Kick-Ass comic movie adaptation, with adolescent ninja girl

Keneke

Half of me is sick to my stomach. Half of me is going to watch it again.

Anonymous

Did you know you can become the next Kick-Ass superhero? I am definitely going to win this and have the best superhero ever! You won’t even see me coming. I can’t believe they are doing this. Super excited! Check it out here – http://www.iwillkickass.com/

ADavies

YouTube player says: “This video has been removed due to terms of user violation.”

Oh well, it probably was not as good as you said anyway.

MollyMaguire

gah! NSFW! That was the most violent trailer I’ve ever seen. wow! I didn’t know they made trailers like that. Been spending too much time at Apple Trailers I guess. But about the kid-violence thing: this is clearly NOT made for children. If you are a reasonably well-adjusted adult you can watch stuff like this and take it or leave it as pure fantasy. no biggie.

Felton

MollyMaguire: Yeah, it caught me off-guard as well. I knew that they made R-rated trailers, but I hardly ever see them.

If you are a reasonably well-adjusted adult you can watch stuff like this and take it or leave it as pure fantasy. no biggie.

Well said. I can’t help but be a bit offended by some of the remarks implying that you must be some kind of deviant or pervert for enjoying a movie containing offensive or disturbing subject matter. Should I also feel like a perv for enjoying Lolita, A Clockwork Orange, Trainspotting, Psycho?
- Jack
  
  “Should I also feel like a perv for enjoying Lolita, A Clockwork Orange, Trainspotting, Psycho?”
  1000% moot point. None of the violence or language in this flick would be raising the ire of some if it weren’t coming from a 12 year-old kid. That’s really the crux of this whole mini-debate.
  
  And the other factor is two adult men came up with this. It’s just wrong on many different levels.
  - Felton
    
    None of the violence or language in this flick would be raising the ire of some if it weren’t coming from a 12 year-old kid.
    
    I understand that the reason some people here are upset is that the young girl in this film is swearing and gleefully killing. That’s disturbing to me as well. My argument is that enjoying a film with disturbing subject matter doesn’t mean you’re disturbed. In the real world, I hate violence, and I certainly wouldn’t condone actually *doing* the stuff shown in this movie. However, it’s a work of fiction, intended for adults who, presumably, have no trouble separating reality from the kind of over-the-top, absurdist fantasy this movie seems to be.
    
    Are you arguing that it’s wrong that the child actor was given those lines and actions to perform, or that such things should never be depicted in a film, regardless of the artistic merits of the work, because they will do some kind of psychological damage to children who might end up seeing them?
    - Jack
      
      Iâ€™m not arguing nothing dear sir. But if you canâ€™t understand how some folks would be upset at a film that has a 12 year-old running around murdering with abandon AND saying “fuck” and “cunt”… Well, there is no argument.
      
      Looking forward to hear more fallout from this. Will admit the action seems amazing, but I canâ€™t swallow this as a good or cool thing.

13strong

I’m rolling my eyes a bit at some of the comments here.

1) This is not the whole film. She’s not even the main character. She’s a side-character. The main character is a slightly deluded teenage boy who tries dressing up as a superhero, despite his lack of powers. I seem to remember the irony of the whole thing is that the only character with any real skills as a superhero is a pre-pubescent girl.

2) This is a trailer, designed to excite and titillate a target audience (in this case, somewhat adolescent male comic book and action fans). It’s not the whole film. I saw a trailer for the film adaptation of “The Road” recently, and it made it look like an action thriller, which I seriously doubt it will be. A lesson: Don’t believe what trailers tell you.

3) What are the acceptable limits of fiction and fantasy? Why is this less acceptable because it’s a film, compared to the comic book on which it was based.

4) Personally, I’m looking forward to the Scott Pilgrim movie more.

ZippySpincycle

13strong says: “Personally, I’m looking forward to the Scott Pilgrim movie more.”

That should be a good one for moral panic, too. “ZOMG he’s dating a 17 year old! Filthy movie celebrates pedophilia!1!!”

Hit Girl? Looks more stupid than offensive; I’ll pass.

Anonymous

I don’t mind violence in film or comics, video games etc. My only problem with this clip is that the film is based on a comic book that isn’t any good at all to begin with. And I have to agree that Millar is capable of entertaining writing, but his titles always end up on the *extremely* hollow and hackneyed end of the storytelling spectrum.

Cowicide

I’m looking forward to the sequel where a little girl plays the villain who viciously tortures, rapes and kills kittens and/or puppies in brutal detail while screaming “fuck!” and “cunt!” every two seconds for our adult amusement. Of course, the movie redeems itself in the end when the evil child is raped, tortured and killed by a group of cute kittens who also mew “fuck!” and “cunt!” every two seconds while an erect, masturbating, naked, washed up male actor in a furry bear suit applauds.

Call it Fucking Cunt Girl

This is where this is all heading, right? Let’s nip it in the bud and go there… for our amusement and “fantasy”, correct? Might as well go “all the way”.

Felton

Cowicide@74: Sounds like an “aristocrats” joke. How about calling it The Aristocrats: the Movie? Wait, kittens…The Aristocats?

Anyway, I’m going to withhold my judgement of Kick-Ass until I see it. My sister saw it at Butt Numb A Thon, and said it was one of the best films previewed there. I trust her opinion. Also, the film beat out Avatar as the festival favorite.
Anonymous

Jesus Christ. Laughed for thirty minutes. God bless you. If you could somehow include the space pope and some jiff peanut butter you just might have a lot of money coming your way.
j5ive

I’m looking forward to the sequel where a little girl plays the villain who viciously tortures, rapes and kills kittens and/or puppies in brutal detail while screaming “fuck!” and “cunt!”

Ahh yes, the slippery slope! Well played!

Anonymous

This isn’t my sort of movie, but I don’t find the age objectionable at all. For those that do, at what age would it be ok for her to be taking these actions? 18? 21? Those seem like fairly arbitrary numbers.

andyhavens

Not sure what to think. Which may be OK. New, uncomfortable thoughts help my brain stretch a bit.

One the one hand… we’ve had “children as victim of horrific violence” in countless horror, thriller and action movies. Some realistic, some comic-book silly. Of course children are, in RL, victims of violence all the time. So there’s some kind of veracity when they are portrayed as such.

On the other hand, it’s pretty rare for kids to commit acts of murderous violence. When they do, from the news reports I’ve read, it’s often a mistake, an accident, a misunderstanding of some kind… unless it’s a Columbine thing. Though it looks to me like this girl is a bit younger than high-school age.

I’m left asking myself: what’s the point? Tarrantino’s work has all kind of subtle, back-text stuff going on and is, among other things, often a sly comment on a genre from within a genre. From the clip — including the use of the Banana Splits theme — this isn’t really commentary as much as novelty for the sake of novelty.

Unless there’s some kind of deeper pay-off in the film reflecting on children/violence/etc… I’m with Zadazz. Would rather see Carrie-Ann kicking the ass. The kid, the costume, the music, the choreography leave me feeling as if somebody is just trying to go to 11.

justanotherusername

At some point the big budget movies will be so full of crap that the low budget indie movies actually start drawing bigger crowds and we’ll be full circle.

(Or not, but one can hope.)

Anonymous

it’s funny to hear people complain about swearing. What exactly is wrong about it, except it being “vulgar”(sic) – everyone swears, hence it being “vulgar”.

t3knomanser

I can see not finding it enjoyable. That’s a matter of taste. But I cannot, for the life of me, see what’s offensive about this, beyond your average black comedy.

I think it looks chuckleworthy, but it fits my sense of humor.

Tzctlp

What about somebody using children to objectify their psychopathic fantasies?

I mean, honestly, which kind of twisted mentality requires children to act on this inane fetishism?

Folks, it is time that you look at yourselves and at what you are being offered, there are times when one should emphatically say “I will not pay for this”, this is such a time, I frankly don’t want to see psychopathic children killing people for fun.

rtresco

I hate all the foul-mouth little kids in the original Bad News Bears from the 70s. I can barely bring myself to watch it for the umpteenth time.

Cowicide

Comparing the Bad New Bears to this steaming pile of shit soul-less movie is inane.
- rtresco
  
  Inane. Yes, you are correct. There is no sense in comparing foul-mouth children to foul-mouth children. Nice language yourself.
  - Cowicide
    
    Nice language yourself.
    
    Thanks. But, I’m not a little girl being force-fed the nice language while being instructed to depict blowing people’s heads off… so I guess I just don’t have the same “cool” hipster impact with my foul language. What a shame for me and what a lucky little girl she is.
    - jerkzilla
      
      Maybe, just maybe you can find some interviews with Chloe Mortez on youtube where she emphatically states that she actively sought out the role of Hit-Girl after reading the script, and also stated that it was the best role she’s ever had. So perhaps that negates your theory that she was “being force-fed” her lines. This isn’t the era of Our Gang. Being a child actor isn’t akin to slavery anymore, nor has it been for a long time. Some of these kids can actually choose for themselves which roles they do or do not want to take. So I don’t buy that the was forced to do any of the things that she did on this film.
    - Cowicide
      
      hmmm, now just how old is this independent woman you speak of?
- jerkzilla
  
  So you’ve seen Kick-Ass, then? Is that why you can tell it’s “soul-less”?
  - Cowicide
    
    jerkzilla, I didn’t have to go to the Republican National Convention to know it was without soul.
    
    How about this, I’ll just say the trailers are “soul-less”? Happy now?

Anonymous

“My Super Ex-Girlfriend: The Tween Years”

Halloween Jack

Mark Millar is a comic book writer who produced some very good work early in his career, but has since embraced hackdom without reservation and has been hugely rewarded for it. He typically takes a standard comic-book conceit (in Wanted, a sort of DC Comics “Elseworld” alternate universe in which the supervillains gang together and kill almost all the superheroes) and lards it with shopworn pop culture references (again in Wanted, Fight Club) and presents it as wholly original work.

Here, he’s taking the idea of the quote-endquote realistic crimefighter and shamelessly trying to rip off Tarantino and Rodriguez and in general out-Frank Miller Frank Miller, who is already cranking out parodies of his former, superior work. It’s alright for people who were sad that Kill Bill stopped at two movies; I couldn’t be less interested.

slappy

“It’s a movie. She’s not real. She doesn’t have a future. It’s not real social commentary.”

You’re watching footage of a pre-teen girl being directed by ‘adults’ to speak like a trucker while gleefully blowing peoples’ heads off. No, the character isn’t real, but the girl portraying the character is. Imagining the conversations this little girl had on the set of this movie makes me a little sick. Who the hell would let their kid be in this?

Cowicide

To prepare for part III we need to go ahead and start training infant actors now to shoot guns and scream “fuck!” and “cunt!” and simulate shitting down the throat of their victims.

I’m sure we’ll find some willing parents out there who’ll have their children do anything for a buck and/or in the name of art and/or fame, etc.

What could possibly go wrong?

BartFeliciano

Hit Girl is already a snarky commentary on stage parents, having comments of stage parenting on a parody of stage parenting might cause a black hole.

HotPepperMan

#18 – “Someone (often European) creates a piece of culture” – ‘Tis one place where ‘culture’ still exists.

#31 – Comparative levels of acceptability on the basis of a pre-teen swearing OR killing? “Either one alone would be fine” WTF? Where this goes totally wrong is by the inclusion of ‘humour’ in order to make the gratuitous violence and swearing ‘acceptable’.

I suspect this will get quite a lot of Rotten Tomatoes…

This is certainly going to do very little to pay off Nicholas Cage’s debts.

misterfricative

HotPepperMan said —

Comparative levels of acceptability on the basis of a pre-teen swearing OR killing? “Either one alone would be fine” WTF?

I wasn’t talking about morality; I was talking about screenplay mechanics/esthetics. One ‘hook’ is ‘good’. Two hooks is a hook too many, and therefore ‘bad’. See double mumbo jumbo.
- Anonymous
  
  Very interesting link, but quite frankly I do not think that word means what you think it means.
  Cussing and killing aren’t in any way conflicting traits or counter-intuitives in a supporting character so calling “double mumbo-jumbo” on this character is just, well, mumbo-jumbo.
  
  Your argument makes more sense if you only discuss the closed narrative of this trailer, rather than the context of the upcoming movie. But I really don’t think anybody else here is having that discussion. Nor is a trailer ever ment to be percieved in that way.
  - misterfricative
    
    You’re right: strictly speaking this isn’t ‘double mumbo jumbo’, it’s a subspecies called either ‘too much marzipan’ or ‘black vet’. But I can’t find any online links to those technical terms, and in any case the basic idea is the same: ie that it makes things *worse* to add an extra layer to a concept that’s already sufficient.
    
    Any way you renormalize it, this comes out as overloaded. Start with a ninja. And OK, unlike most ninjas, he’s a smack-talking sweary ninja. Fine, that’s a character. And now make him a 9 year old girl as well. It’s too much.
    
    Or take a nine year old girl who behaves like an adult. OK. *Plus* she’s also a ninja. Arggh!! It’s like space aliens *plus* vampires. It loses focus. I don’t even know what I’m looking at any more.
    
    And you’re right that I wasn’t discussing the movie, but only what I saw in the trailer. After reading some of the other posts here, I now learn that the movie isn’t called ‘Hit Girl’, and that it’s not actually about the characters we see in the trailer(!). I freely admit that I’m completely unqualified to talk about the movie because even though I’ve now watched two of these one-note teaser/trailers (the one in the OP and the one where she gets shot in the chest), I still have absolutely no idea who or what the movie is actually about. (Oh, wait! It says right there in the OP! So Nicholas Cage isn’t playing a criminally inappropriate parent, he’s actually a super hero! And the protagonist is a character so compelling that, um, they left him out of the trailers altogether. Oh yeah! Sounds like a winner to me!)

Anonymous

the Matrix only came out, like, a decade ago. definitely too soon to stop recycling it. absolutely no one is tired yet of seeing someone stride down a corridor killing people in slow motion. and if you have the chance to mash it up with the Bad News Bears, you have to take it.

demidan

I love the opening play of the puppy vs Benchmade knife for a birthday present. Yeah, kids killing bad and neverrr happens in real life, and they use bad words too? OMG !?!
Seriously, it’s a movie and the irony of a cold blooded child killer is funny when taken to extremes of hyperbole. Face it the whole “innocence” of children is very modern. As to Nick Cages’ career, eh who really cares? He is an actor who has played some odd balls over the years starting with Raising Arizona. If he had some fun making the movie and a few bucks good for him, it’s his life after all.

Anonymous

I mean… yes, it is tremendously cool fight choreography. Yes the subversive nature of it is kind of thrilling. But, to be honest, it does feel irresponsible – and deliberately irresponsible, something that’s using how cooly irresponsible it is and wearing it as a badge of honour.

Exactly. “Kick-ass” is standard Mark Millar pablum – if you like the “shocking just to be shocking” dreck that Millar writes you’ll like Kick-ass. If you’re the type who is instead shocked when you read his stuff because you can’t believe that they’re still publishing the garbage he writes, you aren’t going to like Kick-Ass.

Millar is like the guy who sees someone make a artistic statement by creating, say, a painting of the Virgin Mary out of elephant dung and is impressed. He says “that’s awesome – look at how uncomfortable it makes everyone – I can do that” and then proceeds to take a dump in a bowl and show it to people. Sure it makes you uncomfortable, but it makes you uncomfortable because there’s a crazy person showing you his crap in a bowl and trying to convince you that it’s some kind of “awesomely transgressive” piece of artwork when any jackass can see that he’s taken a dump in a bowl. Unfortunately there are a lot of other jackasses hanging around him fawning over the bowl and so he keeps getting more bowls and taking more dumps.

He unfortunately thinks that he’s Warren Ellis or Grant Morrison or Alan Moore when he doesn’t have a fifth of the talent or a tenth of the imagination of either. So we get fanboy-esque superhero scripts with the names scribbled out and replaced with names that a 12-year old might think are cool (like replacing “Clayface” with “Shitface” – hysterical if you’re 12), inversions of standard power-fantasy archetypes that Alan Moore did 20 years ago (so Millar “takes it to 11″ thinking that makes it original when that just underlines how derivative it is) and rape jokes. When you have to go to the rape jokes to make someone uncomfortable you’re not a “transgressive artist” – you’re a hack. And not a particularly clever hack either.

Trent Hawkins

This is going to replace Lazy town on 4chan

Anonymous

The violence doesn’t bother me so much, but it was so distracting that it was hard to notice how bad the acting was in the talking scenes.

UncommonSense

Anyone who thinks kids won’t see this because it’s not for them, either doesn’t have them, hasn’t been one in a long while, or was a precociously innocent specimen of the sub-species. I did like The Professional though.

midsentence

The first thing I thought watching this is: “Finally, kids can swear in movies again.”

It seems that quite a few have gotten used to the way children are portrayed as blameless, holy creatures in the last 20 years or so. But I remember the 80s, and films in the 80s were different. My god, even fantasy fluff like Goonies and ET featured kids talking like real kids actually talk. Occasional swearing is how most of us in the lower classes verbally interact in a casual atmosphere, folks.

I don’t even know where to begin with the comments here over a 12 year old girl with a gun, as if her not holding a hairbrush instead is a clear indicator of THE END OF CIVILIZATION. Little girls live in the same world we all do. There is no clamor when a “full grown” woman (18 will do) in costume is shown as a dangerous yet constantly available sex object in a film like Batman, but give a tween girl the power to alter the plot? Here comes the outrage! I’m certainly not here to celebrate violence, but I fail to see why a little girl portrayed as something other than a victim for once draws this kind of fire (ha ha).

And finally: I’m no huge fan, but all these cinephiles commenting on Nicolas Cage not having been in anything good in years would have sounded a lot less silly prior to the release of the Herzog film he just starred in.

Anonymous

“…(and which had me banging my head against the wall at some of the completely annoying pronouncements that were made, including the traditional (and ridiculous) “Comics are Misogynistic!” nonsense.)….

Except, comics ARE misogynistic- especially the mainstream ones. I assume you’re a man- it must be so hard- if not impossible- to see for you- I’ve been reading comix since I was 14, and it was a real depressing challenge for me to find ones with REAL women in them. You know, ones that weren’t sex objects with huge boobs? Yeah, those ones.

Call it ‘nonsense’ if it makes you feel better, but you live in a patriarchy and you seem rather smug about it.

Bat Guano

To deal with the reality, you have to deal with the fantasy.

Or: Fantasy is a way of dealing with reality.

Sciurus

I was unsure of watching this movie, now I’ll go see it. If not just to see the moms against violence picketing it.

ScottMcG

Personally, I’m looking forward to the movie. It might end up sucking, but at least it’s trying something different. Looks like a fun film.

As for the kid thing, I’m not really sure what the big deal is here. This is not a movie made for kids, and the fact that one of the characters is a kid who kills people isn’t exactly new territory. Frankly, the cartoonishness of the presentation helps soften the blow and make it less real to the viewer.

If you want to see a really disturbing take on the “psycho kid kills people” motif, how about renting “The Omen?” Or is it OK as long as the kid is portrayed as the child of the devil? Or go dig up an old DVD of the “Wild Palms” miniseries from the early 90′s. The kid in that was one of the most disturbing, evil child murderers you’ll ever see on a screen, and that was freakin’ prime time TV. The “kid who kills and enjoys it” train left the station a long time ago, and society hasn’t completely crumbled yet.

Anonymous

So is it my tolerance for guns or for cursing that make me an ultra-violence loving peodobear instead of an action movie fan who thought a girl kicking ass Spy Kids style in a movie made for grown ups might be cool?

Methinks some folks could use some rumination on transference.

ElfSternberg

As I said on JWZ’s site, so it’s basically a Tarantino film for the pedobear set? One wag responded with, “Huh, Loli gun-kata.” That’s about right.

Either way, I don’t get the fascination with young kids with foul mouths. I think I’ll pass. And what the hell is Nicholas Cage doing to his career?

Bimmi

I can’t even begin to relate to the sort of mentality that finds puke like this entertaining. No wonder we’re all fucked.

Anonymous

It really helps if you keep your expectations of the entire human race as low as possible.

that said: this movie looks as good as the comic
j5ive

Huh. I was under the impression the world was a fucked-up place because its run by power-hungry psychopaths intent on shaping it to best benefit themselves at the expense of everyone else. But as it turns out, it’s because some people find twisted and violent films entertaining.

Seriously tho, this is not intended for children, and its really not that hard (even for most children) to tell the difference between fantasy and reality.

As roboroller said, lighten up.
princeminski

Jst y, tghtss.

BartFeliciano

This uproar is fascinating.

I assume that noone would have a problem if all she wanted to do was put on make up, grow up pretty and marry a prince?

mgfarrelly

I know I’m going to be in the extreme minority, especially amongst the nerdy classes, on this one, but I find the mix of wee kiddies and ultra-violence as a gag pretty off-putting.

I’m not a blue-hair or a morality warbler. I think Mark Millar, the writer of the comic, is a savage wit and clearly enjoys messing with his audience as much as they enjoy being messed with. “Wanted” and “Chosen” were as clever and dark a piece of work as anything by Ennis or Ellis, and Millar does them one better by wrapping his work in this kind of aw shucks sweetness while he slips the knife in.

But watching a tween joyously slaughter a room full of people leaves me really cold.

Call me a damn dirty hippie, but making violence slicker and cooler to an ever younger audience just does not seem like the right direction. The absolute CHEERING the first clips of this flick got at Comic-con, especially the part when Nic Cage shoots his daughter in the chest, was just disquieting.

demidan

The back and forth of the comment tennis match is fun reading.

“Freedom of expression is fine,(as long it is the freedom of expression I condone).

Antinous / Moderator

Moderator note: As of this comment, I’m taking back the Get Out Of Jail Free card for language.

jerkzilla

I really, really don’t understand some of the comments here. It’s one thing to not like or to be turned off by a movie, it’s another thing altogether to be outraged at it’s very existence. That’s just silly. The attitude here reminds my of the christian community’s outrage when The Last Temptation Of Christ was released. Those people collectively lost their damned minds over the film. And what happened? More people saw it simply to see what the fuss was about. So keep that in mind before you start crafting your picket signs.

Anonymous

Reminds me of the little girl from “Push”. Acts much older than she really is because of the situation she is thrown into.

Perhaps this is the intended message of the movie? Perhaps in the fictional world this movie takes place adults are SO corrupt and So evil that only a the innocence of a young girl can bring justice. It is only by sacrificing the innocence of her childhood that she can make the world right…?

How about all you moralfags wise up and take a story as a story and stop worrying. If you can’t tell the difference between real world and make-believe than don’t expose yourself to the movie by watching it. But for my sake and the rest of us who have a firm grasp on reality don’t boycott or protest it. I’ll leave you alone and you leave me alone as long as your actions don’t affect me and vice-versa everyone should be happy.

darue

sick and wrong. consider the blithe “murder is fun” mentality on display here. it’s not the content I object to, the anime Gunslinger Girls treats similar territory with a much more balanced story that doesn’t leave the audience probably feeling, “mommy? Can i go out and… kill to-night!”

SeattlePete

My guess is that this means the Dickies won’t be playing out any more. Since Stan and Leonard only gig for heroin money, this license will probably keep them in smack until they die.

Good for them?

greengestalt

Looks like a good movie, for pure entertainment value alone. I’ve read some of the comic book, it’s only like 1 year old…? They are also “Right Wingers” think “Punisher” or rather “SledgeHammer”…

As a 2nd Generation Hippie, I’m with the “Old Hippie” upthread though indeed being a bit concerned they produce stuff like this so constantly. A bit “Conspiratorial” here, putting out stuff like that in the media to make it ‘acceptable’ to the public, such as the “Wanted” movie.

Zadaz

The kid thing doesn’t do it for me, and the opening bit with Nicholas Cage doing a Raising Arizona callback had me facepalm.

But the action scenes are pretty righteous. Frankly I’d rather have Carrie-Anne Moss doing them, but whatever. The fact they exist is at least enough for me to rent the DVD.

And someone who’s waist high running around with a sword scares the hell out of me.

allen

That “upbeat banana splits theme” is the dickies, and verily it doth rock

Exploto

I… thought… that… was… really… cool… is that bad? (seriously)

princeminski

The stuff with Cage and the kid is a riot. The rest, a matter of taste…a tad cliched for the most part. Most of these posters belong to the “chronically Outraged” class who watch things in order to whine about them. That’s a bit of “sick and wrong” for your contemplation.

Eaten-By-Sharks

It is shocking to see a young female perform such deadly action and twisted to have her spouting such horrible profanity but i think that the thing that so many people hate this film for will be the exact same thing that make others love it.

The film is rated R and so there is no mistaking the audience here.

I always felt that there should be more R rated super hero films for those of us that grew up reading comics but are now adults.

Lets face it..if Iron Man actually punched someone like, say, Whiplash in the head….that head would EXPLODE.

I will defintaly be seeing this film in theaters.

CLAVDIVS

I, for one, amd not particularly worried about the effect this film will have on children, because, well, it’s not FOR children. It’s rated R, they won’t even be able to get in without their parents.

I expect it to be absurdly wrong and wrongly absurd, and on that basis I’m intrigued, at least for the moment. Yes, the idea of an adolescent girl murdering hordes of bad guys is pretty twisted, but some people like twisted, myself included, and I’m curious what’ll be done with the premise. I haven’t read the comic, but it wouldn’t surprise me if there were scenes showing how profoundly messed-up she is, even if they’re played for laughs.

Jack

“I, for one, amd not particularly worried about the effect this film will have on children, because, well, it’s not FOR children. It’s rated R, they won’t even be able to get in without their parents.”

You know, I’ve gotten into endless debates about GTA and it being targeted to kids here and many folks don’t get it. Just because you target things to kids doesn’t mean that will stop folks.

Guess what? Camelâ€™s and other cigarettes were targeted for kids as well… BUT OH WAIT… Somebody put a letter or number on it, so kids won’t be able to get it. By this bass-ackwards logic, people don’t park simple because a sign says “No Parking”… Or people answer those “You must be 18+ or older to view this site…” honestly becauseâ€”you knowâ€”it’s impossible for a person to… LIE and pick the one that gets you to the “good stuff.”

Whatever folks. It’s a rite of passage to sneak into teen films. And these ratings do 100% of nothing. If you can justify that a film with an 11 year-old kid murdering others will absolutely never be seen by kids, more power to you.

And honestly, I find it amazing that people would brag and boast about DRM being hackable and systems can be fooled/tricked but they suddenly do a 180 and actually believe that a letter placed on a poster has the power to stop someone from seeing a film. Delusional folks!

Daedalus

Looks fun. It has an over-the-topness that I find quite entertaining, and I don’t understand the moralizing in the comments much. Curse words and cartoony violence don’t make the downfall of society. If you don’t want to see it, that’s fine, but to say that it shouldn’t exist at all is a pretty big overreaction. I’m much more offended by “2012.” This movie looks more fun than any movie that they could make about Wonder Woman.

Ooooh nooo, a lasso, a one-piece bathing suit, and an invisible jet, whatever will criminals doooooo.

Uncle_Max

I have no problem with the violence, but I’m always put off by swearing that seems forced, or just present for shock value. And that’s exactly what it sounds like coming from her.

As for the idea that murder can’t be fun, I really have no problem with villains being dispatched by the good guys, even when the good guy happens to be a young girl.

sbthrowaway

It’s true that I have a moral qualm combining children and joyful violence, but I firmly believe in free speech, so have at it. Other commenters have done a good job describing this issue.

Artistically, it looks like a candied rip-off of The Professional. What made that film excellent was the gritty apartment, the sad backdrop, the strange emptiness of Leon, and the confused, desperate girl. Hit Girl shows no sign of having any of this depth.

CLAVDIVS

As near as I’m able to tell, this movie has approximately nothing to do with The Professional.

The Professional: Girl’s family is murdered, and she’s taken in and mentored by an assassin who does everything he can to ensure her safety and seek vengeance on the killers, the girl developing a crush on him along the way. Grim but faintly hopeful, dramatic tone.

Kick-Ass: A girl (who is not even the main character) becomes a costumed vigilante after being groomed for it by her father. Dark and twistedly comic tone.

Where exactly is this resemblance supposed to be? Or does The Professional have some super-broad trademark in young girls and guns appearing in the same film, like the Olympic Committee’s trademark on any design involving five interlocking rings, regardless of any actual similarity?

knodi

This was clearly a lousy trailer, since half the people in this discussion think the movie is called “Hit Girl”. It’s not, it’s called “Kick-Ass”, and it’s about someone else entirely.

Hit Girl IS A SIDE CHARACTER. She is NOT what the movie is about. And, since I read the book, I can say that the way it ends re: hit girl is actually fairly realistic, given her unreal setup. So even if little kids are going to see this, as long as they see the ending, the message will be “Don’t do this”.

Seriously, I think this crowd just enjoys being upset. They come here for their daily dose of agitprop, and if you hand them something else they’ll become agitated out of sheer reflex.

midsentence

@knodi

“Seriously, I think this crowd just enjoys being upset. They come here for their daily dose of agitprop, and if you hand them something else they’ll become agitated out of sheer reflex.”

Hell. Yes.
mdh

enough projecting, k?
pinehead

When someone feels powerless or otherwise inferior in their daily life, they almost always respond by becoming belligerent, depressed and introspective. That is, they try to find some way to assume control of some aspect of their life, even if it’s something as feeble as a conversation on the internet.

BoingBoing is a cool site/e-zine/whatever the word is. But you’ll see the same retards in the comments section as you’ll find over on 4chan or Digg or any other mindless website. The difference is that BB often presents more complicated material, and the audience isn’t mentally equipped to deal with that material, so they respond with that old belligerence.

Of course, none of this changes the fact that “Kick-Ass” looks like a dumb movie, based on the trailer. Maybe if I knew more about it, I could muster the energy to care.

roboroller

Some of you folks take life way too seriously.

Tzctlp

“Some of you folks take life way too seriously.”

I have got only one life, and I am half way trough it. I don’t understand how taking it seriously could be possibly construed as a bad thing.

Charlie

I… I don’t know what to think of this. It’s kind of skeevy and icky but the fight choreography looks great. And it has Mr. Cage who hasn’t been in a good film in ages. Hell, he hasn’t been in a mediocre film in ages.

Tarasbulbasaur

Some people in this thread apparently have a hard time distinguishing between reality and imagination.

Aristotle had no problem there: “Objects which in themselves we view with pain, we delight to contemplate when reproduced with minute fidelity: such as the forms of the most ignoble animals and of dead bodies. The cause of this again is, that to learn gives the liveliest pleasure, not only to philosophers but to men in general; whose capacity, however, of learning is more limited.”

You might well ask what’s to learn here, and I think it’s the very shallowest kind of learning–an experience of novelty–and even then, it’s only novel if you haven’t read things like _Gunslinger Girl_ or seen _The Professional_ as others here have mentioned.

So yeah, it’s old hat and not very worthwhile, and the moves are clichÃ© too–but puke? Sick and wrong? For either reaction to make sense to me, there’d need to be some point at which these images are likely to turn into problems worth worrying about. Otherwise, I’m guessing you’re the same bunch of people who picketed _The Exorcist_ or fearmongered over D&D.

baronsamedi

Some people in this thread apparently have a hard time distinguishing between reality and imagination.

Some people in this thread apparently have a hard time distinguishing between humor and insanity.

Also, if you haven’t realized yet that large sectors of american (or western, for that matter) society have a really hard time distinguishing between reality and industrially manufactured “imagination”, you must be giving yourself some very interesting explanations about a number of things.
j5ive

Good timing eh?

Anonymous

You guys may not know this, but this movie is based off of a comic book. It looks as though it will follow 75% of what was done in the comic book. This translates to a better movie…and you can thank Watchmen for the start of that. It to was based off a comic book. If this movie is made for the fans, then it will do well enough.

Say what you want, but now that Disney has taken over Marvel Comics you can kiss the Spider-Man franchise goodbye. The main actors of the past 3, and the director won’t be back for the 4th.

So embrace the new stuff because the big wigs at the top want to destroy the comic book heros we all grew up on.

Anonymous

Is it April 1 already? Is this fair dinkum?

jerkzilla

12. So? You know what? here’s the interview. Maybe if you see the actress in context, you won’t be so kneejerk about it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKmRDxEIM-o

Cowicide

12. So?

So, do you consider a 12 year old to be the equivalent of an adult, independent woman? If she was even that old when they began filming…

I watched the interview. Looked like a 12 year old child to me. Or, is that just another kneejerk reaction? Should I see her in other ways, jerkzilla…? or shall I call thee… pedobearzilla?

nehpetsE

I maybe be misjudging this, but i see it as part of a trend.
Someone (often European) creates a piece of culture which intentionally and knowingly examines disturbing aspects of existence.
The original controversial creation is successful, and so someone(usually American)
Sees it and thinks “OH… this must be OK now” and proceeds to imitate it for laughs while missing the nuances and ambiguity.

It like when your dog walks in on you while you’re fucking, thinks this mean its ok for him to join in.

Freedom of speech demands meaningful criticism.
I can’t help questioning the motivation of the folks funding it.

nehpetsE

Woops.. i are all dyslexic and word omitting tonight!

absimiliard

Wow, guess I’m in the minority again.

I could probably do with less swearing on the girl’s part, like someone said it’s just a touch too much. But the ultra-violence executed by a young girl is just awesome, and it’d be awesome if it was a young boy too.

Not sure why everyone thinks she has to be a psychopath though. (maybe I’d grok that better if I read the source material) After all we don’t look at Mr. and Mrs. Smith and instantly call both of them sociopaths or criminally insane. Sure, they are, but the convention is to not call them on it. And if we don’t call a certain multimillionaire with a bat-fetish psychopathic (and while we say it it’s clear we don’t really mean it, Batman IS a hero so if he’s a sociopath he’s clearly an instance of socipathy that we like and approve of as a culture) why should we call other people such?

I’m sure if I really thought this out I might be disturbed, but currently . . . . I just wanna see the film.

-abs isn’t quite certain he shouldn’t be bothered by little girls killing people, but damn balletic ultraviolence is cool no matter who does it, give me Neo and his crew in the Matrix movies or Leonidas and his boys in “300″ or a certain REALLY hot blonde in the Kill Bills (or almost every Flying People Hidden Wires movie), I just love gorgeously shot ultraviolence and having a young girl do it is like topping your Ultra-Violent Sunday with pure awesomesauce

Gloria

I didn’t even watch the trailer, but because we celebrate Batman Psychopath, we can’t label anyone else as a psychopath? Logic, much?
- absimiliard
  
  Well, like I said I only half thought things out before posting.
  
  That said, of course we can call anyone a psychopath. I’m just pointing out that all the “ZOMG she’s a sociopathic killer” seems pretty exclusively related to her age.
  
  After all, when they’re “eccentric” rich men we’re okay with them being psychopathic. (Batman) When they’re hot and blonde we like ‘em sociopathic and all serial-killer. (Kill Bill, both volumes) When they match their homicide up with a fake, then real, marriage we like them. (Mr. & Mrs. Smith)
  
  And we REALLY like it when it’s a bunch of half-naked men defending their way of life against an invading army, “300″, although I’ll grant that perhaps we don’t really believe any of those Spartans are crazy, except in the “Damn, he’s one crazy Mutha-fuckah” way.
  
  Just seems hypocritical to me to condemn a young girl doing what like our adults to do.
  
  After all, I want the girls who grow up to be willing to blow someone’s head off if it’s called for. I like women in the armed services, and I like violence. So while I don’t think this is a kids film, I’m not particularly bothered by it.
  
  -abs is pretty sure there’s still more going on, but again, is only really posting what just came to mind, this movie really doesn’t look to be worth more thought than that, it’s just a special-effects ultraviolence extravaganza, and those ain’t “thinkin’ movies”
  - Tzctlp
    
    Oh for bunnies sakes.
    
    She is a child that looks barely 10 years old.
    
    How can anybody being comfortable with assigning psychopathic, gratuitous attributes to a child?
    
    In real life, children that act with such disregard for human life have normally been mistreated or abused (child soldiers in Africa come to mind), I think this is the “light” version of that kind of abuse.
    
    If you are happy with that kind of entertainment, well, you simply are not the kind of person I would like to make an acquaintance of.
    - Antinous / Moderator
      
      Well, as someone who came quite close to being blown away by a parent, I find her fast reload pretty fucking awesome.

nehpetsE

I want to see Cowicide’s Movie!(see comment #74)

pinehead

It looks pretty stupid. Just the same old thing; curse, kill, rinse, repeat. But now that Stephanie from Lazytown is grown up, I’m sure the pedos will be looking forward to this new wank material.

Anonymous

the finger wagging by some here really bums me out. so im not allowed as an adult to enjoy a little guilt-free FANTASY CARTOON violence? I expect more from the readers of my favorite site that prides itself on being progressive and open minded.

PeaceLove

Personally, I think this looks badasstastic.

I’m not into kids swearing inappropriately just for laughs. But the curses in this clip seemed completely in place, and funny to me because of how well they worked in context, and how relaxed and natural the girl seems with them.

turtlejet

My brain turned off after the first 30+ comments expressing their shock and dismay. Really? It’s going to be like that?

Complaining how an obviously not for kids movie is going to effect kids is missing the point. If you don’t like it that’s fine, but I enjoyed the comic and I’ll see this too just for laughs.

The alarm callers of this thread need to chillax a bit.

Anonymous

I think it looks ridiculous…. ItÂ´s just unbeliavable. Even in fiction, there are things that you watch and say “nah, too BS”, and in this case, I think it looks like BS.
I also think that the foul mouth is unacceptable. Just unacceptable.
I like twisted stuff. I havenÂ´t flinched with gore, coprophilia, Rotten.com or BME zine for years. I actually found 2 girls 1 cup quite entertaining. But a little kid murdering people and saying such strong words, I think thereÂ´s a line we shouldnÂ´t cross.
ItÂ´s naive to the verge of stupidity to think that rating this film “R” will avoid tons of kids watching it, or will make parents sit and guide them.

VICTOR JIMENEZ

Fuck morality, itÂ´s a movie!!!
And iÂ´m going to see it right now…
(checks calendar)
OK, in April, iÂ´m going to see it in April.

Tzctlp

“Fuck morality, itÂ´s a movie!!!”

Way to go buddy.

Saxon Bullock

It’s one of the interesting (if slightly weird) aspects of comic book movies casting their net more widely â€“ and that they’re getting to the kind of ‘extreme’ stuff that comics have been doing for a while. I’m not a huge Mark Millar fan – he’s capable of some hugely entertaining stuff, but he does also mainly go for slick, slightly empty, button-pushing stuff that’s going to appeal to fanboys and give them something they haven’t seen before (The Ultimates, for example, was basically the Avengers (Marvel type) done as a widescreen movie blockbuster). He’s very good at doing excess, and it’s one of the things that comics can do very well – but I have to admit that I do find the movie version of Kick-Ass a bit… worrying (possibly just proof that I’m becoming a mid-Thirties geek, lord help me…). Because really, it’s just doing something that nobody’s done before, and it’s doing it for the subversive coolness. It’s subversive, but it’s subversive for the shock value only (in the same way that Millar’s original version of Wanted is). And there’s a bit of a conceptual leap going from John Romita Jr’s splendid but slightly cartoony style to actually having somebody doing this stuff.

I mean… yes, it is tremendously cool fight choreography. Yes the subversive nature of it is kind of thrilling. But, to be honest, it does feel irresponsible – and deliberately irresponsible, something that’s using how cooly irresponsible it is and wearing it as a badge of honour. Because of course, people are going to see it. And of course, people are going to think the violence is amazingly cool (it looks like they’ve re-enacted the lobby shootout from The Matrix at one point in the trailer). I just don’t know that it’s a particularly good idea, or if it’s really going to be anything other than a bright and empty novelty comic-book action thriller that uses cooly irresponsible violence to make lots of fanboys go “WOW!”.

That’s my opinion, at least.

(The other depressing aspect is that, for a while, Kick-Ass is going to be held up as the prime example of what comics are like, in the same way as the relatively recent edition of the BBC’s Newsnight Review did (and which had me banging my head against the wall at some of the completely annoying pronouncements that were made, including the traditional (and ridiculous) “Comics are Misogynistic!” nonsense.).

urig

“It’s pretty odd watching”??

Try “sickening”. A 12 year old child shooting a bad guy through the cheek to kill another bad guy? Call me a prude, but this one is way over the line. Firearms and children shouldn’t mix.

“Fuck morality, this is a movie”? Are you kidding me?

princeminski

Actually I preferred the part where she yanked the cord and caused the guy to shoot himself under the chin. Gnarly.

Anonymous

A crazy mix of ‘the professional’(AKA Leon), superhero movies and…lazy town??

That said, benchmade DOES make some good knives.

mortis

I can’t wait for the movie! the comic is outstanding…now all someone has to do is get “The Boys” made, and I’ll be a happy camper.

^m^

eliba

I don’t know if this has been posted, but I’m not going to read 53 comments to find out. There’s another teaser trailer where Nic Cage shoots his daughter in the chest. I kinda want to see this movie. Maybe because I’m young, maybe because I like comic book adapatation films, maybe because I’m twisted.. who knows. But the film looks entertaining, so I may rent it when it comes out on DVD.
The clip in question: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AO8JGDiRmtA

Ghost of PKD

I have always had a problem with voyeuristic depictions of violence. If you have a cursed imagination and intellect, that having seen one degradation can draw another on top of it without any effort and then beyond natural limits cast your mind on all the possible shapes that can come out of this simple “entertainment”; if at that moment your mind shudders – well that is a PKD moment.

If at that same similar moment, you decide that creating transgressive entertainment is the very best thing that can be done with your mind. Well that is a PKD moment too.

Anonymous

Frankly, the thing that disturbs me most is the girl saying, “Alright cunts, …”

I am pretty much a one issue pony when it comes to “cunt” used in a denigrating way. I hate it. Hate it hate it hate it.

And here, it seems so forced and artificial. Not besides, having a powerful young girl, kicking ass all over the place, but using the denigrating language of the patriarchy whose moral failures are essentially responsible for her very existence as a vigilante is just wrong and stupid. Did her trainer teach her to talk like that? Ugh.

“Fuckers” would seem more natural and appropriate, giving the required strong language with out being misogynist, self-loathing, or parroting.
e.g. “Alright, fuckers, lets see what you can do.” If only it could be changed. Other options: “assholes” “doody-heads” “jackasses”

~~James

Jewels Vern

I think I will hold out for something more real. Like “The Eggplant That Ate Chicago”.

mgfarrelly

To those saying “Oh lighten up, it’s just fantasy”. I agree with you, to a point. But the kind of fantasy you indulge in does make a difference in shaping who you are and what you do.

I’m not saying that rock music is going to drive you to Satan, or that D&D will make you believe you too can becomes a Half-Elf Drow Mage, but consuming violence as a slick and commercial product like this, especially when it involves a kid, is worth questioning.

That said, the best movie I’ve seen in years has to be “Let The Right One In”. A movie that features kids, violence, swearing, and adolescent sexual identity. But it handles all those potential hand grenades with grace The violence isn’t there to make you go “AWESOME! KILL SHOT!”.

I may sound like a dirty ol’ hippie (though I’m neither old, nor a hippie) but I don’t like combining kids and violence for the purposes of amusement. I want to see more movies where kids are creative and funny and cuss and get in trouble and solve problems and are their own heroes. Give me “Monster House” or “Goonies” or “Holes” over this kind of violence any day.

Anonymous

to all you people saying it’s not a good example bla bla bla…dudes…CHILL!!! it’s a freaking movie…well…comic… it’s not like it’s the first time you’ve seen gore like that…PLUS the movie rating people’ll probably RATE the thing before showing it…can’t you fags enjoy the damn movie without complaining? if you don’t like it…shut up cause really, it’s getting annoying if you don’t like the movie so much…why the hell do you need to see the trailer…don’t watch it then and get on with your boring non-epic lives…and leave the awesomeness to the rest of us who enjoy artistic representations of a person’s imagination…

Cowicide

Go back to 4chan.

erzatsen

think of the children!
oh my god, won’t someone think of the children!

jerkzilla

So, you’re changing your position that she was “forced” to be in the movie to “she’s 12. what does she know”? Oh, and by saying that she’s old enough to make a decision is she has the approval of her parents, I’m automatically a pedophile? How that kneejerk treating you? Maybe you should see a doctor for that.

Cowicide

What’s wrong, did I attack your senses? I thought all the hipsters did it nowadays. I guess it’s only cool when it’s the senses of someone else, huh? How old and boring of you guys… heh

misterfricative

I think it’s trying a bit too hard to be outrageous. Consequently, it doesn’t look to be as funny as, say, Ichi The Killer.

Boeotian

Yeah, clearly, Ichi the Killer wasn’t trying too hard to be outrageous.

/sarcasm

Now seriously, in the comics I don’t remember the girl being that much acrobatic. A little, yes, but not that much.
Movies keep pushing the hidden tiger/crouching dragon martial stuff way too far. Other than that, it does look great.
- misterfricative
  
  Sorry, I guess I was being too deadpan. Because obviously yes, Ichi The Killer was insanely outrageous — when is Miike anything but insanely outrageous! — but my point was that even by comparison with ITK (which I really liked), Hit Girl feels like it goes too far to be effective. For starters you’ve got the double mumbo-jumbo thing: a nine(?)-year old ninja who not only kills people and relishes it, but who also has a potty mouth. Either one alone would be fine, but both is too much. I know this sounds ridiculous, but it makes it kinda hard to take her character seriously.
  
  Although having said that, yeah, maybe it would actually be funnier if they went for the *triple* mumbo-jumbo and gave her a form of tourettes that made her fart or burp every time she swore or killed someone.
  
  Also, although her ninja chops look pretty cool, she needs to work on her swearing. She does all right sliding past ‘fucking with you’, but her ‘you cunts’ is downright embarrassing.

Antinous / Moderator

Compose yourselves.

GTMoogle

The costume design leaves something to be desired, and the choreographing was nice but a little more gore than my personal taste. Not really a fan of the ‘shoddy homemade superhero’ look, although I get the specific subgenre of realistic psychopath heroes it goes with.

Re: comment thread
Wow. I guess I forget how much some people have their brains tweaked about little girls. It’s a movie. She’s not real. She doesn’t have a future. It’s not real social commentary. Stop psychoanalyzing it and have some fun playing ‘pin the tail on the stereotype’.

I guess the general rule of thumb is that if art offends you, you’re probably the person being mocked by it.

Tzctlp

“I guess the general rule of thumb is that if art offends you, you’re probably the person being mocked by it.”

That is a facile excuse that absolves the producers of such exploitative movies from any responsibility to explain why they think objectifying children in such a way is considered a worthwhile artistic endeavour.

agreenster

“Give me “Monster House” or “Goonies” or “Holes” over this kind of violence any day.”

Rated PG, PG and PG, and are directed at kids and families.

This movie is not. So, you have a certain taste, thats fine. But people who dont share your taste are still allowed to make/watch movies of their taste. Its ‘Merica. Aint it great?

mgfarrelly

I never said anywhere that the movie should be banned, protested or even not made in the first place. Troubling (commercial) art is still art and I’m all for it. The “I’m free beause I can eat all the cheetos I want and you can’t stop me” argument is more than a little petulant.

But films don’t exist in a vacuum. They say something about society just as they contribute to society. What does it say about a movie aimed at an adult audience (and really, we know this movie is aimed squarely at teenagers too, let’s not be coy) wherin a young child commits acts of heinous, bloody murder for comic effect?

I think the mass consumption of violent images leads to a more violent and less compassionate person. I don’t see it as directly as the “You play GTA, you shoot up a school” lunkheads. But desensitizing people to visceral violence, making bloodsport into comedy, that does affect society.

It’s worth asking why you find these images funny and not deeply disturbing. Child soldiers are some of the most horrifying things I’ve ever read about.

sirkowski

When did BB commenters become such reactionnary boring old farts?

Kill your parents and rape the dog!

Anonymous

There will always be people saying “this shouldn’t be allowed” when it comes to one form of artistic expression or another.

Some of them would stifle the imagination and artistic daring of others to do stuff which, let’s face it, doesn’t leave anyone actually dead or bleeding (unlike, say, the wars of politicians).

These people would probably have choked on their own outrage if Naked Lunch had been a more faithful adaptation.

Maybe they’d even have banned the book.

Creativity should be unhindered by these naysayers. In short, “Bollocks to the lot of them!”

CosmicMonkey

Looks stupid.

Give me a break with this “it’s just a movie” shit. Movies, books, music, everything influences how we live this life we have.

nutate

Girl Power!

LennStar

For me this looks like the today normal error of (action) films: Everything is directed to action.
Thats why the old Star Wars films are “Space Opera” and the new ones… well, action films more or less with the included?-checklist worked down.
For me the best female young killer is still Kirika from Noir. That is cool – und without swearing btw.

Antinous / Moderator

Simmer down.

sirkowski

When you read a comic book, the patriarchy kills a kitten.

Maybe we should create some sort of comic book code…

Kick-Ass comic movie adaptation, with adolescent ninja girl

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