Kick Ass 2 review: Chloe Moretz's Hit Girl deserves her own franchise

Kick-Ass 2 is not as kick-ass as Kick-Ass but it is somewhat kick-ass too. Now that I have obviously dazzled you with my superior wordplay, here’s a fact: If you replace Matthew Vaughn, the director of epic films like X-Men: First Class, Layer Cake and Stardust and the producer of Snatch and Lock, Stock Two Smoking Barrels, with Jeff Wadlow, director of Never Back Down and Cry_Wolf (I had not heard of this film before, but yes, it does have an underscore in its title), things are obviously not going to be the same. And they aren’t.

Kick-Ass 2 is not as funny, smart, original, cool, quirky, shocking, violent or simply as good as its predecessor. But if you view it as an independent movie, it is still an enjoyable enough romp, and for one reason only: Chloe Grace Moretz.

At 16, Moretz has had a career of ten years already with directors like Martin Scorsese, Tim Burton, Kimberley Pierce, Marc Webb and Matthew Vaughn. Often, she is the best thing about the movies she stars in. In Kick-Ass, her character of Hit Girl – a foul-mouthed, 11-year-old supergirl – caused a lot of controversy, but also made most fanboys all over the world count the days until she turns 18, so they could legally have a crush on her. Because that’s how awesome she is.

And she steals the show in Kick-Ass 2 again and it is only the weight of her awesomeness that carries the film through. She is undoubtedly the spunkiest superhero that’s ever been conceived, and possibly the best female superhero that’s made it to the big screen.

But wherever Moretz is absent in the film, there is a gaping void. Jim Carrey is phenomenal as Colonel Stars and Stripes, but his role is a glorified cameo. Had he been given a central role, this may well have been the turning point in his declining career and would certainly have made Kick-Ass 2 a far better film.

Though the rest of the eclectic cast has some fantastic actors, right from Donald Faison (Turk from Scrubs) to Steven Mackintosh (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels)to Clark Duke (Greek), they’re given very little to do. I’d have loved to see the origin story of Dr Gravity (Faison) or how Night Bitch (Lindy Booth) transformed into a vigilante, but instead the focus is on the internal strife of Hit Girl. The problem is that the premise of the strife is absolutely ridiculous and there are points at which you feel like you’re watching a Zac Efron-starrer (not that I’d know anything about how that looks, *ahem*).

Aaron Taylor-Johnson as the titular character is likeable enough, but just doesn’t match up to his own performance in the first movie. Christopher Mintz-Plasse as The Motherf**ker is supposed to be the mockery of a supervillain, but he makes a mockery of himself instead. The absence of the actors of the calibre of Nicholas Cage (he was and is awesome, and you know it) and Mark Strong is acutely felt.

The biggest problem though is that the stakes in this film are just far too low for anyone to really care. The supervillain in this doesn’t take over the world or annihilate the human race or destroy our civilization or even blow up some buildings in the city: he just wants to kill Kick-Ass. And since Kick-Ass himself isn’t much of a superhero, it’s all quite pointless, isn’t it?

Having said that, think of this as B-superhero movie or a R-rated high school flick, and you’ll definitely have fun. In the meanwhile, let’s pray that Hit Girl gets her own franchise soon.