Kick Ass 2

DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE ORIGINAL KICK-ASS 

"Robin wishes he was me." - Hit Girl.

"Kick Ass 2. Does it 'Kick Ass' or is it a kick up the ass for the producers?" - Sean Cassidy.


Similarly to my Twilight review, I'm not sure where to start with this one, but, I'm happy to say, for the exact opposite reason! This film is a vast improvement on Kick Ass. The character development is a lot better than the first film- the superheroes develop actual personalities and lives, which makes them more relatable and better characters.

Hit Girl, A.K.A Mindy Macready, is trying to cope with the loss of her father by training to be a better superhero than she ever was, in order to defend the city. Kick-Ass, or Dave Lizewski, gets bored of retirement and joins her to form a team, however after being caught out by new guardian Marcus Williams, Hit Girl retires in order to try and become a normal teenager.

The story of Mindy Macready the normal teenager is funny and heart-breaking at the same time. She is taken in by a clique of popular girls and seems to be settling in alright, until they reach a hitch in the road and they embarrass her, leaving her angry, humiliated and wanting revenge. She does this in a disgusting but hilarious way, which leaves the audience crying with laughter and feeling a little bit ill. She's her own woman in this film, we watch her mature and make her own choices and get even more bad-ass and its amazing!

Whilst Hit Girl is trying to fit in and be normal, Kick-Ass joins a group of caped crusaders (inspired by him) trying to protect the city. Justice Forever is led by a bad ass Jim Carrey, playing Colonel Stars and Stripes. The group is made up of misfits wanting to protect others- Insect Man, Night Bitch, Doctor Gravity, Battle-Guy (who's true identity is a lot closer to home than anyone saw coming!) and Remembering Tommy. With the training from Hit Girl, and Justice Forever doing so well at reducing crime in the state, Dave develops a new found strength (in more than one way!), which will eventually lead to his downfall at the hands of something a lot worse than drug dealers and street robbers...

With his father killed by Kick-Ass in the previous film, Red Mist, A.K.A Chris D'Amico wants revenge, but is feeling stifled by his mother. In a twisted series of events, he comes back as The Motherfucker, a super rich super-villain, out for revenge on Kick-Ass. He hires a crack team of hit men, and declares war on Kick-Ass by intimidation, going for the ones he loves. These attacks are brutally violent and very clearly lifted from comics, in the moves shown and the humour used.

The climax scene is a massive fight between the good and the evil, with surprises on both sides. It depicts revenge, and love, and friendship, and (obviously) the battle between good and evil! These are the morals underlying the whole film, and it addresses them all fantastically, while managing to be hilarious at the same time! You should all, definitely, go and see it.

The Twilight Saga: One girls struggle about the choice between bestiality and necrophilia

So I've been meaning to write this one for a while. I'm not entirely sure on where to start... I think it might be the fact that Bella, the leading female character, a) displays absolutely no emotion apart from to curl up into a foetal position for months on end (grow a pair, girl, we all have break ups.); b) has a life that revolves solely around a boy who shows about as much emotion as her, barely talks and won't touch her (how in gods name was that ever going to work?!) and c) reinforces a stereotype that should be with Fiona Bruce on Antiques Roadshow, that women need a man to survive (what ever happened to feminism?). So while the audience is struggling to watch all that with the main character alone, there are other flaws as well.

The problem I have with the Cullen family, is that none of them seem to have any depth or charisma. Like I said, Edward barely talks, he just sits there looking all broody and mysterious- which is a good look for Robert Pattinson, however it does not make for a good character. Alice would probably be interesting if she had more screen time, she's fun and entertaining and can see the future, so that's the basis of a good character, however the films do not go into enough detail with her. Rosalie just seems to be bitter about being a vampire, and hates Bella for some reason, which isn't explained either. Parents Carlisle and Esme, and Jasper and Emmett are barely touched upon, so I can't really say much about them. And underlying all of this is the fact that traditionally, vampires are human hunting bad asses that burn in the sun- not a group of teenagers that keep repeating high school (who does that?), and sparkle in the sun!

So in this everlasting struggle that Bella  goes through, there's the werewolf as well, Jacob. To give credit to Taylor Lautner, he does well with what he has... which is basically to take his top off every 5 minutes (not that I'm saying that's a bad thing, but again, doesn't make for the best character). He loves Bella throughout all the films, till he realises he's imprinted (basically love at first sight, even if one of the people is a baby.) on her daughter! So that's not a messed up situation at all. Jacob's got more about him than the Cullen family, but he's a bit of a pathetic character, doting on Bella all the time.

I don't hate everything about these films though... the soundtracks are pretty good!  This would normally change my opinion on a film, for instance The Perks of Being a Wallflower doesn't have the best story in the world, but it's alright and the soundtrack's really good so that changed my mind... however Twilight doesn't even have an alright plot, so I still don't like it, sorry to the respective directors and Stephanie Meyer, but it wasn't my cup of tea.