To KICK ASS or not to KICK ASS

[thehefner]

And we're back!

New Comics Day is going to be bittersweet. The final issue of BLACKEST NIGHT hits, but I'm trying to hold off reading it until Henchgirl catches up so that we can read it together. She still has to read FLASH: REBIRTH and all the GL stuff from RAGE OF THE RED LANTERNS onward. Let's see how long I can hold out.

I'm weighing the options as to whether or not to see a cheap matinee of KICK ASS. I don't exactly want to see the film, but like Henchgirl with ALICE IN WONDERLAND (or me with AVATAR), I feel like I kinda have to, even though I know I'm gonna hate it.

I don't know what prospect scares me more: if I like the film (very fucking unlikely), or if I hate it but Henchgirl likes it. I can understand somebody loving it if they haven't spent years following Mark Millar's degradation into smug, cynical, overblown asshole-with-a-budget fuckery of shit like THE ULTIMATES, CIVIL WAR, and WANTED. If this weren't the latest in a long fucking pattern of wankery that many fans can't stop eating up, maybe I too could enjoy KICK ASS.

But I understand it's faithful to the comics, and the comic doesn't have a shred of integrity nor worth. box_in_the_box--the only man I know who can turn comic rage into art--expertly delivered a point-for-point reasoning why KICK ASS is so loathsome. So why, why do I want to see this damn thing? Why do I feel like I should?

Maybe we can buy tickets for another film and sneak in, so Mark Millar won't get a cent of my money. That's a good plan, assuming we can get away with it.

Comments

Do what I do.

[surrealname.livejournal.com]

Don't see it. For like, weeks and weeks.

Eventually talk some who's willing to see it again into paying for your ticket.

Or.

Don't see it at all. Watch some one else's dvd later.

That's what I did with the new star wars. I'm still happy I didn't see it in the theaters.

Also

[surrealname.livejournal.com]

That box in a box fellow is the only person other than myself who I have ever seen express dislike and contempt for Juno.

That fucking movie....

When my species finally takes over this pathetic planet, very, very few people will be spared.

[fragmentedsky.livejournal.com]

I dislike Mark Miller and what little I've read of his work and I didn't like Wanted even in comic book form, but I got to see Kick-Ass for free and actually...quite enjoyed it. It ditches the uncomfortable Miller I'm-cool-because-I'm-throwing-in-racist/ultraconservative/sexist-shit-for-the-purposes-of-being-edgy nonsense, changes how the girl reacts, etc. I mean, it's still not for everyone, but it doesn't feel like Miller, or at least it didn't to me. But maybe I just really liked the kid who played Hit-Girl.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

I'm glad to hear that much, at least. I won't lie, when I read your review, I was all, "NOOOOOOO ABBY, RESIST THE MILLAR SIDE!" But reading this now, okay, that makes me feel a teeny weeny iota better about seeing it at some point.

I already have mixed feelings about the kid playing Hit-Girl because her very existence reminds me that they had the utter temerity to remake LET THE RIGHT ONE IN.

[fragmentedsky.livejournal.com]

Oh god. I read Wanted at work when I was sick and cranky and it put me in a horrific mood. And then I ranted about it to somebody and they were like "no, man, it's awesome!" ...and then I was like fuck this noise, I'm gonna go curl up with my cocoa and Fables. Because I'm a functional human being.

I read Kick-Ass after I got the tickets, and somehow didn't realize it was Mark Miller until then. Much like Wanted, it's a potentially awesome concept at the bare bones hampered by the author being a douchebag (kind of how it's harder to appreciate Frank Miller if you don't hate women) but Vaughn strips that latter part away and mostly just leaves you with something that's really enjoyable. (It's a bit like - to compare to an author I DO love - looking at the end of his Stardust movie where everything's bright and people are smiling and laughing and the walls are a nice beige shade and thinking "clearly, this is based on a Neil Gaiman novel." Which you don't, obviously. It's all of the good and none of the...Miller.)

Don't hold it against her. Rage at the remake's existence aside, the movie is stolen by that kid, and she's sheer fun to watch all the way.

[sharkbites.livejournal.com]

Glad you made it home safe, dude!

[jackolantern.livejournal.com]

So why, why do I want to see this damn thing? Why do I feel like I should?

To see how much of the scenery Nic Cage leaves his teethmarks on?