I never suspected,
when I went to see the movie Kickass in
theaters, what a wonderful film awaited me. I expected some cute, PG movie
about a couple kids who decide to become superheroes.
You comprehend, if you
ever saw Kickass (and you should see Kickass), the surprise that greeted me
when I went to see that movie. It exceeded my low expectations by light years.
My experience with
Kingsmen proved much the same.
Kickass is to superhero movies what Kingsmen is to the golden age James
Bond films.
(I love how the latest Bond behaves as an actual character and not just a rapist.)
Kingsmen provides an absurd,
over-the-top, gratuitous story, and I loved every minute of this delight.
Our protagonist stands
a street-hardened, troubled youth with misspent potential.
His mentor arrives
(in order to repay a debt to our protagonist’s father) to redirect him towards
a training program in which he will compete against other candidates for the
right to join a secret group of James Bond-ish heros.
Samuel Jackson’s
speech impediment and inability to handle the sigh of blood makes him a unique
villain.
The filmmakers
crafted a story that acts first and foremost as a coming-of-age-slash-finding
your-place tale via a competition. I love this sort of story. It almost allowed me to enjoy Divergent.
The writers
managed to also perform the aforementioned story by-the-numbers without the
feel of a paint-by-numbers. The story provides a perfect hero’s journey
without a stale, fill-in-the-blanks script.
(I seem to demand
an onslaught of hyphens tonight.)
The filmmakers age puppies to illustrate the passage of time, which seemed a thoughtful move.
The move proves
far from flawless, though.
The special
effects feel as “special” as that cousin of yours who drools and always wears
a helmet (doctor’s orders).
The writers felt
good enough to include a female character to serve as our protagonist’s
friendly rival, but those same writers neglected to give this character much to
accomplish. She remains in the story’s competition mostly as a consequence of incompetent
rivals rather than on her own merits.
Our protagonist
constantly holds this female character’s hand and convinces her that “you can
do it” every step of the way.
Sure, such people
exist, but it feels that every female character in every movie behaves this
way, even (if not especially) when she serves as the story’s protagonist (see
my review of Jupiter Ascending from last week).
A few plot holes
made the ride bumpy, but never to the point that most audience members can’t
shrug it off and enjoy the journey.
I wanted to see
more of the protagonist’s training. We see him face challenges, but we see very
little of his training.
This movie will
make you laugh your ass off, especially if you poke fun at the old James Bond
movies (and you should). The film never takes itself seriously, and this allows it to perform the ridiculous.
Thanks for reading.
Daughters of Darkwana received a sweet, succinct review, which you can read
here, http://www.thebookeaters.co.uk/daughters-of-darkwana-by-martin-wolt-jr/
Also, the third book in my series, Diaries of Darkwana, will hit Kindle
just as soon as I find a new cover artist. I have a few candidates already,
thank goodness.
I
publish my blogs as follows:
Tuesdays:
A look at the politics of the entertainment world at EntertainmentMicroscope.blogspot.com.
Wednesdays:
An inside look at my novels (such as Daughters of Darkwana, which you can now find on Kindle) at Darkwana.blogspot.com
No comments:
Post a Comment