Movie Review - Kick Ass 2

Quick word of warning.  This review will contain rude words.  It is impossible for it not too.  The bad guy in this movie is called "The Motherfucker" so it can't be avoided.  Are we all clear on this?  Good.

Kick Ass 2 is the sequel to 2010's Kick Ass (funny that) and sees Kick Ass (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) donning the trademark wet suit again at the behest of Hit Girl (Chloe Grace Moretz).  Hit Girl is subsequently convinced to try to lead a normal life leaving Kick Ass to find other like minded individuals to form a superhero team.  In the meantime the son of the big baddie wiped out by Kick Ass at the end of the first movie has sworn revenge and when a tanning booth accident leaves him the sole beneficiary of a substantial fortune he recruits his own crew to help him become a supervillain called The Motherfucker (Christopher Mintz-Plasse).

First up, if you haven't seen the original Kick Ass then do so, as soon as possible.  It is an incredible movie where the shocking violence contrasted with the apparent innocence of the main characters creates an experience quite unlike any other movie.  It also presents Kick Ass 2 with its main problem, it has to follow on from Kick Ass.

If you can put the original movie aside then Kick Ass 2 is still an entertaining watch.  It certainly doesn't have the same sort of impact and since a sizeable portion of the movie is Hit Girl trying to be normal there is significantly less opportunities for action sequences.  The main players continue their roles wonderfully and we really get to see some deeper characterisation from them.  The supporting cast however don't get much of a chance for development due to the fact that this is also a team up movie.  There are still some stand out performances such as Colonel Stars and Stripes (Jim Carrey) and Mother Russia (Olga Kurkulina).

If you go into Kick Ass 2 without expectations you are going to have a better time with it.  It does not have the same level of shocks, violence or comedy as the original but it still has a lot going for it.  Hit Girl is definitely given more to do and with a bit of rearranging this could have easily become the Hit Girl movie.  The Motherfucker works well as a supervillain whose power is he can buy whatever and whoever he wants but it is definitely Mother Russia who steals the show on the bad guy side.  There is plenty you'll see coming but it still manages to get a few surprises in there.

With the current focus on superhero movies it is certainly a good time to check out Kick Ass 2 and definitely check out Kick Ass as soon as possible.

In a word - Motherfucker

Movie Review - The Incredible Burt Wonderstone

We needed a break from school holiday entertainment and had a chance to catch up on a movie that, while it wasn't in our must see list, certainly had us curious.  So is The Incredible Burt Wonderstone movie magic or merely a little sleight of hand trick.

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone sees lifelong buddies Burt Wonderstone (Steve Carrell) and Anton Marvelton (Steve Buscemi) take their love of magic to a long running and highly successful Vegas casino show.  Trouble is that it has become routine and both their friendship and the show are suffering.  Into this mix comes Steve Gray (Jim Carrey), a street magician more about shocking and outrageous physical stunts than actual stunts, whose cable show is fast gaining popularity.  Throw in Jane (Olivia Wilde) as the compulsory strong and independent, yet strangely reliant, female lead and you are good to go.

Where this movie shines is definitely the magic.  Apparently David Copperfield (who makes a cameo) actually shared some of his secrets to make the tricks on the screen as genuine as possible.  The love of magic really shows and adds much more depth than could be displayed just through the antics of the characters.

There are some great interactions between the main roles and a number of outright funny sequences.  There is also plenty to make you cringe as some of the stunts pulled off by Steve Gray are pretty gruesome.  Jane mainly appears in a role that could easily be labelled "the assistant" and the establishment of a plot device where she is a pretty good magician in her own right virtually goes nowhere until the very end of the film.

At the end of the day The Incredible Burt Wonderstone works as something for a good laugh.  It does not push it's way up to comedy gold and there is plenty of material that just misses the mark, but it makes up for it with a number of genuinely funny scenes and pure magic of the, well, magic.

In a word - Abracadabra