By now you’ve no doubt heard how Jim Carrey has disavowed his involvement in Kick-Ass 2, the sequel to 2010’s raucous and entertaining film about vigilante superheroes. He maintains it’s because of the level of violence. I think it’s also because he woke up and realized that it’s just a god-awful movie; it’ll take a lot to topple Kick-Ass 2 from its new perch as the year’s worst.
Even this weekend’s dreadful Paranoia at least tried.
Here we get a foul, ultra-violent, and ridiculously stupid attempt to cater to the audience’s bloodlust while trying to elicit a few cheap laughs at wildly inappropriate things. Lest I start sounding like some highfalutin moralist, I’ll just mention the one “joke” that pushed it over the top for me: Christopher Mintz-Plasse’s super-villain (whose name is un-publishable, but suffice to say that he doesn’t go by Red Mist anymore) breaks into the home of a female hero (with yet another un-publishable name) for the sole purpose of raping her. Alas, (get ready to chuckle), his anatomy won’t cooperate. Ha ha?
But Kick-Ass 2 doesn’t stop there. We’re also treated to (in the middle of a bizarre, incongruous Heathers-esque subplot) projectile vomiting and diarrhea. And then there’s the bit where another of the villains brutally dispatches ten cops by using, among other things, a powered-up lawnmower, a propane tank bomb, and the door off a police car. Or how about the part where the super-villain decides dressing up in his dead mom’s S&M gear would be the perfect costume?
Other than Chloë Grace Moretz’s performance as Hit Girl, there’s not a single thing that’s redeeming about this pig trough full of garbage. And, on top of that, it’s just a poorly-done movie. Writer-director Jeff Wadlow can’t decide if he’s making a sophomoric and lewd comedy, a Mean Girls rip-off, a sweeping and weepy drama (yes, there are actual tears shed), or a ridiculously violent comic book tale. Whichever way, none are done well.
I remember how clever and fun the original Kick-Ass was, but this just comes off like a low-brow attempt to out-do the original’s violence be as repulsive as possible– and for no good reason. You’ll wish you could follow Carrey’s example and just forget it ever existed.
0/5 stars