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The School Newspaper of Franklin High School

Pantherbook

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The School Newspaper of Franklin High School

Pantherbook

The School Newspaper of Franklin High School

Pantherbook

Cyborg’s Opinion: KICK-A$$ (Movie Review)

Iron Man, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, The Incredible Hulk, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Spiderman, Superman and the list goes on. Over the years we have become familiarized with comic book concepts being fitted for the big screen. I’d imagine that every year when making these movies the same questions come up: How do you appease the legions of fan boy followers and still please an audience who is just meeting the characters for the first time? How do we know just how sophisticated to make it without losing the average moviegoer? How do we take the “out of this world” concept of a man in tights with superpowers and ground it into reality? And most importantly, how do we take the same cliché concept of a superhero fighting crime and find a way to make it original this time?

The answer to all of these questions is Kick A$$, loud and clear. The movie is welcome change to any other superhero movie that has come out before it, and hopefully will set the standard for future ones to be released. It manages to pay its respects to the comic book movies of old while poking fun at them at the same time. Kick A$$ takes your standard hero movie traditions and flips them over on themselves, creating something completely new and original as the end result. The story follows the character of Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson), your average unimpressive high school student. Dave’s hobbies include hanging at his local comic book shop, surfing the internet and chronically masturbating. Dave’s problems include a lack of ability to talk to girls, having too much homework to do and again, he chronically masturbates. One day Dave decides that his life doesn’t have to be this ordinary and unremarkable blur, and so he decides to become a superhero. One green wetsuit later and Kick A$$ is born. Fast forward a little bit in the story and Dave’s alter ego has become a huge internet sensation after he is filmed defending a citizen outside of a restaurant. His new found fame gathers the attention of two other masked adventurers and it is then that the viewers are introduced to Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage) and Hit Girl (Chloe Moretz). These two are far more proficient at crime fighting and offer their aid to Dave whenever he may need it. The bodies begin to pile up as Hit Girl and Big Daddy punish crime across the city while Dave basically sits back and watches. The combined success rate of the heroes gets them on the radar of the city’s resident mob boss Frank D’Amico. From there they find themselves at odds with the toughest villains the city has to offer and Dave Lizewski is forced to ask himself if he’s really cut out to help people or if he’s just another teenager who let his imagination get out of hand.

Let me just say that this movie is quite possibly the best comic book adaptation film I have ever seen. The film is laced with breathtaking action sequences, hilarious situations and dialogue that is a lot wittier than you’d imagine it would be. The way this film was directed also works heavily toward its advantage. The characters keep you enthralled from the start to finish because their performances are superb. The actors effortlessly juggle the change of pace from comedy to action to drama and back again. And speaking of action, the film has plenty of it and will leave you wanting even more. This is another aspect where the movie’s directing is a key component. Kick A$$ takes what could have been two hours of your standard brainless action sequences and turns them into pure art instead. The battles they take part in are well woven into the story and have consequences for the characters internally and externally. This saves the movie from having to add in generic fight sequences against “Expendable Thug #1” and as a result prevents you from ever getting to a point where you feel like you know what’s going to happen next. The movie is unpredictable, and that keeps you invested for the long haul. In case you thought it couldn’t get any better you were quite wrong. The film can also be commended for its unbelievable imagery which compliment certain scenes and take them from just great to unfreakin’ believable without a moment’s notice. The Point? Kick A$$ knows what you like and how you like it, easily one of the best movies you’ll see all year.

Now I’ll give you something you can pin up on the fridge with your favorite magnet, my review in numerical form. KICK A$$ starring Aaron Johnson, Chloe Moretz and Nicholas Cage gets a 9.6 (“Yeah, we’re superheroes. You love us.”) Out of 10.

This has been Antonius Perito, and this was (drum roll please)………………… Cyborg’s Opinion.