Well I saw Kick-Ass 2 the other day and I have to say that it really was not as good as the first one. The first one was a real surprise hit that snuck up on me. I didn't rush out to see it and ended up catching it on Netflix after it had debuted. I just couldn't get over how dorky his costume was and it just looked like yet another super-hero spoof so I missed its initial run. However, when I finally got to see it I saw that it had a great take on a super-hero as a regular person and had a pretty good dynamic.
However, the sequel was just not as good as the first one. The basis of the story is that the son of the bad-guy from the first one who played the Red Mist is now the main villain who now calls himself the Motherfucker. He forms a super-villain team from a bunch of mob guys to go after Kick-ass. Pretty standard faire as super hero movies go.
Kick-ass also joins his own super hero group formed by born-again Christian named Captain Stars-and-Stripes, who used to be a mob killer played by Jim Carrey. You really could have gotten a half-dozen different actors to play this roll and Carrey was pretty nondescript in it. He had a few good lines but nothing to write home about.
Kick-ass tries the entire movie to get Hit Girl to join him but her guardian who was her dead fathers partner on the police force makes her give up the mask. The movie is pretty much about people giving up being a hero for various parts of the movie and denying what "their real face is." It was told much better in Spider-man 2 with more pathos and depth.
In any case the action was pretty cool and there were a few places where I laughed out loud as a good super-hero satire should do. It was nice to see the 16 year old Hit Girl beat the crap out of a bunch of people and also show her softer side when she is victimized by the "Mean Girls" at her high school. I think Chloe Grace Moretz could become a female action star if she plays things right. Maybe a female version of Jason Bourne would be an interesting direction or even her as Supergirl would not be too much of a stretch. However, she has a weird upper lip that distracted me some of the time. It looked collagen injected but it is hard to tell. Hopefully, the producers didn't let a 16 year old girl pump a bunch of collagen into her lips but you never know.
In any case this movie was decent enough but just nothing special in terms of super-hero movies. It sets up a third movie at the end but it getting trounced by Lee Daniels The Butler does not bode well for it. However, that might be an artifact of scheduling. If they had it later in the year it probably would have done well but I think audiences are sick of yet another group of people shooting guns and running around.
Verdict: Redbox it if you like pop-corn action with a super-hero chaser.
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