“KICK-ASS 2” My rating: C (Opening wide on Aug. 16)
103 minutes | MPAA rating: R
“Kick-Ass 2” is a letdown, a mean-spirited and puerile sequel that leaves you stranded between giggling and gagging.
But I’m not sorry to have seen it for one reason: Chloe Grace Moretz.
Moretz was only 12 in 2009 when she appeared in the first “Kick-Ass” as Mindy Macready, a little girl trained by her vigilante father to suit up in purple Spandex and fight crime under the name of Hit-Girl. The novelty of seeing this petite child stomping the hell out of viscious adults (and lobbing ear-stinging profanities) was memorable, to say the least.
In the intervening four years — during which she turned in a brilliant performance as a child vampire in “Let Me In” and had a big role in Martin Scorsese’s “Hugo” — Moretz has grown up considerably. She’s becoming a beautiful young woman (small wonder that this film often features looming closeups emphasizing her hazel eyes and full lips) and this lends a whole new aspect to her Hit-Girl persona.
To put it bluntly, she’s now a dirty old man’s dream teen.
Not that she’ll be making a career of that. She’s too talented. But her presence in “K-A 2” announces that as she matures she’s going to be a major star. Bet on it.
Despite Moretz, this new film has two strikes against it. First, even fans of the “Kick-Ass” comic books acknowledge that while the initial series was terrific, the followup was awful.
And, second, the first movie benefitted from the direction of Matthew Vaughn, the guy behind the nifty Brit crime film “Layer Cake” and, later, “X-Men: First Class.” For “K-A 2” he’s been replaced by Jeff Wadlow, who with his third feature doesn’t yet demonstrate the tonal control needed to keep the yarn’s amusing and appalling elements in balance.
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