Mini movie review: Kick-Ass

I'm going to give Kick-Ass a solid C+.  Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) is a high school geek and superhero comics fan who wonders why real people don't dress up like superheroes and right wrongs.  Despite his friends pointing out that real people don't generally have superpowers or bajillions of dollars to spend on hi-tech crime fighting gadgets, Dave buys himself a green and gold wetsuit, picks up a baton and starts rescuing gang members from beatings.  The news notices him; the girl he's crushing on notices him (although she thinks he's gay); the vigilante father-and-daughter team of Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage, overacting like there's no tomorrow) and Hit Girl (Chloe Grace Moretz, markedly cuter in her Hit Girl costume) notice him; the local mafia boss thinks he's responsible for killing his drug dealers and stealing his money and drugs.  Dave joins up with Big Daddy and Hit Girl but gets seriously cold feet when he realizes how bloodthirsty they are.  When they're put in a tight spot, however, Dave has to really be a superhero.

This movie is very violent and anyone not comfortable with watching an 11-year old girl stab and shoot bad guys to death while dropping an impressive number of F-bombs should not watch it.  I was okay with it, although the first instance was a little shocking, and liked the action/fight sequences quite a lot.  Dave doesn't really go through much growth: he wants to do good, but is overwhelmed by the pain and brutality of what he's involved in, but he's really more interested in hooking up with this girl.  Moretz is grating unless she's murdering thugs and Cage, well, I don't really know what to say there.  I don't know how the movie version of Kick-Ass corresponds to the original comics but I think I'd like to find out - I'm thinking the comics are better.  The movie is fine but doesn't put as much of a spin on the superhero genre as I was hoping.