THE CRITIC-AL LIST
Reviews by Alan Jones
5 STAR FAB - 1 STAR RUBBISH

Season Of The Witch
Amer
Tron: Legacy
Machete
Let Me In
Resident Evil: Afterlife
Salt
The Expendables
The Last Airbender
The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Inception
Predators
The Twilight Saga:Eclipse
Toy Story 3
Hot Tub Time Machine
Iron Man 2
Repo Men
The Collector
Clash of the Titans
Shelter
How To Train Your Dragon
Kick-Ass
Shutter Island
Alice In Wonderland
The Crazies
Case 39
The Wolfman
Legion
The Lovely Bones
Black Death
Daybreakers
Avatar
Ninja Assassin
The Descent: Part 2
The Twilight Saga: New Moon
The Box
2012
Disney's A Christmas Carol
The Horseman
Solomon Kane
Pandorum
Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs
District 9
An Education
G.I. Joe: The Rise Of The Cobra
Orphan
A Perfect Getaway
The Imaginarium Of
Doctor Parnassus
Up
Harry Potter
And The Half-Blood Prince
The Taking of Pelham 123
Transformers
The Revenge Of The Fallen
Antichrist
Terminator Salvation
Last House On The Left
Inglorious Basterds
Angels & Demons
Adventureland
Star Trek
Crank: High Voltage
Coraline
Dragonball Evolution
Let The Right One In
Drag Me To Hell
Race to Witch Mountain
Knowing
Monsters Vs. Aliens
Not Quite Hollywood
Lesbian Vampire Killers
Martyrs
The Children
Surveillance
Watchmen
The Unborn
The International
Friday The 13th
Franklyn
Push
Punisher:War Zone
The Good The Bad And
The Weird
Hush
Underworld
The Rise OF The Lycans
My Bloody Valentine
Bolt
Slumdog Millionaire

Directed by Matthew Vaughn. Starring Nicolas Cage, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Clark Duke, Chloe Moretz. Action/Superhero, USA, 90 min.

Doing exactly what it says in the title, if a little apologetically to begin with, LAYER CAKE director Matthew Vaughn’s scrappy round the edges love letter to the comic book world, and the geeks who inhabit it, is something of a mixed blessing.

Based on Mark (WANTED) Millar’s graphic novel sensation (drawn by John S. Romita Jr.), in trying to be all things to all mainstream movie-goers – satirical and celebratory, yet cheeky and reverent as it plays with superhero conventions – the controversially skewed refreshment does initially come across as rather unsteady and slapdash. But the more the script by Vaughn (and Jane Goldman, Mrs. Jonathon Ross) finds its feet – and significantly they were writing it as Millar was developing the cult fave’s final issues - its glinting cutting edge gets more revealed as the extra explosive film finale comes into sharp focus. It follows the exploits of NYC high school nerd Daniel Lizewski (perfectly cast Aaron Johnson as a NOWHERE BOY again) whose attempts to reinvent himself as the real-world superhero Kick-Ass (in a baggy green-and-yellow mail order costume) seem doomed to failure. Until the Boy Blunder becomes a vigilante phenomenon, capturing media and public attention alike, and meets two far more capable pretenders – Damon Macready aka Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage in hilarious Adam West BATMAN mode) and his 11 year-old daughter Mindy aka Hit Girl (Chloe Grace Moretz) – determined to crush mafia boss Frank D’Amico (Mark Strong excellent as ever) for past misdeeds. As Kick-Ass gets drawn into the dynamic duo’s no-holds-barred world of bullets and bloodletting with Frank‘s son, Chris (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), now reborn as Kick-Ass‘ arch-nemesis Red Mist, the stage is set for a final showdown between the forces of good and evil in which the D.I.Y. hero must live up to his name or D.I.E.! The main outrageousness starts once Hit Girl starts swearing like a trooper (the C word used to great shock effect) and causes major bad guy damage to well-placed soundtrack selections like ‘The Banana Splits’ theme tune. Vaughn’s mix of the fey and broad farce in STARDUST left me cold, but here he seems to find a witty verve in the easier to mine seam of social commentary and clever character observation, his instinctive knack for bizarre counterpoint and sheer bravado speeding the cartoon ultra-violence towards a manic and crowd-pleasing high action climax.

A sometimes sophisticated, sometimes startling parody laced with wistful and slam-bang comic book nostalgia, this is cult filmmaking on a big scale.

Alan Jones

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