DVD Release Date:  August 3, 2010
Theatrical Release Date:  April 16, 2010
Rating:  R (for strong brutal violence throughout, pervasive language, sexual content, nudity and some drug use—some involving children.)
Genre:  Action, Comedy
Run Time:  117 min.
Director:  Matthew Vaughn
Cast:  Aaron Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Mark Strong, Nicolas Cage, Chloe Moretz, Clark Duke, Evan Peters, Lyndsy Fonseca

With a film like Kick-Ass, it seems insufficient to focus on critiquing the cinematic merits alone.  By reveling in extreme violence and language that brazenly crosses moral lines while also directly targeting a teen-and-college audience, it's really more than a movie; it's a cultural Rorschach test.  People will either love it or hate it, and the camps they fall into will likely be drawn by, more than anything, generational lines. 

Make no mistake: this film will be huge.  Its short-term success is all-but-certain, and its long-term status within pop culture will be iconic (even if only on a cult level, though a mainstream following is more likely).  The only possible factor that could mute a blockbuster theatrical run is its restrictive R-rating, making it more difficult for the core teen demographic to buy tickets (even as they most assuredly will find ways to sneak in).  It's safe to wager that it will have more attendees than tickets sold.

Young audiences will come out and come back in droves even as their parents will be repulsed by it (in most cases, sight unseen).  The real irony of these polar opposite reactions is that they will exist for the same exact reason: the movie's ultra-violent and profane exploits are largely enacted by teens, with the most graphic coming at the hands of an 11-year-old girl.  It's like a Quentin Tarantino flick—with kids!

Based on a comic book series of the same name, Kick-Ass is about a New York City teenager Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) who, ashamed by both the lack of courage in himself as well as others who stand by while bystanders become victims of crime, decides to do what no one else has: actually become a superhero.  Decked out in a homemade green-and-yellow costume, he goes by the alias from which the movie derives its title.

Of course, actually being a superhero is easier said-than-done, as run-ins with local hoodlums don't go well and, eventually, his actions get him entangled with a city crime boss.  Lizewski begins to find his way when a video of a successful fight against a small gang is posted on YouTube.  Suddenly he becomes a cultural phenomenon, and other imitators emerge.

The most-notable other superheroes are a duo that has already been developing in secret long before Lizewski came along.  A father/daughter team, actually, in which ex-cop dad Damon Macready (Nicolas Cage, who channels Adam West's spin on Batman when in costume) leads his tween daughter Mindy (Chloe Moretz) on a revenge-fueled mission.  Their sweet and old-fashioned loving relationship serves as sardonic contrast to the intensely violent training and missions they engage in, cloaked as Big Daddy and Hit-Girl.

Hit-Girl is the scene-stealer; a grade school version of Uma Thurman's "The Bride" from Kill Bill, she stabs, guts, slays, shoots and kills bad guys with unmerciful aggression, all graphically depicted, as she throws in vulgar epithets for good measure (the most notable being the "c" word).  Given her age she's also easily the film's most notorious element, and that's really saying something.

What makes this "Superfriends meets Superbad" pulp extravaganza a particularly fascinating case study (even if not a recommendable film) is that it's as creative as it is offensive, and would be far easier to dismiss if it were not.  Brit action director Matthew Vaughn (Layer Cake; Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels) utilizes his now-familiar hyper-kinetic stylistic overload with the artful enthusiasm of a Tarantino (even as he rips off that indie-legend too blatantly at times). 

Further complicating one's response is the film's new approach to moral irreverence.  In its darker comedic moments, it might play a tragic death (amongst other things) for laughs; okay, that's been done before.  But unlike exploitation films of the past, this is not an anti-hero fantasy that thumbs its nose at virtue and justice.  On the contrary, it decidedly embraces heroism at its core, and promotes virtues of honor and self-sacrifice.  It might very well be the first anti-"anti-hero" movie.  That is to say while it offends so many values throughout, it decidedly embraces values at its core.  Its action and comedy may mock, but its heart and message are earnestly sincere.

This spin on comic book movies isn't a mere parody; it's an inspired and reverential riff on the genre, and in the end is (stylistically, anyway) as good or even better than most.  And even as this fantasy defies logic, biology and physics, it's also realistic enough to depict consequences so severe that anyone with a hair-brained notion to try any of this at home will instantly think otherwise.

So while it is defiant in many ways, it's not universally so.  Still, that it also crosses so many lines of decency—especially with under-age characters involved—is a valid concern.  Both dualities must at least be acknowledged if not appreciated, and it's fair that anxieties over content would supersede the quality of the craft.

And it's a shame, too, because the filmmakers are really on to something here.  Even with all the foul content considered, there's an abundance of talent on display and a brilliant narrative conceit at its core.  The story is extremely well-plotted with intriguing back-stories and surprising turns, and characters are emotionally involving.  It may be crass, but it's not lazy.

But at the end of it all, it is what it is.  Many may lament that films which promote purer virtues and better values don't always do as well at the box office, but until wholesome films are made with this level of entertaining flair, that lament won't end any time soon.

CAUTIONS:  

• Drugs/Alcohol Content:  Alcoholic is consumed. A man takes lines of cocaine. Marijuana is smoked.
• Language/Profanity:  All forms of profanity used throughout by adults and teenagers, including vulgar terms like the "c" word being said by an 11-year-old girl.
• Sexual Content/Nudity:  Verbal and Visual references to masturbation, but not visually explicit.  Teen guy fantasizes about his teacher; very suggestive, but no nudity.  Teen guy massages the back of a nearly-nude teen girl.  Fondling prior to sex, but not seeing the sex.  Teen couple has passionate sex in an alley (while mostly clothed).
• Violence:  Several stabbings.  Bloody and violent.  Someone is hit violently by a car.  A person explodes inside a compressed air chamber.  Man burned alive, severely scarred.  Multiple bloody and violent fight scenes with multiple stabbings, shootings, knife and sword play, limbs severed, and so on—again, often involving (and perpetrated by) teens and a girl.
  

Jeffrey Huston is a film director, writer and producer at Steelehouse Productions in Tulsa, Okla.  He is also cohost of "Steelehouse Podcast," along with Steelehouse Executive Creative Mark Steele, where each week they discuss God in pop culture. 

To listen to the weekly podcast, please visit www.steelehouse.com or click here.  You can also subscribe to "Steelehouse Podcast" through iTunes.