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Directed by Matthew Vaughn (R) *** SUBSCRIBE TO THE WEEK Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives. SUBSCRIBE & SAVE SIGN UP FOR
THE WEEK'S FREE NEWSLETTERS From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox. From our morning news briefing to
a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox. _Kick-Ass_ “lives up to the promise of its title,” said Mick LaSalle in the _San Francisco
Chronicle._ Director Matthew Vaughn, adapting Mark Millar and John Romita Jr.’s comic books, has created an “audacious, compulsively watchable, irresistibly likable piece of pure
entertainment.” In this smart take on the superhero genre, an unremarkable teenage boy (Aaron Johnson) transforms from geek to masked avenger by simply dressing up in a scuba suit. As Vaughn
introduces other quirky superheroes, including Nicolas Cage and Chloe Grace Moretz as a father-daughter team, he cranks up the violence to cartoon-like levels. The director couldn’t have
made a worse decision, said Michael Phillips in the _Chicago Tribune. Kick-Ass_ has sparked controversy because of the beatings “directed at, or perpetrated by,” Moretz’s preteen character.
Yet “the more pressing issue is how stupidly relentless the gore is, from beginning to end.” Still, _Kick-Ass_ has more to offer than mere slam-bang, said Ann Hornaday in _The Washington
Post._ With a clever plot and a sense of humor about its genre, _Kick-Ass_ turns out to be an action film that’s unusually grounded in reality. A free daily email with the biggest news
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