Kick Ass kicks ass (apologies)

It has been bloody ages, but I went to the cinema on Wednesday. Has some kind of mass insanity happened since I last went? The queues at the Reading Showcase were literally out of the door, and almost no-one was watching Kick Ass! As far as I could tell it was the tickets for 'Clash of the Titans' that were selling out. Not that I'm against seeing a huge great blockbuster of a film, but it is really going to be worth queuing out the door?

Once inside the mostly-empty screening of Kick Ass the cinema experience got even weirder. A couple of people behind me decided to take it upon themselves to demonstrate that they have no ability to understand fiction. Every time anything happened on screen that was even slightly out of left field one of them took it upon themselves to explain the recent plot development to the other. Then when some of the characters got into danger, one of them decided to opine that "ooh, I hope he doesn't die". This is what happens when people who never go to the cinema get hold of an Orange phone contract.

Odd as the people in the cinema were, a part-filled screening of an adaptation of a cult comic book was always going to be more fun than a child-filled screening of a CGI-laden, pointlessly-3D, remake of a classic. And so it was. Kick Ass is the story of a nerdy guy (special skill - being invisible to girls) who decides that the world needs a superhero, so he dresses up in a silly outfit and goes out to take on some criminals. He promptly gets beaten up, stabbed and run over by a car; but the legend of Kick-Ass is born and he becomes an internet phenomenon - a real life mystery super hero.

If you thought that the 15 certificate implied this was going to be less violent than many a comic book adaptation, then you're in for a shock. We get stab wounds, chopped off arms, gunshot wounds to the face, the whole 9 yards. One of the secondary characters is a 12 year old girl who has been trained by her father from birth to be some kind of ninja. When introduced, we see her father training her to take a bullet wound by shooting her in the stomach. This character has caused some controversy in the press because of the fact that she is a 12 year old girl acting in a very grown up way. We see her getting beaten up; grown men literally punch her in the face with full force. We see her murder people almost indiscriminately. Odd then that the focus of the press controversy over this character is her use of the word 'cunt' to taunt a group of drugged-up bad guys. I guess the press are happy to see a little girl kill people and be physically abused by adults, but heaven forbid she might say a rude word! For me that moment was hilarious, long live the inappropriate use of swear words!

Obviously the point of all this is that none of it is meant to be taken seriously. The girl - 'Hit Girl' - is meant to be a joke, as are the behaviour and mannerisms of her protective-yet-psychotic father - 'Big Daddy'. If anything you might read more into the awarding of a 15 certificate than into the content of the film iself. 'Kick Ass' is funny, silly and has plenty of entertaining stunts and effects. There's a comic book style to everything in it that I enjoyed, the outfits and make up are garish and bits of the back story are told in a cartoon style similar to a memorable scene 'Kill Bill'. There was nothing not to like.