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Reviews
Kick-Ass (2010)
A depressing experience at the cinema
I thought the idea of Kick Ass - everyday teens transforming themselves into superheroes to fight crime – looked like great fun. The ads looked promising too. As for the film itself, it was not lacking in skill, humour or inspiration, and it had some great performances to showcase.
However, the violence here ("casual slaughter" is a better term for it) was repugnant in its aim to excite and delight, and more than a little disturbing to watch as the audience hoots along with each 'kill'. Movies can be a great communal experience, but I can't recall a cinema experience where I have felt so depressingly cut off from my fellow human beings (a generous use of the term).
I suppose we are supposed to applaud the audaciousness and black comedy of a preteen girl slicing off bad men's legs and shooting them through the head, but to me it reeked of filmmakers desperately trying to find new and novel ways to hype audiences up. Of course, they framed the carnage unconvincingly around a 'perhaps the heroes are as sociopathic as the villains' theme, lest anyone dare question their motives. (Reminds me of Terminator 2's banal anti-violence message.) Oh yes, those baddies were bad, but, for instance, I wondered how families affected by suicide might have felt as audiences cheered on Hit Girl as she forces a bad guy to shoot himself through the head. Oh, but I'm missing the point, I guess
The sad thing is that Kick Ass could have achieved its thematic aims without the graphic carnage. However, I doubt this approach would not have brought director Matthew Vaughan and writer Jane Goldman quite the level of attention they would appear to crave.
It's well time that Oliver Stone made Natural Born Killers 2 in order to provide another perceptive and unflattering mirror to an increasingly apathetic and sensation-focused society.
P.S. some hopeful news
some Australian film critics/commentators such as David Stratton, Tom Ryan and Richard Wilkins have publicly denounced the violence in the film. Thank you guys
you've already copped some ridicule for this, but at least some people are drawing the line, as well as seeing through the 'hipness'.
Hollywood Homicide (2003)
A breezy, colourful and very underrated comedy
Maybe it needed to be more pointed in its satire to win over a wider audience and the majority of critics...but then again 'Hollywood Homicide' might have lost its very appealing breeziness and silliness in the process. From the beautifully conceived opening credits, director Ron Shelton has perfectly evoked the sunniness, colour and darkness (at the edges) of Hollywood.
The film recognises the pretensions and superficialities associated with Hollywood, but it's not mean-spirited in its send-up. You come away from the film feeling that director Ron Shelton truly loves Hollywood and the wider Los Angeles community. However, this love has not prevented him recognising the accompanying excesses and darker impulses.
HH is not an uproariously funny comedy - although Harrison Ford's punchline in the elevator sequence is sublime. However, the humour is wonderfully dry and silly, and the film as a whole is terrific fun, punctuated by a lively soundtrack and lashings of local colour (Hollywood Boulevard, its subway stations and the Hollywood & Highland complex are particularly well utilised).
On first glance, the film may seem too much a piece of fluff for a star of Ford's magnitude and esteem. However, there is a real pleasure in seeing him perform in such an unpretentious piece. Ford appears to recognise that stylishness and silliness can be very close bedfellows. It's as though he is using the film as a vessel to say to audiences, "Let's not take this film business too seriously, folks." Ford drollness as the close-to-burnout cop/real estate broker is neatly balanced by Josh Hartnett's comparatively innocent and well-meaning cop/Yoga instructor/wannabe actor. The pair, in turn, navigate a supporting cast and cameo list of offbeat characters, and, of course, some bullish, corrupt types.
Perhaps contemporary comedies need an underlying cynicism or darkness to be considered truly effective. There is of course a time and place for such concoctions, but films such as 'Hollywood Homicide' shouldn't be discounted in the process. Its breeziness and sense of fun make it the perfect antidote to a hard day at the office! Andrew McNess (2008)