfortable watching. Romantic comedies can be so unpleasant, phony and backward that I seldom allow myself to get trapped into watching one. What I’m saying is, while I’m happy lately with Hollywood’s output of movies based on comic books, the romantic comedy genre needs a top-to-bottom makeover. And 500 Days of Summer gives it one. It’s self-aware and ironic, but also has a sleeve full of hearts. It discards many of the clichés weighing down modern romantic comedies (there’s no race to the altar, no wacky misunderstandings, no unlikely first meeting, the protagonists don’t hate each other before falling in love), but without being cynical. 500 Days of Summer isn’t the anti romantic comedy, it’s just a good one.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Tom, a young designer (he wants to be an architect, but works on greeting cards instead. Summer (Zooey Deschanel) is the new girl at work he loves. They begin dating, and like all couples in life and movies, have their ups and downs. 500 Days of Summer is unique, though, in that we know from the very beginning that Tom and Summer broke up, and we see their story, from beginning to end, as a series of anecdotes told non-chronologically. Along the way we get musical montages, animation, do-overs and narration that backs up the story, rather than contradicting it. And Chloe Moretz plays Tom’s straight-talking younger sister. It’s a small part, but she kicks ass.

Note: 500 Days of Summer was directed by Marc Webb, who is also taking over the Spider-man franchise. His contemporary, Matthew Vaughn, is making the next X-Men movie. REMATCH!

Kick-Ass: B

(500) Days of Summer: A-