With as many as fourteen comic book films due out this year I’ve decided to do a series of previews. Each one of these previews will be entirely devoted to one of these releases. With each article I hope to convey what I think could be the gasp-inducing highs as well as the cringe-inducing lows of each film. In the fifth instalment in a series of previews for upcoming comic book movies, I’ll be looking at Kick-Ass 2: Balls to the Wall.
The biggest risk with Kick-Ass 2: Balls to the Walls has to be Matthew Vaughn’s decision to take a step back from directing the new release. Vaughn has an exceptional talent for giving the public hugely entertaining films that offer something slightly out of sync with anything else on offer at cinemas. With Layer Cake, he delivered a sharp, quick-witted, British gangster film at a time when nobody was really looking for a British gangster film, with Stardust we got an endearing fantasy feature that brought back memories of outings such as The Princess Bride and Legend. Also, in directing X-Men: First Class he gave us something we never thought we’d see after the disasters of X3 and Origins, an accomplished (not definitive) X-Men film. He masterminded the transition of Kick-Ass from cult comic book to box office gold. The responsibility of taking Vaughn’s place in the director’s chair has fallen to Jeff Wadlow. Wadlow seems a strange choice though, as his most successful directorial feature to date is the rather hit and miss Never Back Down; a film that’s a cross between Beverly Hills 90210 and a roid-rage version of The Karate Kid. He was heavy involved with the script for Kick-Ass 2 though and I doubt either Vaughn or Universal would trust this type of endeavour to somebody they didn’t think could deliver a worthwhile sequel.
Having read Kick-Ass 2 a while back, it was clear that although the film will be violent, it could not be anywhere near the kind of free-handed viciousness of the comics as this will simply not work on the big screen. Studios won’t endorse a film if they don’t think it can make money and a banned film isn’t going to make money. Obviously they will substitute certain scenes in order to get the certificate they believe will do the film and the comic book justice. As a fan of the comic books though, I hope they can do this without cheapening the feel of the movie while still giving our heroes enough impetus to retaliate. Millar has continually referenced The Empire Strikes Back as a source of inspiration for this part of the story and Balls to the Wall certainly has to head in that direction. The viewer as well as the characters must see this stage of the battle in many ways as a victory for The Mother[frick]er. In the comic, Dave as well as one or two other characters are punished in ways they never thought they’d have to deal with and this should be clearly put across to the audience.
One of the highlights of Kick-Ass was the performance of Nicolas Cage as Big Daddy. His pseudo-Batman (Adam West’s Batman) impression stole most of the scenes he was involved in, but after the events of Kick-Ass, Big Daddy will no longer be there to lead the way for the younger generation to follow. Instead we have Colonel Stars and Stripes, played by the versatile live-wire that is Jim Carrey. Potentially, Carrey could steal the show; with Hit-Girl spending most of this story in semi-retirement and Big Daddy permanently out of action, there is a gap for Carrey to bring his own manic, larger-than-life style of over-acting to the big screen once again. Also we will be given a cast of well-meaning but wildly out of place characters such as Doctor Gravity, Insect Man and Night Bitch that promise to showcase just how deluded people can be.
When Kick-Ass was released, it was exactly the shot in the arm Hollywood needed. It proved that a film based on a comic book didn’t necessarily need a $200,000,000 budget in order to be a success. It proved that you didn’t need mutants, super soldiers, aliens (who obviously were the last of their kind) or brooding billionaires to create a popular and much-loved franchise. Hopefully, Kick-Ass 2: Balls to the Wall can continue in the same gloriously over-the-top vein as its predecessor and give the movie-going public something that once again, is just slightly out of sync with everything else we’re being offered in cinemas this year.
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