Production Companies: Universal Pictures, Marv FilmsĬast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Chloe Grace Moretz, Clark Duke, Morris Chestnut, Donald Faison, John Leguizamo, Jim Carrey The indulgences may not bother the geek contingent, but they make it harder to distinguish Kick-Ass from the polished, name-brand superhero flicks it seemed to offer us respite from. Central to the franchise’s appeal is its insistence that real people are doing these things - that, as the dialogue twice insists, “this is not a comic book.” The first film cheated that premise by making Hit Girl capable of impossibly choreographed mayhem this one goes further on that front, and on others as well. In that scene and elsewhere, the film’s tone comes close to implosion. As his name suggests, this creep’s agenda is not PG-rated: In one scene, he rapes someone close to Kick-Ass, an event made more disturbing by the laughs the script hopes to get from it. As he leads the team to take down kingpins of gambling and prostitution, might he be clearing the underworld field for his own return to crime? Either way, a new villain is busy empire-building: Chris D’Amico ( Christopher Mintz-Plasse), the spoiled rich kid who spent the last film trying to be a hero, has rechristened himself “The Motherf-er” and hired all the thugs he can find in order to destroy Kick-Ass and those he cares about. VIDEO: ‘Kick-Ass 2’ Extended Red Band TrailerĬarrey, under some jawline-enhancing prosthetics, plays the part with enough righteous zeal to arouse suspicion. The only combat-ready member of the team is Colonel Stars and Stripes (Carrey), an ex-mob enforcer who knows where villains congregate and has the nerve to take them on. After the first film’s events, dozens of other normal folks have been inspired to adopt crime-fighting personae Kick-Ass teams with some of them under the moniker Justice Forever. This storyline eventually reaches a satisfying (if cartoonish) conclusion, but its main effect is to make Mindy a civilian long enough for Dave’s costumed alter ego to enjoy some heroic action that isn’t upstaged by Hit Girl. PHOTOS: 20 Stars Who Dissed Their Own Moviesįorced to socialize with the most popular clique in school by her guardian Marcus ( Morris Chestnut) - and realizing, after a visceral encounter with boy-band music videos, that being a normal girl might fulfill her in ways her samurai swords and nunchucks can’t - Moretz’s Mindy Macready enters a familiar teen-pic template: She’s introduced to the privileges of popularity only to be humiliated by mean girls bent on protecting their turf.