Kick-Ass

Aaron Taylor-Johnson Director: Matthew Vaughn Matthew Vaughn

Overview

Adapted from Mark Millar's hyper-violent comic book of the same name, director Matthew Vaughn's (Layer Cake) vigilante superhero film tells the tale of an average New York teenager who decides to don a costume and fight crime. Comic book geek Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) may not have good coordination or special powers, but that doesn't mean he isn't a fully capable crime fighter. After purchasing a flashy wet suit on the Internet, Dave starts busting up baddies with nothing but brute force. He calls himself Kick-Ass, and he can take a beating as good as he can dish one out. Before long, Kick-Ass has become a local sensation, and others are following his lead. Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage) and Hit-Girl (Chloe Moretz) are a father-daughter crime-fighting duo who have set their sights on local mob heavy Frank D'Amico (Mark Strong). They're doing a decent job of dismantling Frank's sizable underworld empire when Kick-Ass gets drawn into the fray. But Frank's men play rough, and his son, Chris (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), is about to become Kick-Ass' very first arch nemesis. When Chris assumes the persona of Red Mist, the stage is set for a superhero showdown that could spell the end of Kick-Ass once and for all.

Product Details

Release Date:	08/03/2010
UPC:	0031398121381
Original Release:	2010
Rating:	R
Source:	Lions Gate
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[DTS 5.1-Channel Surround Sound, Dolby AC-3 Surround Sound]
Time:	1:57:00
Sales rank:	15,076

Special Features

Ass-kicking bonusview mode; Matthew Vaughn audio commentary ; A new kind of superhero: the making of Kick-Ass; It's On! the comic book origin of Kick-Ass; The art of Kick-Ass gallery; Marketing archive; BD Touch and metamenu remote enables for iPhone/iPod/iPad interactivity; D-box metadata track to connect to d-box motion-based systems; Lionsgate live - BD-live menu system that lets you access exclusive content, special offers, ringtones

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Aaron Taylor-Johnson	Dave Lizewski/Kick-Ass
Nicolas Cage	Damon Macready/Big Daddy
Christopher Mintz-Plasse	Chris D'Amico/Red Mist
Mark Strong	Frank D'Amico
Chloë Grace Moretz	Mindy Macready/Hit Girl
Omari Hardwick	Sgt. Marcus Williams
Xander Berkeley	Det. Gigante
Michael Rispoli	Big Joe
Clark Duke	Marty
Lyndsy Fonseca	Katie Deauxma
Evan Peters	Todd
Dexter Fletcher	Cody
Corey Johnson	Sporty Goon
Jason Flemyng	Lobby Goon
Kenneth Simmons	Scary Goon
Randall Batinkoff	Tre Fernandez
Garrett M. Brown	Mr. Lizewski
Elizabeth McGovern	Mrs. Lizewski
Deborah Twiss	Mrs. Zane
Sophie Wu	Erika Cho
Anthony Desio	Baby Goon
Adrian Martinez	Ginger Goon
Joe Bacino	Posh Goon
Stu "Large" Riley	Huge Goon
Walle Jobara	Nervous Goon
Carlos Besse Peres	Buttons
Tamer Hassan	Matthew
Yancy Butler	Angie D'Amico
Tim Plester	Danil
Hubert Boorder	Oscar Juarez
Craig Ferguson	Himself
Omar Soriano	Leroy
Kofi Natei	Rosul
Johnny Hopkins	1st Gang Kid
Ohene Cornelius	2nd Gang Kid
Russell Bentley	Medic
Christopher McGuire	Diner Fight Guy 1
Max White	Diner Fight Guy 2
Dean Copkov	Diner Fight Guy 3
Jacob Cartwright	Running Teenager
Maurice DuBois	News Anchor
Dana Tyler	News Anchor
Dan Duran	Reporter
Louis Young	Breaking News Reporter
Katrena Rochell	Female Junkie
Quinn Smith	Big Mean Boy

Technical Credits

Matthew Vaughn

Jane Goldman

Matthew Vaughn	Director,Producer,Screenwriter
Adam Bohling	Producer
Karen Sheriff Brown	Makeup
Matthew Collinge	Sound/Sound Designer
Ben Davis	Cinematographer
Russell de Rozario	Production Designer
Maruis de Vries	Score Composer,Musical Direction/Supervision
Ilan Eshkeri	Score Composer,Musical Direction/Supervision
Sarah Halley Finn	Casting
Jane Goldman	Co-producer,Screenwriter
Eddie Hamilton	Editor
Fae Hammond	Makeup
Jon Harris	Editor
David Harris	Special Effects Supervisor
Ilona Herman	Makeup
Joe Howard	Art Director
Henry Jackman	Score Composer,Musical Direction/Supervision
Jeremy Kleiner	Executive Producer
Pierre Lagrange	Executive Producer
Stephen Marks	Executive Producer
Mark Millar	Executive Producer
John Murphy	Score Composer,Musical Direction/Supervision
Ian Neil	Musical Direction/Supervision
Tarquin Pack	Producer
Brad Pitt	Producer
David Reid	Producer
John Romita	Executive Producer
Pietro Scalia	Editor
Laird McMurray Film Services	Special Effects
Danny Sheehan	Sound/Sound Designer
Sammy Sheldon	Costumes/Costume Designer
Sarah Stuart	Art Director
Lucinda Syson	Casting
Kris Thykier	Producer

Scene Index

Disc #1 -- Kick-Ass
1. A Regular Guy [:00]
2. Be Honest [:00]
3. Awesome [:00]
4. Time to Engage [:03]
5. Pop Quiz [:24]
6. Back [:25]
7. Here Kitty [:24]
8. Kick-Ass [:24]
9. Passing a Message [:09]
10. Have Potential [:19]
11. Daddy and Marcus [:00]
12. Red Mist [5:32]
13. Crime Fighting Team [5:41]
14. Watch This [4:40]
15. Worth Living For [5:14]
16. Need to Meet [3:07]
17. Family Business [3:58]
18. Hit Girl [3:55]
19. Job to Finish [4:14]
20. A Little Kid [7:06]
21. Under Control [4:19]
22. Playtime is Over [4:40]
23. Time to Go Home [6:58]
24. Opened a Door [3:44]

Menu

Disc #1 -- Kick-Ass
   Play Movie
   Set Up
      Audio: English 5.1 Dolby Digital
      Audio: English 2.0 Dolby Digital
      Subtitles: English
      Subtitles: Spanish
      Subtitles: Off
   Scenes

Editorial Reviews

Kick-Ass takes all the classic superhero tropes and turns them on their head, and what you're left with is a super-charged romp that's one part wish-fulfillment fantasy and one part fan-boy comedy. Forget x-ray vision, invisibility, or superhuman strength -- Kick-Ass is all about what happens when a 17-year-old teen with no powers, training, or meaningful desire to do so buys a wet suit and some riot sticks and begins his journey to becoming the ultimate champion: a superhero. Based on the graphic novel by Mark Millar, director Matthew Vaughn maintains a balancing act between ultra-violent recklessness and rabid teenage comedy. The film goes to all the extremes, but they're completely welcome, and in a sea of superhero movies that take themselves entirely too seriously, Kick-Ass breaks out and delivers a refreshing take on the genre that leaves the audience with a pleasantly visceral experience. Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) is your average teenager, nothing special -- he hasn't been bitten by a radioactive spider like Peter Parker and he doesn't have gadgets like Batman; in fact, his only superpower is being invisible to girls. One day, while hanging with his friends at the local comic-book shop, Dave poses the pivotal question: "Why has no one ever tried to be a superhero?" He goes from nerdy teen dreaming of winning over his "Mary Jane", Katie (Lyndsy Fonseca), to costumed not-so-super hero Kick-Ass. From there it's one crazed stunt after another, which leads to a back-alley beatdown that leaves him with screwed up nerve endings and a heightened threshold for pain -- the perfect plot point for the craziness that ensues. After video footage of a confrontation with gang members outside the local hangout goes viral, everyone knows his name, but trouble brews when nemesis Red Mist (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) explodes onto the scene and Kick-Ass must maintain his identity, beat the bad guys, and win the girl. Vaughn takes care to remind the audience that Dave is still a teenage boy with angst, hormonal yearnings, and clueless friends, so as his life in the real world becomes more engaging, his life as Kick-Ass becomes less relevant. Enter Hit-Girl, played by Chloe Moretz, a trash-talking, butt-kicking, 13-year-old girl who could wipe the floor with the biggest of badasses. Trained by her rubber-suit-wearing father, Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage), an ex-cop-turned-vigilante, this revenge-seeking duo stops at nothing to bring resident bad guy Frank D'Amico (Mark Strong) to justice. The film is just as much about Hit-Girl and Big Daddy as it is about Kick-Ass. They fill the void when Dave is otherwise occupied, and some of the best scenes in the film are between the two. Vaughn, along with screenwriter Jane Goldman, establishes the anti-superhero universe early in the film, and as a result the audience expects them to maintain that sensibility throughout, but the film teeters back and forth between "this isn't a superhero movie" and "this is a superhero movie," and some points in the film get bogged down with endless backstory of minor characters that are better served in comic-book form. Still, Kick-Ass is just plain fun, and trying to figure out where it fits into the genre takes away from enjoying what it really is -- a ridiculously entertaining adventure that genre fans will love. The tagline says it all: "Be honest with yourself. At some point in our lives, we all wanted to be a superhero." For anyone who secretly wished to be one, this film delivers on that fantasy with a world where bad guys are real and superheroes are geeky high school comic-book fans.

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