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Kick-Ass is a 2010 superhero black comedy film directed by Matthew Vaughn from a screenplay by Jane Goldman and Vaughn. It is based on the Marvel Comics comic book of the same name^{[lower-alpha 1]} by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr.,^[7] and is the first film in the Kick-Ass franchise.

It tells the story of an ordinary teenager, Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson), who sets out to become a real-life superhero, calling himself "Kick-Ass". Dave gets caught up in a bigger fight when he meets Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage), a former cop who, in his quest to bring down the crime boss Frank D'Amico (Mark Strong) and his son Red Mist (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), has trained his eleven-year-old daughter (Chloë Grace Moretz) to be the ruthless vigilante Hit-Girl.

The film was released in the United Kingdom on 26 March 2010, by Universal Pictures, and in the United States on 16 April, by Lionsgate. Despite having generated some controversy for its profanity and strong violence performed by a child, Kick-Ass was well received by both critics and audiences. In 2011 it won the Empire Award for Best British Film. The film has gained a large cult following since its release on DVD and Blu-ray.

A sequel, written and directed by Jeff Wadlow and produced by Vaughn, was released in August 2013, with Johnson, Mintz-Plasse, and Moretz reprising their roles. In January 2024, Vaughn announced that a third film, titled Stuntnuts Does School Fight and directed by Damien Walters, had secretly been greenlit, cast, and had completed filming.^[8]

Plot

Dave Lizewski is an ordinary teenager who lives in Staten Island, New York. Inspired by comic books, Dave plans to become a real-life superhero. He purchases and modifies a scuba diving suit and arms himself with batons. During his first outing, he gets stabbed and hit by a car. After recovering, he gains a capacity to endure pain and enhanced durability due to having some bones replaced with metal. In his absence from school, a rumor spreads that he is gay. As a result, his longtime crush, Katie Deauxma, immediately attempts to become his friend. Unhappy with the misunderstanding, Dave nevertheless appreciates the opportunity to get closer to Katie.

Dave returns to crime-fighting and gains notoriety after saving a man from a gang attack. Calling himself "Kick-Ass", he sets up a Myspace account where he can be contacted for help. Responding to a request from Katie, he confronts a drug dealer, Rasul, who has been harassing her. At Rasul's place, Kick-Ass is quickly overwhelmed by Rasul's thugs. Before they can kill him, two costumed vigilantes, Hit-Girl and her father, Big Daddy, intervene, easily slaughter the thugs and leave with their money. After coming home, Dave realizes he is in over his head and plans to give up crime-fighting. However, Hit-Girl and Big Daddy pay him a visit and encourage him.

Big Daddy's real identity is Damon Macready, formerly an honest cop. Framed by Mafia boss Frank D'Amico, he was jailed. His wife committed suicide, leaving behind his daughter, Mindy. Against the protest of his former partner Marcus Williams, Damon trains himself and Mindy in preparation for getting revenge on Frank. They have been undermining Frank's operations by raiding his warehouses, robbing his money and destroying his drugs. Frank believes Kick-Ass is responsible for the attacks and targets him, though he mistakenly kills a party entertainer who is dressed like Kick-Ass. Frank's son Chris suggests a different approach and poses himself as a new vigilante named "Red Mist" and befriends Kick-Ass.

Chris plans to lure Kick-Ass into Frank's lumber warehouse and unmask him. However, they find the warehouse on fire and Frank's men dead. Red Mist retrieves a hidden camera he earlier placed in the warehouse, and he sees recorded footage of Big Daddy killing the men and burning the warehouse. Red Mist and Kick-Ass part ways. Frank watches the footage and learns of Big Daddy. Following the event, Dave decides to quit being Kick-Ass. He reveals his identity to Katie and clears up the misunderstanding about him being gay. She forgives him and becomes his girlfriend. However, Red Mist contacts him again and tricks him into revealing Big Daddy and Hit-Girl's location.

At one of Big Daddy's safe houses, Red Mist shoots Hit-Girl out of a window, and Frank's men capture Big Daddy and Kick-Ass. Frank intends to have his thugs torture and execute his captives in a live Internet broadcast, despite Chris's protests to let Kick-Ass go. While Kick-Ass and Big Daddy are being beaten by Frank's gangsters, Hit-Girl, having survived the shooting, storms the hideout and kills all the gangsters. During the fight, one thug sets Big Daddy on fire. Big Daddy and Mindy say a tearful farewell before he dies of his burns. Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl resolve to defeat Frank once and for all. Hit-Girl infiltrates Frank's headquarters and kills numerous guards and henchmen before running out of bullets.

When Hit-Girl is cornered by the thugs, Kick-Ass arrives on a jet pack fitted with miniguns and kills the remaining thugs. Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl then take on Frank and Red Mist. Kick-Ass fights Red Mist, which results in them knocking each other out. Frank overpowers an exhausted Hit-Girl. Before he can kill her, Kick-Ass regains consciousness and blasts Frank out of the window with a bazooka, killing him. Red Mist then regains consciousness, grabs his father's samurai sword, and pursues Kick-Ass in order to continue their fight just in time to see Kick-Ass and Hit Girl fly away on the jet pack.

Dave and Mindy retire from crime-fighting; Marcus becomes Mindy's guardian again, and she enrolls at Dave's school. Meanwhile, Chris sits in his father's office, dressed in an upgraded suit, preparing to seek revenge on Kick-Ass for killing his father. Facing the camera, he says, "As a great man once said, 'Wait'll they get a load of me'", before firing a gun at the screen.

Cast

• Aaron Johnson as Dave Lizewski / Kick-Ass, a high school geek who seeks to be a superhero
• Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Chris D'Amico / Red Mist, son of crime boss Frank D'Amico
• Chloë Grace Moretz as Mindy Macready / Hit-Girl, daughter of Big Daddy, raised as a vigilante since birth
• Mark Strong as Frank D'Amico, a New York mafioso with the city in his grip
• Nicolas Cage as Damon Macready / Big Daddy, an ex-cop turned vigilante seeking payback against Frank D'Amico for destroying his family
• Lyndsy Fonseca as Katie Deauxma, Dave Lizewski's girlfriend
• Clark Duke as Marty Eisenberg, Dave Lizewski's friend
• Evan Peters as Todd Haynes, Dave Lizewski's friend
• Sophie Wu as Erika Cho, Katie's friend
• Omari Hardwick as Sergeant Marcus Williams, Macready's former partner
• Stu Riley as Huge Goon
• Michael Rispoli as Big Joe, Frank D'Amico's enforcer
• Dexter Fletcher as Cody
• Jason Flemyng as Lobby Goon
• Xander Berkeley as Detective Gigante, NYPD Sergeant on D'Amico's payroll
• Kofi Natei as Rasul, a drug dealer who was causing problems for Katie
• Corey Johnson as Sporty Goon
• Adrian Martinez as Ginger Goon
• Katrena Rochell as Female Junkie
• Randall Batinkoff as Tre Fernandez
• Tim Plester as Danil
• Omar Soriano as Leroy
• Garrett M. Brown as Mr. Lizewski, Dave's father
• Elizabeth McGovern as Mrs. Lizewski, Dave's deceased mother
• Yancy Butler as Angie D'Amico, Frank D'Amico's wife
• Deborah Twiss as Mrs. Zane, Dave's teacher
• Craig Ferguson as himself

Series-creator Millar, a native of Scotland, asked Scottish television children's-show host Glen Michael to make a cameo appearance^[9] although his role was cut from the film.^[10] Millar was also set to make a cameo as a Scottish alcoholic but the scene was cut from the film.^[11] WCBS-TV news reporters Maurice DuBois, Dana Tyler, and Lou Young make cameo appearances along with Marvel Comics creator Stan Lee.

An image of Matthew Vaughn's wife, model Claudia Schiffer, appears prominently on a billboard poster.^[12][13] John Romita Jr. appears without his face being shown: "I was a barista. ... [T]hey asked me to look at the camera, then turn and turn the television on with a remote control. And then they edited out my face! I laughed and laughedTemplate:SndI was the only authentic New Yorker in the scene and they edited out my face for not looking authentic enough! Then the producer, Tarquin Pack ... changed my first name to Tony: Tony Romita. 'Why'd you do that?' I asked. 'Well, "Johnny Romita" wasn't tough enough.'"^[14]

Release

Home media

In an interview, Matthew Vaughn said, "There is about 18 minutes of [deleted] footage, which is really good stuff. If the film is a hit, I'll do an extended cut."^[15] The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on 3 August 2010 in North America. This version does not contain the aforementioned deleted content.^[16] Selling 1.4 million units within its first week, one-third of these in Blu-ray format, Kick-Ass debuted at number one on the DVD sales chart.^[17][18] The discs were released in the United Kingdom on 6 September 2010.^[19]

After its release on home video, it developed a cult following.^[20]

Video game

Main article: Kick-Ass: The Game

A video game based on the film was developed by Frozen Codebase. It was released through the App Store on 15 April 2010 for the iPhone and iPod Touch.^[21] The initial Apple platform release was reportedly an unfinished beta version and was withdrawn from circulation pending a relaunch of a finished version.^[22] The game was released on the PlayStation Network on 29 April 2010.^[21] Kick-Ass, Hit-Girl and Big Daddy are playable characters. The game features Facebook missions and integration.^[23] Both versions of the game received negative reviews.^[24]

Sequels

Kick-Ass 2

Main article: Kick-Ass 2 (film)

Despite various setbacks and uncertainty as to whether the sequel would ever materialize, on 8 May 2012, it was reported that a sequel would be distributed by Universal Studios, and that Matthew Vaughn had chosen Jeff Wadlow, who also wrote the script, to direct the sequel.^[25] Aaron Johnson and Chloë Grace Moretz reprise their roles as Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl, respectively,^[26] and Christopher Mintz-Plasse returns as the main villain, going by the name of "the Motherfucker".^[27] The film, titled Kick-Ass 2, was released on 14 August 2013 in the United Kingdom and on 16 August 2013 in the United States.^[28]

Stuntnuts Does School Fight

Main article: Stuntnuts Does School Fight

In January 2024, Matthew Vaughn announced that a third Kick-Ass film, titled Stuntnuts Does School Fight and directed by Damien Walters, had secretly been greenlit, cast, and had completed filming, set to release later that year.^[8]

Notes

References

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Kick-Ass (film)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to [[commons:Category:{{#property:P373}}|Kick-Ass (film)]].

• Official website
• Kick-Ass (film) at the Internet Movie Database

• Template:Metacritic film
• Template:Rotten Tomatoes
• Kick-Ass (film) on YouTube

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Films Kick-Ass (video/soundtrack) • Kick-Ass 2 (video/soundtrack) Characters Kick-Ass Locations See Also