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Kick Ass Review Runaround

Published Sat, 13 Mar 2010 03:50:26 -0600

The UK embargo for Kick-Ass reviews expired at one minute past minute last night – which saw enterprising folks post the reviews that had been sitting on their hard drives for the past few weeks, including Bleeding Cool's largely-positive-but-pragmatic take.

The publicity for Kick-Ass will tell you, very clearly, that this is a realistic superhero film. That it looks at what happens if an ordinary non-powered person dressed up in tights and a ski mask and tries to fight crime. And that in doing so, it's very different to any superhero film before it. And that's balls.

Then the screening at the SXSW event yesterday saw a whole host of American reviews join the throng. The consensus? They like it.

I'm not in the habit of awarding star ratings for films but if i were, in this case I'd be tossing stars around like a tipsy ninja – The Times

Kick-Ass is so audacious in every way possible and a film that after seeing I immediately wanted to both see it again and tell people to go and see it. – Hey You Guys

You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll squeal in delight at the outrageous behaviour of a little girl in a purple cape. But most of all, you'll wish that all superhero movies were like this. 10/10 – IGN UK

the best movie of the year so far is coming and it is wearing tights. – The Reviewer

All in all, for what it is, a foul mouthed, excessively violent, comedy comic book splatter-fest, Kick-Ass is better than even its title suggests. Thanks to Hit-Girl, it's a monumental bitch slap – Clothes On Film

It might seem twee to celebrate this, but the number of movies that arrive on screen without progressing properly or in a satisfying fashion are numerous. What I really wasn't expecting from director Matthew Vaughn was how succinctly he controls the pace, injecting just the right amounts of adrenaline at exactly the right moments. – Geeks Of Film

The negative aspect of the Bleeding Cool review are picked up by some,

Kick-Ass lives up to its name and then some, but is there anything else to it? I don't think so, which is why I definitely felt afterward like my ass had been kicked, but I'd have preferred if my mind was even remotely roused at the same time. – Cinematical

But the full-blown negative reviews are hard to find. Except on the Bleeding Cool forums of course… where jordanbeard joined the website in order to post;

It's exactly like the comic (at least the first issue, I didn't read past that), it's unfunny, and absolutely dreadful. Just saw it at SXSW, and I felt like I was one of only about 4 who felt that way. Resist this movie if you can, it's terrible. (I actually usually like Millar's work, but Kick-Ass just tries way too hard and thinks it's hilarious when it isn't funny at all)

Four people out of an entire audience, I think they'll be very happy with that…

The three posters below were available from the SXSW screening, and appear courtesy of MTV Splashpage.