Kick Ass 2 : Not quite clean fun

Calling ‘Kick Ass 2’ good clean fun wouldn’t be quite accurate. Fun certainly. Clean…. ahhhh not so much. The obscene language and violence come thick and fast in this sequel to the 2010 hit.

For those of you that saw and enjoyed the first film, I can say with confidence that you will like the sequel. It’s a lot of what made the first film great. Unfortunately for some of the more squeamish within the viewing public, this might make the film rather offensive. But if you’re okay crude humour and graphic action scenes then you’re in for one hell of a ride.

We rejoin Dave Lizewski aka Kick Ass and Mindy Macready aka Hit Girl several years following the events of the first film. Mindy is now under the care of her dead fathers’ best friend and is supposed to be putting her life of fighting crime behind her. Instead she is training Dave so he can actually kick ass, as opposed to being something of a criminal’s punching bag as he was in the previous film. When Mindy gets caught out by her guardian Marcus she’s forced back to school. This means Dave has to find himself a new crew of amateur superheros to team up with. The team he finds call themselves ‘Justice Forever’ and are headed up by the tough but morally sound ‘Colonel Stars and Stripes’ (Jim Carrey). Red Mist from the previous film now calls himself the ‘Motherf*cker’ and is on a mission to become the world’s first super villain. He’s also rather peeved at Kick Ass for killing his father with a bazooka in the first film. This as you would expect leads to a lot of conflict, fight sequences and generally abusive language.

Matthew Vaughn who directed the first instalment steps out of the director’s chair and into the producers shoes, letting Jeff Wadlow take the reins on writing and directing the sequel. Jeff does a surprisingly good job of matching the style of the first film, but I’d suggest that he tries to get away with a little more on shock value than the previous movie.

For a pretty unknown bunch of actors they all do what they need to do, other than of course Mr Jim Carrey, who actually stood out in his role as Colonel Stars and Stripes, despite his change of heart regarding the violence in the film. His moral character did actually shine through in the performance of a born again Christian.

I can’t say I’d recommend Kick Ass to everyone, as I can imagine it being offensive to a lot of people on a number of different levels. But for those of us who don’t mind a bit of obscenity and enjoy some shock value then you definitely want to get involved. Use the first film as a yard stick, if you liked it then definitely head down to your local cinema to enjoy the sequel.