When we last left the characters of the original, Kick-Ass himself had just made the leap into full-fledged superhero territory, and learned what comes along with that, Hit Girl was left to deal with being recently orphaned in the line of duty, and re-entering normal society, and Red Mist, also newly orphaned, vowed revenge on the good guys for the death of his gangster father. A new superhero team was formed, and all was right with the world — for now…

The first Kick-Ass was an exciting, funny take on the superhero genre, that also documented quite well, the consequences of taking the law into your own hands. I would also say that it was original, but it unfortunately ran into the situation of having several other movies, with similar storylines opening around the same time. Kick-Ass was certainly towards the top of the list (Super was better, but Defendor and Griff the Invisible were not), but you still couldn’t help feel that we were being a bit inundated. Not the fault of the movie of course (in fact, the comic book that it was based on preceded all of these), but the story of the normal guy who decides to become a superhero, despite, unlike Batman, not being very good at it, was coming at us from all directions.

Kick-Ass 2
Director
Jeff Wadlow
Cast
Chloë Grace Moretz, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jim Carrey
Release Date
16 August, 2013
Influx Grade: TBG

Fortunately for the sequel, all of the origin aspects that seemed overdone are out of the way, and we can move on to a brand new story for our heroes. Red Mist has made the full turn into super villain (along with a name change – I’ll let you discover the new one) and is planning to exact revenge. Kick-Ass is dealing with a whole slew of copycats – one of which, Colonel Stars and Stripes (Jim Carrey) has formed a team, and is trying to convince Kick-Ass to join. Hit Girl, in the meantime, has decided to retire, and try to live a new life. Considering that she stole the original, I would have to assume that retirement does not suit her well…


Fulfilling the Hollywood required quota for three-named actors, much of the original cast is returning, including Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Kick-Ass, Chloe Grace Moretz as Hit-Girl, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse as The Red Mist. Also back for the ride are Lyndsy Fonseca, Clark Duke and Yancy Butler. Joining them will be Donald Faison, Lindy Booth, Morris Chestnut, and John Leguizamo. Most notoriously, perhaps, is the addition of Jim Carrey, who has since withdrew his support for the film due to the violence in the film in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook tragedy.

The makers of this sequel have promised that we’ll be taken into darker territory than the original and that the characters will really be put through the ringer. This is not a stand-alone story that will have no effect on any future sequels. They will feel the outcome of the heavy violence and high body count that is sure to feature, and will carry those consequences with them into future films.

By Jason Howard, special to Influx Magazine.