Facebook – Parody: The Thing that Kick-Ass Forgot it was Trying to Be

I didn’t hate Kick-Ass. For reference, note that my “Flixter” review was favorable, but not glowing (technically a 7/10). That’s a good review. But the movie had flaws, primary of which was the fact that it forgot, about a third of the way through the run time, that it was a parody of comic book films. Then, to make matters worse, the final third seemed to indulge in simply being a comic book movie.

Seriously.

Don’t no one come in here and give me any jazz about “source material” by the way. I’ve never read the source material, had no interest, and don’t have any sudden, new-found interest to do it, either. Deal is this, though; the movie was a great satire of comic book films. That first 45 minutes was great; dorky kid gets his ass handed to him when he tries to be a super hero. He never “one-ups” anyone in the whole opening section. The part where he gets stabbed is the highlight of the movie, really, because its real. No training, broad daylight, the size he was… it was awesome. Paired with the sudden drop of the pulse-pounding techno soundtrack, this moment encapsulated what I figured the entirety of the film was to be.

From here, though, the movie shrugs off the realism and parody and dons a different hat, one it tips to comic book movies, action thrillers, and sci-fi films we’ve already seen a dozen times. Slow motion fights, cool acrobatic maneuvers, and moral ambiguity. Was it well filmed? Yeah, I guess. But it was a huge disappointment.

Good parody is something that delves into one extreme or the other. Either you base it all in realism and stay there, or you dive headfirst into over-the-top zany shiz and never let it stop. Having a little girl cuss and blood-let doesn’t make parody. Its just a little girl cussing and blood-letting.

A wonderful example of how to do parody film making would be Edgar Wright’s “Hot Fuzz” which came out some three-ish years ago. It starred Simon Pegg being an over-the-top cop thrown into a realistic setting and then delved headfirst into the most bullshit-crazy action sequences. These moments of extreme gore and violence worked in that movie because of the setting. The final half hour is simply the best parody of action films and buddy cop movies ever made. For proof of that, the team that made it utilized on of Roger Ebert’s books on film cliches, found all the action movie ones they could spoof, and crammed the movie with them. The result is a film that never takes itself seriously and succeeds.

In four years time, no one will remember Kick-Ass because it failed to follow this lesson. Granted, I’m not saying that Hot Fuzz has a huge following. It doesn’t have nearly as strong a following as its predecessor in the Blood and Ice Cream Trilogy, “Shaun of the Dead” (also an excellent, well made parody, this time of zombie cinema). But the differences between these two films are real, and numerous (for one, the laughs-per-minute ratio is highly in favor of Hot Fuzz) and those differences mostly lie on the line between taking itself seriously and electing not to.

Seriously.

With this, I would never suggest someone NOT see Kick-Ass. On the contrary, I suggest people see it. It was fun, good, throw-away popcorn cinema. A good precursor to the summer action season. But, seriously, once Iron Man 2 comes out people won’t give a poo about this movie. People will buy the DVD/BRD because they laughed and people will go on and on about how great it was. And that’s fine. It simply could have been so much more than it was if it hadn’t moved away from what it was trying to be.

PS: If you haven’t seen Hot Fuzz, see it. Its worth it for Timothy Dalton’s scenery-chewing acting and the ludicrous action sequences at the end of the film.

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Added September 27, 2016
I stand by this review and analysis and will fist fight anyone that disagrees with it.