Kick-Ass 2

Cast of Characters:

David Lizewski/Kick-Ass - Aaron Taylor-Johnson

Chris D'Amico/The Mother Fucker - Christopher Mintz-Plasse

Mindy Macready/Hit-Girl - Chloe Grace Moretz

Sal Bertolinni/Colonel Stars and Stripes - Jim Carrey

Director - Jeff Wadlow

Screenplay - Jeff Wadlow

Based on the comics Kick-Ass 2 and Hit-Girl by Mark Millar & John Romita, Jr.

Rated R for strong violence, pervasive language, crude and sexual content and brief nudity

      Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Chloe Grace Moretz return, now with Jim Carrey, in the sequel to the controversial yet surprise hit Kick-Ass, Kick-Ass 2.

      Following the events of the first film, both David Lizewski (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Mindy Macready (Chloe Grace Moretz) have retired from crime fighting. Seeing that he has inspired others to become masked vigilantes, Lizewski becomes inspired himself to get back into crime fighting. Having been caught crime fighting by her legal guardian, Mindy decides to not join Lizewski, but instead attempts to live a normal high school girl's life. Lizewski dons the Kick-Ass mask once again and manages to find a team of crime fighters known as Justice Forever, which is led by Colonel Stars and Stripes (Jim Carrey), a former mobster turned born again Christian.

      Meanwhile, Chris D'Amico (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) is busy plotting his revenge against Kick-Ass for killing his dad. Formerly Red Mist, D'Amico uses his inheritance to become a new super villain - The Mother Fucker. While Justice Forever is fighting crime throughout the city, The Mother Fucker is putting together his own team of super villains to fight back.

      I never got a chance to Kick-Ass 'til after it came out on DVD, and I was totally surprised by how much I really enjoyed it. As much as Jim Carrey would hate hearing me say this while he hypocritically cashes in his paycheck from the film (Google Jim Carrey Kick-Ass 2 to see what I mean if you don't know already), Carrey's Colonel Stars and Stripes is clearly the most interesting character out of the bunch and the best thing about this movie. The problem is he's not in the film that much. In fact, it seemed like he was in the film just only a tad bit more than what we saw of him in the trailer. You have a character that goes from being a mobster to a crime fighting, born again Christian. That is a story arc I would've loved to have seen more of, and although we get little mentioned tidbits here and there of his past, they're more like teases than anything else. It's a shame since what we're left with other than Carrey is a disappointing and predictable mess with too many side characters with very little development thrown into the mix. What made the first film so good was co-writer/director Matthew Vaughn's ability to blend the bloody violence with dark, twisted humor and it never took itself too seriously. Given the material, how exactly could you? With Kick-Ass 2, we have a new director, Jeff Wadlow. While I have no problem in swapping directors for sequels, I do have a problem with Wadlow's tonal inconsistencies and the film's inability to decide whether it should be funny or the opposite. Here, almost all the humor is sapped away and when it tries to be funny it falls flat at times. The middle act provides us with a Mean Girls ripoff where you can see how it'll turn out from a mile away. Even though he was funny in the first film, Christopher Mintz-Plasse just isn't convincing in any way as the primary villain, and by the final act I started wondering if I'd enjoy just a straight up origin story of Colonel Stars and Stripes instead. The answer is yes, by the way.

      While the film certainly has a few inspired moments, it's not enough for me to recommend it. I don't fault the film's use of all the bloody violence like a lot of critics with sticks up their asses seem to object to (even though I've seen far, far worse). I do fault this film though for not bringing any of the humor from the first one along for the sequel. I give Kick-Ass 2 a C- (★★).