tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post2216229515225350718..comments2024-03-19T03:18:53.505-04:00Comments on Not Just Movies: Kick-AssJakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09078001374402400232noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post-3464268467035288752010-09-04T09:41:10.898-04:002010-09-04T09:41:10.898-04:00Tim, I was thinking of the scene after they're...Tim, I was thinking of the scene after they're all captured and tortured and suddenly all the jokey look at the extreme violence goes away for a flash before returning with a vengeance. It was too spoilery to mention directly, but I think that Big Daddy's death brought a moment of severity, even if the film soft-pedaled the comic's approach that he had been drugging his daughter for years to mold her into his tool for revenge. So even in the one scene that worked for me, it didn't work that well.<br /><br />As for Rand, a number of superhero films have a Randian subtext, with their ideas of individual might misunderstood by the mediocre masses who fear such power, but I missed the poster here and thank God I did. That has to be the laziest, most tangential relationship to Rand when practically nothing in the film supports a Randian reading. It's just a watered-down Watchmen, in which Alan Moore actively tried to prove the inanity of Randian self-pity in comics by showing that people who dress up to beat up small-time crooks in the projects are insane and not great. This is trying to say that dressing up as a hero is stupid because you're just trying to live out a fantasy and you'll be slapped down. Then again, the film more than the comic has a Randian ideal since it eventually becomes a bog-standard superhero film and presents Dave as right for becoming an idiot in a dive suit. Ugh, as if I couldn't despise this movie more.Jakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09078001374402400232noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post-45456035783444503982010-09-03T21:42:05.139-04:002010-09-03T21:42:05.139-04:00"In one scene, the only truly serious one of ..."In one scene, the only truly serious one of the film, Vaughn veers so close to genuine meditation on the price of vigilantism, the blind quest for revenge and how the evil that exists in the real world is no better than the exaggerated archvillains of the comics that he runs in the opposite direction as if afraid of his own intelligence."<br /><br />which scene are you talking about here?<br /><br />since you mentioned Ayn Rand in your review, I wondered if you'd made the connection between her philosophy and the one the film embodies (Lizewski even has an Atlas Shrugged poster in his room!!): http://www.brrrptzzapthesubject.com/?p=1063Timhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12932305061167945222noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post-55725073842123578392010-05-04T03:39:15.103-04:002010-05-04T03:39:15.103-04:00I like this post...Thanks 4 sharing!I like this post...Thanks 4 sharing!i3lh4mhttp://career.gunadarma.ac.id/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post-71939951069442079942010-04-24T09:08:41.751-04:002010-04-24T09:08:41.751-04:00I think that Millar is well-suited for his medium....I think that Millar is well-suited for his medium. While certainly nowhere near as high-minded as those you mention, he has a brutish charm that places him neck-deep in the situations and tropes he's meant to be mocking. There's an appeal to that, at least for me, but it's the sort of style that cannot be adapted. It barely works as is because it's in the comics world that has a much longer history than the comic book film and because Millar only has fleeting input, if any at all. So, you get a lot of people praising the dubious satire yet becoming that which they're ostensibly against even more so than his books.Jakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09078001374402400232noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post-10328821143663042552010-04-24T08:58:41.053-04:002010-04-24T08:58:41.053-04:00I agree completely. The satire is half-hearted, th...I agree completely. The satire is half-hearted, the jokes limp, the characters uninvolving. Hit Girl provides some enjoyment, but otherwise the film is a failure.<br /><br />For me, the blame ultimately lies with Mark Millar. I believe him to be THE most overrated writer in mainstream comics. Everything you find in Kick-Ass is better developed in the work of Warren Ellis, Garth Ennis and Brian Michael Bendis. It's very frustrating that THEY don't get their comics turned into films, while Millar, somehow, does.I.V.P.https://www.blogger.com/profile/17167362896416316361noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post-85242920763834539972010-04-18T17:55:01.575-04:002010-04-18T17:55:01.575-04:00I liked the film and am figuring to give it 3.5 of...I liked the film and am figuring to give it 3.5 of 5. There was a fair level of originality and the lead character was a hoot. I didn't even feel guilty for taking three of my kids to see it, as they all really dug it. I'll have more to say at my own site when I gather my thoughts. Excellent work here of course.Sam Julianonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post-91685602566099939992010-04-17T21:58:58.144-04:002010-04-17T21:58:58.144-04:00You mean this isn't the next Bonnie and Clyde?...You mean this isn't the next <i>Bonnie and Clyde</i>? Oh, well, no surprise: I thought Vaughn's <i>Layer Cake</i> was a piece of shit too. Pass!Craighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01450775188328918558noreply@blogger.com