Kick-Ass 2 (2013) by The Critical Movie Critics

Movie Review: Kick-Ass 2 (2013)


Kick-Ass 2 (2013) by The Critical Movie Critics

The everyday heroes.

Let’s face it, the sheer existence of the numeral “2” behind any film title automatically relegates said picture to the garbage heap of cinematic experiences (see “The Hangover Part 2” and “The Smurfs 2” as recent examples). Of course, there are rare exceptions where the sequel is better than or as good as the first, such as “The Godfather: Part 2,” or “Superman II,” or “Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan,” but usually second installments are quickly made to cash in on a surprise hit and capture lightening in a bottle. This is no exception when it comes to Kick-Ass 2, which continues the story of a group of amateur wannabe super heroes from the graphic novel of the same name.

Three years ago, with “Kick-Ass,” director Matthew Vaughn filled theater seats with young bodies eager to see peers don capes and costumes and sock it to the baddies. The biggest attraction, however, was then 12-year old Chloë Grace Moretz, who personified the title as “Hit Girl” and dealt serious damage to men three times her age and size.

And while I was not a fan of this endeavor, nor did I think it was funny to have the little girl have a filthy mouth to go along with her deadly martial arts talent (us fathers of preteen daughters are funny that way), I judged the movie slightly acceptable because of its original story and the exuberance of the young actors involved.

Now, however, with everyone three years older, the freshness of the script long-gone, and a new director, Jeff Wadlow (“Never Back Down“), calling the shots, Kick-Ass 2 becomes just another in a long series of stale and unnecessary sequels to movies which did not deserve sequels in the first place. And while seeing a 12-year old girl wreak havoc may be interesting to some of us, viewing the same kid as a 15-year old doing the same thing just does not mean that much anymore.

Kick-Ass 2 (2013) by The Critical Movie Critics

Good versus evil.

To be fair, though, I will try to describe the plot as best I can. After bringing down the local villains in the first picture, Kick-Ass/Dave Lizewski (Aaron Taylor-Johnson, “Savages”) has laid off and gotten soft, but the son of the main bad guy killed in part one, Chris D’Amico/Red Mist/The Motherfucker (Christopher Mintz-Plasse, “This Is the End“) has not forgotten and puts together a group of super baddies to gain revenge. To counter this, Kick-Ass assembles his own group, the Justice League, uh oops, I mean the Justice Forever group with some of the lamest characters ever put together for a superhero film: “Colonel Stars & Stripes” (Jim Carrey in his 142nd consecutive terrible role), “Dr. Gravity” (Donald Faison, TV series “Scrubs“), “Night Bitch” (Lindy Booth, “Nobel Son“) and the ridiculously-named “Battle Guy” (the lame Clark Duke, “Hot Tub Time Machine”).

Needless to say, the violence here is way over-the-top, the acting is well below what one would expect from such a production and the direction is practically non-existent. Ironically, the only thing worth seeing here is Moretz again, who while dishing out her own brand of ludicrous force, is still, the best actor out of everyone, including the embarrassing, cringe-inducing Carrey, who even came out before Kick-Ass 2 debuted to blast it for its matter-of-fact depiction of gore. No doubt he accepted whatever pay he was offered for participating in such stupidity, though.

Critical Movie Critic Rating:
1 Star Rating: Stay Away

1

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The Critical Movie Critics

I have been a movie fan for most of my life and a film critic since 1986 (my first published review was for "Platoon"). Since that time I have written for several news and entertainment publications in California, Utah and Idaho. Big fan of the Academy Awards - but wish it would go back to the five-minute dinner it was in May, 1929. A former member of the San Diego Film Critics Society and current co-host of "The Movie Guys," each Sunday afternoon on KOGO AM 600 in San Diego with Kevin Finnerty.


'Movie Review: Kick-Ass 2 (2013)' have 15 comments

  1. The Critical Movie Critics

    August 19, 2013 @ 11:30 am JB Kobile

    You’ve got to look at it through the lens of it being a comic that happens to be a movie and not “real” movie so to speak. The overstuffed acting, dialogue and violence become more palatible and the movie more enjoyable when you do.

  2. The Critical Movie Critics

    August 19, 2013 @ 11:34 am Munch

    Saw it and loved it.

    • The Critical Movie Critics

      August 19, 2013 @ 9:09 pm Centrum Plus

      Me too. I just loved the first one more.

  3. The Critical Movie Critics

    August 19, 2013 @ 11:46 am HooHaa

    Kick-Ass kicks ass!!

    • The Critical Movie Critics

      August 19, 2013 @ 1:02 pm sasori

      That didn’t take long to come up with, did it?

  4. The Critical Movie Critics

    August 19, 2013 @ 12:13 pm Randy Winter

    If Jim Carrey didn’t raise a stink about his particpation, I wouldn’t have known he was in KA2. I only just realized he was Col. Stars and Stripes..

  5. The Critical Movie Critics

    August 19, 2013 @ 1:44 pm Doom!

    Like you Greg, I’m wondering why a sequel was made. The first Kick Ass was more than plenty.

  6. The Critical Movie Critics

    August 19, 2013 @ 2:16 pm Ferguson

    Chloe Grace Moretz is perfect once again!

  7. The Critical Movie Critics

    August 19, 2013 @ 2:51 pm Sportster

    Don’t fuck with Mother Russia!

  8. The Critical Movie Critics

    August 19, 2013 @ 3:22 pm Pinto

    You may not have liked it but it sounds as if Jeff Wadlow made the movie the way it was supposed to be made – depraved.

  9. The Critical Movie Critics

    August 19, 2013 @ 4:06 pm Bugs

    misses Nic Cage.

  10. The Critical Movie Critics

    August 19, 2013 @ 4:45 pm Maureen Hume

    It’s violent and stupid. I have no idea why anyone would want to sit through or applaud this.

  11. The Critical Movie Critics

    August 19, 2013 @ 9:03 pm anthrax

    A “Kick-Ass 3” may be closer than you think. Watch through the credits . . .

  12. The Critical Movie Critics

    August 19, 2013 @ 11:51 pm Shin-Roh

    Hit Girl owns it. I hope they give her her own spin-off flick soon.

  13. The Critical Movie Critics

    October 17, 2013 @ 1:11 pm bong

    I have to say it, the best parts of the movie had Hit Girl in it.
    In fact you could have taken out the rest of the film and it would hardly have changed the result.
    On the other hand if you took out Hit Girl’s scenes, the movie would have flopped.

    Maybe changing the director had a big part of why this sequel was uneven compared to the first film.
    Im not as interested in Kick Ass as i was in Hit Girl.
    And this movie has his name on it.
    Time for Hit Girl to have her own movie.

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