Kick-Ass (2010) - Taylor-Johnson is the highlight of Vaughn's offensive, immature comic book entertainer

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+ Most Tasteless Movie of the Year

One of the splashy-colored, youth-appealing posters for Matthew Vaughn's Kick-Ass

A high school nerd makes himself  a costume and attempts to become one of his comic book superhero idols but instead finds himself beat up. But that changes when he finds two partners, - and a serious foe.

Kick-Ass is an adaptation of the same-titled comic book by Mark Millar (The Flash: Emergency Stop (1997)) and John Romita Jr. (Black Panther Vol. 3 (2005)), also released in 2010. It is written by Jane Goldman (Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014)) and co-writer-director Matthew Vaughn (Layer Cake (2004)). It is a very entertaining, sporadically funny film that seduces with cool music and splashy colors.
Nicolas Cage (Moonstruck (1987)) is very cool in it, - and so is Chloë Grace Moretz (The 5th Wave (2016)) as his daughter Hit-Girl, - and young Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Godzilla (2014)) is smoking hot in the title role. But Kick-Ass is heavy on villainous stereotypes (of blacks and Italians), and its first act is homophobic. It features one ugly, digitally created giant fire. And its amoral idolization of self-realization through violence and murder perpetrated by and marketed to young folk can hardly be called a sound development for films. It is a very immature bowlful of entertainment.

Related posts:

Matthew Vaughn: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Vaughn's handsome if cluttered reboot
The Debt (2010) - The Nazi war criminal thriller is back in a welcome return (co-writer) 
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

 Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Estimated 28-30 mil. $ 
Box office: 96.1 mil. $
= Box office success
[Kick-Ass premiered March 26 (UK) and runs 117 minutes. The rights to the comic book were sold before it was even published. The big studios passed on the project due to its violence involving children, so Vaughn found the money himself, partly though Brad Pitt's Plan B Entertainment. Filming took place in Ontario, Canada and in England from September 2008 - April 2009. Some controversy arose at the film's release, (it received an R-rating in the US), and some critics reacted against it: Roger Ebert called it "reprehensible" and gave it only 1 star. Kick-Ass opened #1 to a 19.8 mil. $ first weekend in North America, (falling to #5 in the following week), where it grossed 48 mil. $ (49.9 % of the total gross). The film's 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 16.7 mil. $ (17.4 %) and France with 5.9 mil. $ (6.1 %). The film debuted #1 on the DVD chart in North America but has also been listed as one of the year's most illegally downloaded films, reportedly stolen more than 11.4 mil. times. A sequel, Kick-Ass 2, was released in 2013 to lesser success. Kick-Ass is certified fresh at 76 % with a 7.1 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Kick-Ass?

The Debt (2010) - The Nazi war criminal thriller is back in a welcome return

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The slick but not very informative poster for John Madden's The Debt

QUICK REVIEW:

In 1965 the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad sent three agents to East-Berlin to assassinate an infamous Nazi war criminal, the Surgeon of Nuremberg, who was then a practicing gynecologist.

The Debt lifts the rich inheritance from Nazi war criminal thrillers like The Marathon Man (1976) and The Boys from Brazil (1978) without the elements of diamonds, clones or wild car chases from those films, but instead with a sober and intense story, SPOILER which ends as an uncompromising defense for truth in all contexts.
The film could have benefited from an opening text about East-Berlin and that Mossad had just localized the Surgeon there, and there are also some difficulties in seeing all the well-known actors as Jews, - but, more importantly, they all do well. Particularly Helen Mirren (The Last Station (2009)), who simply becomes her character here, but also Jessica Chastain (The Martian (2015)) and Jesper Christensen (Spectre (2015)), who is icy as the Nazi war criminal, mixing psychopathic diabolism with rationality and sympathetic qualities.
The Debt is a remake of the Israeli The Debt/Ha-Hov (2007), written by Matthew Vaughn (Kick-Ass (2010)), Jane Goldman (Stardust (2007)) and Peter Straughan (The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009)), and directed by great English filmmaker John Madden (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011)). It is an attractive, good film.

Related review:

John Madden: The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011) - Elderly Brits me in India in Madden's delightful film

Watch a short trailer for the film here

Cost: 20 mil. $
Box office: 45.6 mil. $
= Flop
[The film premiered at the Deauville American Film Festival in France September 4 and runs 113 minutes. The Debt was finished and ready for release in July 2010, but due to the sale of distributor Miramax, the North American release was delayed until August 31 2011. The film opened #2 to 9.9 mil. $ in North America, where it grossed 31.1 mil. $ (68.2 % of the total gross.) The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Spain with 4.6 mil. $ (10.1 %) and the UK with 2.3 mil. $ (5 %). The Debt is certified fresh at 76 % with a 6.5 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Debt?

X-Men: First Class (2011) - Vaughn's handsome if cluttered reboot

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A new band of actors stand ready to carry on the X-Men franchise on this poster for Matthew Vaughn's X-Men: First Class

QUICK REVIEW:

In the 1960s, the existence of mutants becomes known by the US government, and the mutants get involved in the nuclear race.

Stars James McAvoy (The Last King of Scotland (2006)), Jennifer Lawrence (The Hunger Games (2012)), Michael Ironside (Total Recall (1990)) and January Jones (Mad Men (2007-15)) are, like many of the film's fine special effects, pleasures to behold. Unfortunately, the story handling here in First Class, either a reboot of the X-Men franchise and/or simply the beginning of a second feature trilogy, depending on who you ask, leaves much to be wished for, and, clocking in at 132 minutes, it doesn't go easy on its audience lengthwise.
It is written by Ashley Miller, Zack Stentz (Thor (2011), both), Jane Goldman (Stardust (2007)) and its English director Matthew Vaughn (Kick-Ass (2010)), with Bryan Singer (X-Men 2 (2003)) and Sheldon Turner (Up in the Air (2009)) contributing story. - No wonder the story's a little jumbled with all those chefs around the pots!

Related review:

X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) - A BAM in every direction for the tired franchise 

Watch the trailer for the film here

Cost: 140-160 mil. $
Box office: 353.6 mil. $
= Minor flop
[First Class opened #1 to a 55.1 mil. $ domestic opening weekend, on par with the first X-men (2000), (before accounting for inflation), and abroad, the film peaked at #2, seen collectively. It grossed 146.4 mil. $ (41 % of the total gross) in North America. The film's costs of 160 mil. $ were reportedly lowered to around 140 mil. $ after tax rebates from its production countries.]

What do you think of X-Men: First Class?