Day 57 -- Kick Ass

Released: April 16th, 2010

Starring: Nicholas Cage, Chloe Moretz, Aaron Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Lyndsy Fonseca

Writer/Director: Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman/Matthew Vaughn

Description: Dave Lizewski is an unnoticed high school student and comic book fan who one day decides to become a super-hero, even though he has no powers, training or meaningful reason to do so.

[Review may contain spoilers. Please watch movie before reading, unless you don't care. Most of these films have already been released for a while, so they should be readily available.]

***

With all the rumors swirling around the time of the last Superman movie, most surprising was the casting of Nick Cage as the man of steel. At the time, Cage's body of work didn't make him an obvious choice for the role, especially since he hadn't starred in an action movie of note. The only way he would have been successful was if it was more of a character study than a superhero movie.

"Kick Ass" was that character study/superhero movie. Cage plays "Big Daddy", or former cop Daemon McCready, who's wife committed suicide. He blamed the evil crime boss, Frank D'Amico (Strong) for the tragedy, so after quitting the force he trains his daughter, "Hit Girl" Mindy (Moretz) to be a father-daughter crime fighting duo. This is where they meet lonely teen, Dave Lizewski (Johnson), who after a freak accident becomes impervious to pain and bone breaking. He decides to use this to his advantage and fight crime; that's when he gets roped into the McCready's mission.

The breakout star was the amazing Chole Moretz. She made you forget that she was a pre-teen saying adult language. She was perfect in the whole movie, and gave the movie some emotional depth that I thin would have been missing without her. As good as Aaron Johnson was, his story line wasn't as deep as Moretz' and the movie would have just bee superficial. The McCready's chemistry is the heart of this movie, and they carry the film.

Cage did everything just ridiculous enough that it was interesting and not eye-rollingly stupid. From his mustache to his open scene of him shooting Mindy, he embodies everything that a person trying to be a real-life superhero should have, including an Adam West voice.

Even though this is Nick Cage week and the fact that this movie is much different from the others I'm watching this week (it's good), I must talk about the great direction of Matthew Vaughn. I absolutely love the introduction of "Hit Girl". Everything from the music to the awesome action to the nonchalant attitude displayed by Moretz is pitch perfect. And every scene from there makes us root for them even though they are psychotic. His choice to show the McCready's backstory through a graphic novel style montage was ballsy, but brilliant; it was the ultimate show don't tell.

Most of the time casting directors don't get the credit they deserve, or even the recognition. But Sarah Finn and Lucinda Syson, need to be commended for the supporting cast they put together. Every character is this film was almost perfect, and it really helps the movie separate from your typical parody, or superhero movie.

"Kick Ass" is the first movie in a while that I believe deserved a sequel. The story felt like the beginning of a trilogy. I'm not sure if the movie was profitable enough to warrant it, but the material is there. I'm sure you could bring back most of the main cast since most of them have yet to reach too high of a level of salary, and most would relish the chance to tackle this subject again. It could be a great showcase for Moretz as she transitions in to more adult roles, especially since they already laid the ground work for her character's ascension to top notch heroine.

This was a surprise hit and one I wanted to showcase this week because Cage tends to get raked over the coals for his script choices, and this one was a brilliant decision. It shows that when Cage is at the top of his game, his one of the top actors out. It's just a shame that he has been so inconsistent since "Leaving Las Vegas" because he could have been one of the greats.

Rating: 8/10 -- Great film with a high rewatchability. The main actors all bring something different to the table and work really well together. Matthew Vaughn's action scenes are the best I've seen in a while, and really help take this movie over the top.