Kick-Ass: Unsuspectingly kicks some serious ass

Kick-Ass is simply one of the most gratifying cinematic experiences the werewolf has recently encountered. When he bought the ticket, he expected some C-grade shlock that would be remotely amusing and entertaining at times and help kill a portion of his weekend. From beginning to end the film is surprisingly captivating, thoughtful, shocking and human. At times it beautifully captures the awkward sexual tension and pubescent hormones of high school that have previously made teen comedy's like Superbad and American Pie  part of current pop culture and uncomfortably amusing in the most candid of ways. While being incredibly lewd, crude and rude at time, it has the ability to magically transition into a dark crime thriller with morally ambiguous overtones, while playing on twisted views of pain, justice, vengeance and doing right while being humanely insecure and barely competent. A reviewer wasn't too far-off when  he referred to it as Tarantino-esque at times. The werewolf would throw in a dose of John Woo for good measure. Never has the werewolf seen a film that went from being enjoyably un-serious to shockingly brutal and heavy in the blink of an eye, and managed to make the transitions smooth as silk. The film has too many layers to adequately cover in this review, yet the werewolf wants to give a paw-pump to the best part of the was watching the 11 year-old Chloe Moretz break some sort of cinematic barrier as she is the real show stealer. There is something new and jaw-dropping about watching some girl barely out of the 6th grade referring to a bunch of heroine pushers as "cunts" before ruthlessly and brutally dispatching each of them, while using curse words with a poetic edge the worthy of Richard Pryor. Cute, charming, shocking, jarring and unforgettable. Regardless of what kind of film you prefer, Kick-Ass is a real genre bender that will quickly develop a much deserved cult following, if not actually breaking into the ranks of the mainstream on some levels.

This film is not for the faint-of-heart or weak of stomach as it features several sequences of graphic violence, drug use, foul language, sex, masturbation, torture and even our little 11 year-old heroine getting brutalized.