CHLOE GRACE MORETZ, AARON TAYLOR-JOHNSON, AND CHRISTOPHER MINZ-PLASSE IN KICK-ASS 2

Ultra-violence, with a good-natured twist

Sometimes comic book adaptations give the mature viewer the impression of having come a little too late to the game, and this is the case with the cultish "Kick-Ass" series, adapted from the work of Mark Millar. What's going on here? Obviously geared to a younger audience, this strikes what may seem an odd balance between the ultra-violent, the vulgar, and the comic. The violence seems to get the upper hand, the air rent with profanity all the while, but we never lose sight of the fact that basically all this is about highschoolers and their particular problems -- with their school, with their dad, with reality. For adult non-cultists, it's only intermittently enjoyable.

The main character, not yet in high school when the story begins, is a very young girl, Mindy Macready (Chloë Grace Moretz), "Hit Girl" by night, whose late father "robs her of her youth" by training her to accompany him in the practice of ultra-violent martial arts as costumed vigilantes. This father, known as "Big Daddy," is ably played by Nicholas Cage and the scenes between Cage and Moretz kick-start the first film. Mindy's expletive-strewn dialogue and high-speed action are jaw-droppingly original, the real creation of "Kick-Ass." It was a real shocker, if we can be shocked any more, to see a ruthlessly violent and foul-mouthed vigilante who was -- a girl eleven years old! The charm and aplomb of Chloë Grace Moretz made this work.

Alas, Big Daddy meets his maker. Mindy, all of fifteen now, consents to give further training to a young man called Dave Lizewski (Aaron Taylor-Johnson, a disguised Brit) who wants to be a comics-inspired unitard-wearing do-gooder too, adopting the moniker Kick-Ass. He is more of a partner for her this time than in the first film. But don't be deceived: it's always Hit-Girl (Mindy) who dominates the screen. And her dominance continues through Part Two, interwoven with the story of a war between two rival bands of young superheroes, one good, one malevolent.

The original director, Matthew Vaughan, and his writer, Jane Goldman, have departed, along with Nick Cage, and Jeff Wadlow does both writing and helming honors. Every comic book series has its origin story, its creation myth, and that is lodged in the first Kick-Ass movie. The second is nothing if not harmonious with the first: this time Dave loses his dad, and there's a focus again on the "bad" young costumed super-hero -- more of a would-be super-villain, Chris D'Amico (Christopher Mintz-Plasse of Superbad fame), whose nighttime moniker is Red Mist. And he too loses a parent, through no fault of his own. How was he to know that if he kicked his rich mom's tanning bed it would explode and fry her? His gangster dad is in prison and he teams up with the family body guard, played by John Leguizamo. He too will meet a dire fate.

In Kick-Ass 2 it seems more obvious how the comic books explore the grotesque disconnect between superhero fantasies and the everyday realities of school. There is a passage in which Mindy is forced to stop running out and kicking ass with Dave aka Kick-Ass and attempts the high school life, facing a new level of evil in the form of a clique of nasty alpha-girls. We are all familiar with the scene in which such girls engage in mortal verbal combat in the high school lunch room. Kick-Ass 2 offers a new wrinkle: Mindy gets revenge by firing off a device at them that induces instant projectile vomiting. This may sound extreme, but it's mild compared to the stabbings, hangings, and decapitations that fill the action scenes. Hit-Girl is a blithe killer. It's all in an evening's work.

While Chris assembles a band of costumed and monikered villains, Dave puts together a group of good guy vigilantes during the time when Mindy is grounded by her foster parent Marcus (Morris Chestnut), a buff black police detective. This is part of the fun for any viewer, particularly of the fanboy or fangirl type. Red Mist adopts garish S&M gear inspired by stuff left behind by his late mother and changes his name to "Motherfucker." There's an Asian guy dubbed Genghis Carnage (Tom Wu). There's the ultra-buff killer lesbo Mother Russia (Olga Kurkulina, who is 6'2"). A dark-skinned member of Chris's evil band (Daniel Kaluuya) is dubbed Black Death (his nomenclature isn't subtle). There's also Night Bitch (Lindy Booth). Jim Carrey, who withdrew from promoting the film because of its violence and thereby gave its publicity a shot in the arm, plays a grizzled and mean Colonel Stars and Stripes. And, and so on. There are plenty of custumed baddies and do-gooders who aren't identified, just seen in full regalia.

It's part of the show that the heroes or ostensible good guys, including the bad-ass Hit-Girl, take a pretty extreme beating at times, though they spring back, trying to explain to their parent or guardian what the spots of blood on their neck come from without revealing their continued involvement in dangerous mayhem.

Kick-Ass 2 suffers a little from sophomore blues but it pretty well sustains the balls-out profanity and tongue-in-cheek ultra-violence found in Kick-Ass. The thrill isn't quite gone. But I miss Nicholas Cage and the delightful shock when Hit-Girl first sprang onto the screen for unsuspecting viewers unfamiliar with her very alternative comic book source.

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©Chris Knipp. Blog: http://chrisknipp.blogspot.com/.