Kick-Ass (R, 2010)

Comic book nut Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) wonders why a normal person can't put on a costume and become a superhero, and he gives it a try, becoming Kick-Ass. After a terrible beating, he gets his only superpower: a skeleton laced with metal braces and damaged nerve endings that lessen the sensation of pain. Not long after his debut, more heroes appear, including Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage), the 11-year-old Hit Girl (Chloe Grace Moretz), and Red Mist (Christopher Mintz-Plasse). A dangerous gangster (Mark Strong) decides to take out the heroes, who are starting to interfere with his drug operations. Everything comes down to an insanely bullet-ridden showdown.

Simply put, KICK-ASS is a lot of fun, but it's packed with edgy content. Since one of the main characters is a skilled, confident 11-year-old girl, watching her curse and kill can be quite disturbing. She's strong, but often cruel and ruthless. Given the dearth of strong female characters, especially in action movies, Hit Girl could be a chance to create a powerful girl lead, but her extremely young age mixed with the limit-pushing content instead pushes the film into exploitative territory. The movie hints that she's been forced to grow up too quickly, and in that way, she's a pathetic character. But young viewers will likely miss that point.

The extreme violence, intense language, and overt sex underlines the kind of reckless, dangerous attitude of the movie. Director Matthew Vaughn (Layer Cake, Stardust) balances several characters with brisk economy and punchy scenes, not unlike comic book panels. The movie only falters during its final third, when Vaughn lets the humor drop in order to wrap up the explosive story.