Wanted

Title: Wanted

Director: Timur Bekmambetov

Released: 2008

Starring: James McAvoy, Angelina Jolie, Morgan Freeman, Terence Stamp, Thomas Kretschmann, Common, Marc Warren, Konstantin Khabensky, Dato Bakhtadze, Chris Pratt, Kristen Hager, Lorna Scott

Plot: Wesley (McAvoy) is an office clerk in a dead end job, who discovers that his recently murdered father was a member of an a group of master assassins known as “The Fraternity”. Now he is offered a chance to take his father’s place as they hunt for his father’s killer.

 

Review: After exploding onto the scene with his genre bending double header of “Night Watch” and “Day Watch” which saw the forces of light and dark battling in modern day Russia, it was only really a matter of time before director Timur Bekmambetov got called up to bring his unique and highly visual style to the Hollywood system, even though he’d technically already made this back in 2001 with the Roger Corman produced remake of “The Arena”.

 

Based on the cult graphic novel by Mark Miller and J.G Jones of the same name this is one comic book adaptation where its best to have no connection to the source material which was set in a world where the Supervillians had won their secret war with their superhero counterparts leaving them free to run the world free from interference. Sadly this was all scrapped from this film adaption which was crafted instead as a project for Angelina Jolie who was coming to the end of her contract with Paramount with plans for a third “Tomb Raider” movie being stuck in development hell. Miller though was happy with the end result, even remarking that the previsualized footage had raised his expectation for the film adaptation. 

 

When we meet Wesley at the start of the film he is your usual office drone, being constantly beaten down by his overbearing boss popping anti-anxiety meds for his panic attacks, while his girlfriend cheats on him his supposed best friend Barry (Pratt). It’s clear he’s going nowhere fast until his life is thrown into chaos by the arrival of Fox (Jolie) especially as it comes with an accompanying pharmacy shoot out and high speed chase with his father’s killer and fellow assassin Cross (Kretschmann).

While he might be far from the most likely candidate to be an assassin, it seemingly doesn’t matter seeing how his father’s legacy soon has him being recruited to take his place in “The Fraternity” lead by Sloan (Freeman) and did I mention that they get their targets from the mythical “Loom of Fate” which like the COG’s in “Minority Report” identify targets before they have the chance to cause create “Evil and Chaos”. An addition in this reworking that makes me wonder how exactly anyone thought it was a logical idea but its the one we are going with here, which is made only the more comical by how seriously everyone seems to be playing things. 

 

It’s this crash course in assassin skills which makes up much of the first half of the film and also where the film is the strongest as Wesley learns marksmanship, hand to hand fighting and knife skills most of which involves him having the living hell beaten out of him by his fellow assassins. At the same time he also learns to tap into his adrenaline to give him superhero levels of strength, perception and speed. These later skills adding a surreal edge to the action as Bekmambetov seemingly takes this as a cue to craft any kind of bonkers and over the top action sequence he can think of. However once we get into the pursuit of Cross the film kind of loses its way and becomes a more traditional action thriller, if a totally over the top one with a train based chase sequence and exploding rat based finale ensuring that its still memorable even if the pacing isn’t as tight as the first half.

McAvoy is completely believable as both Wesley the office drone and the bad ass assassin despite initially being turned down for the role due to not having the traditional leading man look or build and while Ryan Phillippe was considered for the role and no doubt would have been equally interesting to see in the role, there is something so likeably about McAvoy that you can’t help but cheer him on as he finally snaps telling his boss what everyone actually thinks about her, before smashing a keyboard across the face of his former best friend as the displaced keys (and his tooth) spell out “Fuck You”. Angelina Jolie meanwhile slips effortless into her action heroine persona with the changes she brought to the character only adding to Fox rather than detracting such as her now largely silent persona through to the smaller details like the binary code list of targets she has tattooed on her arm making it easy to forget the fact that in the source material she looked more like Hallie Berry as its a role she unquestionably owns here. 

 

The supporting cast are equally great thanks to the colourful characters they play with Konstantin Khabensky making his English language debut as “The Exterminator” reuniting with Bekmambetov after working on both Night Watch and Day Watch together with Bekmambetov seeing his casting as a way of having a familiar face on set and along with his fellow Russian Dato Bakhtadze who plays the knife expert “The Butcher” providing some of the best moments of the film, while both Common and Marc Warren clearly seem to be relishing having more meaty supporting roles than they are used to playing. 

 

The real star though here though are the action sequences which give zero thought to their plausibility with Bekmambetov it could be argued using ideas he had left over from Night / Day Watch only with none of the supernatural elements to cover for this kind of randomness. That being said there is something so fun about watching a car chase in which a Porsche barrel rolls over a police blockade or watching Fox and Wesley play a game of capture the flag on a moving train. Perhaps because they are shot so care free and clearly within the confines of this universe than any kind of reality its never a push to accept any of this and just enjoy the ride. Shot with a mixture of crisp focus and gratuitous slow motion, while there might often be a lot happening in these actions scenes its easy at the same time to follow what's happening, while the ending might be the most gratuitous scene of gunplay since "Hard Boiled".

While I might not have liked the film much on that original viewing, upon returning to the film though I discovered that viewing it on its own merits there is a pretty fun popcorn action flick to be found here in the vein of “Shoot-em Up” or “XXX”. Yes it might not be the most realistic of films but when its this much fun who really cares?

Future Shock! The Story of 2000AD

Title: Future Shock! The Story of 2000AD

Director: Paul Goodwin

Released: 2014

Plot: Documentary charting the history of the iconic British comic, which not only gave the world the likes of Judge Dread but also served as a launch pad for the career of many now legendry comic book writers / artists including Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman and Garth Ennis.

Review: Growing up in the rain soaked shores of the south of England I never had much access to the comics being churned out by Marvel or DC, whose characters I knew better from their Saturday morning cartoon series than I did from the comics themselves. This of course being the downside of there being no comic shops near to where I lived but what we did have instead was “2000AD” a weekly comic series and whose pages would inevitable be filled with the kind of hyper violent sci-fi and fantasy stories that I course lapped up.

While it might be a publication not overly well known outside of the UK, this distinctly British flavoured comic was born out the ashes of the likes of horrendous comics like “Action” in the late 70’s providing its readers with its own iconic cast of characters such as the aforementioned Judge Dread aswell as the likes of Flesh, Rogue Trooper, Nemesis and Slaine whose catchphrase of “Kiss my axe!” is still as badass to me now as it was back then.  Needless to say the many of the key titles are covered in the documentary or atleast nodded to even if the focus is distinctly on the early titles rather than any of the later titles such as Durham Red, Outlaw or Sinister Dexter  which was created as a spoof of Pulp Fiction’s Hitmen Vincent and Jools.

While its characters might have been iconic as we see here in this Talking Heads heavy documentary the comic also served as base and starting point for essentially the who’s who of British comic book talent  and it’s a real credit to director Paul Goodwin that he’s been able to round up so many of the key names with only Alan Moore, Mark Millar and Garth Ennis being noticeably absent  which considering Moore’s feelings on the general treatment of his stories makes it unsurprising that he doesn’t appear here to share further tales of mistreatment of his work or the issues concerning the rights to his stories and creations which is cited as being one of the key influences for the British invasion of America and which in turn would lead to DC creating their “Vertigo” imprint to essentially give these artists the freedom to really do anything they wanted. That being said you have to question the states the industry would currently be in had 2000AD been able to handle this issue with rights to the material as the documentary certainly seems to imply that this was the sole reason for DC being able to create Vertigo in the first place.

Starting with the creation of the comic its these early years which make up the best moments of the documentary with the founding editor Pat Mills still every bit the aging activist as he highlights the satirical elements of society and the govement at the time which would soon become the foundations for the material they were creating and like all the interview subjects shares plenty of great behind the scenes stories including wanting to throttle cover artist Carlos Ezquerra over his colour choices for a cover which he felt changed the tone while most amusing is hearing the general distain by the staff for its fictional editor Tharg, who would become very much to the comic what Cousin Eddie is to “Iron Maiden” with attempts to drop him being greeted with an onslaught of complaints from the readers.

By the time we leave this golden period in the second half of the documentary entering into David Bishop’s time as editor which saw the comic not only lose focus as its once sharp satirical eye began to wonder to easy targets like Tony Blair (B.L.A.I.R. 1) and the Spice Girls (The Space girls), while at the time Bishop had to battle against less than PC advertising which seemingly was designed to embrace the lad culture of the 90’s but at the same time eliminate any female readership they had. Honestly it really has to be seen to believed that they could ever have been considered a good idea. Its also around this point that the documentary starts to sag as it gets bogged down in talks of contracts and artists writes, while constantly feeling towards the end that Goodwin is struggling to find that one soundbite which will allow him to move on.

Considering the past attempts to adapt Judge Dread it’s unsurprising that both film versions get a mention with the Stallone version unsurprisingly getting bashed, despite it really not being as bad as a lot of people would like you to believe. The more recent attempt “Dread” however is praised with Alex Garland on hand to explain his approach for the script, while Karl Urban gives the impression that he is still far from done with playing Dread despite the attempts to make a sequel still seemingly stalled at the time of writing. The documentary also interestingly draws comparisons between Dread and Robocop which certainly the 2000AD team would have you belive was an attempt to rip off Dread which is only made the harder to doubt when you see the original helmet design for Robocop and it’s an exact copy of the original Judge Dread design.  This section is also rounded out by the controversy surrounding Richard Stanley’s “Hardware” which ripped off a “Future Shocks” story.

Despite the sagging middle section the focus here is clearly to tell as full a history of the comic as possible while equally having zero qualms about exposing more than a few grim moments from its long history as no one holds back especially in the case of Pat Mills, while the material is presented in an engaging format with extensive use of archive material and a fantastic animated opening which really grabs the audience and captures the energy and feel of the material. However this is a documentary really designed for those familiar with the material as it sadly misses an opportunity to explore the inspiration for many of the great characters though despite this it remains an important piece of comic book history and worth giving a watch if your curious about the history of this legendry comic.    

The Death of “Superman Lives”: What Happened?

Title: The Death of “Superman Lives”: What Happened?

Director: Jon Schnepp

Released: 2015
 

Plot: Documentary charting the development and eventual collapse of the failed 1998 Superman project “Superman Lives”

 

Review: Back before Superhero movies took over the box office with the cine-universe’s of DC and Marvel, superhero movies were few and far between with studios not seeing these kinds of movies as bankable, even despite the few standout movies such as the original Christopher Reeve staring “Superman” movies and most noteworthy Tim Burton’s “Batman” and “Batman Returns” which surprisingly didn't as expected lead to a host of imitators.

A project most people know about thanks to Kevin Smith regularly regaling audiences with his contribution to the project as the original screen writer as part of his Q&A sessions whenever given the chance. More recently though this project has generated a lot of discussion because it would have seen Nicolas Cage taking on the iconic role, but until now there’s never been any real attempt to explain what happened to the project outside Smith’s tales and that costume test photo of Cage in his Superman costume. Still funded through kickstarter, here Schnepp meets with all the major plays involved in the production with the exception of Nicolas Cage, whose contributions are shown instead through archive footage including footage of the costume tests which projected that photo as he attempts to find out what happened and why this project was ultimately scrapped so close to the start of filming.

Its kind of fitting that a production as messy as this one gets an equally disorganised documentary like we get here, let alone one which essentially insults its target audience by opening to Schnepp referring to them as “Nerds, Geeks….Sweaties”. Nice I know, but like so many of these documentaries funded through crowd funding this is a film which has more than a few flaws, while at the same time this documentary joins the recent spate of documentaries charting failed / troubled productions as it joins the likes of “Jodorowsky’s Dune”, “Doomed! The Untold Story of Roger Corman’s Fantastic Four” and “Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr Moreau”. This however falls at the later end of the scale as despite a wealth of interesting footage and some interesting stories it falls short as Schnepp’s film feels as if he could have benefited from a decent editor to trim some of the fat.

One of the other main problems here is that at no point does Schnepp attempt to explain the proposed plot of the film or any kind of outline, leaving those unfamiliar with the project to try and piece things together from scene descriptions as well as ideas for characters and sets which are discussed throughout. Yes we get numerous mentions of the film being based on “The Death of Superman” the Superman story which revived the series, by killing Superman, but again for those not familiar with these characters outside of the movies, it could have done with perhaps five minutes just to outline what the “Death of Superman” is about. As such I would recommend checking out the rather excellent Max Landis short film “The Death and Return of Superman” to give you more of a background than is offered here.

Interviewing seemingly everyone he could find who was attached to the project, the interviews vary greatly in what they add to the documentary with Kevin Smith on his usual fanboy form, while here finally gets to go further into the key scenes of his script while at the same time working in those more well-known parts of his involvement, which he reels off like a true raconteur and his sections in the first half of the documentary are easily amongst the most entertaining. Equally entertaining and more surprisingly is director Tim Burton, whose is seemingly more than happy to discuss the project, while it would seem looking at some of the footage may have been the one responsible for providing a lot of the test footage. At the same time he doesn’t seem to have any real answers as to why it fell apart.

The real key interviewee here though is producer Jon Peters, who could be seen as being villianised by the stories told by Smith, but here surprisingly admits to pretty much everything. At the same time it’s hard to tell if Peters believes he is portraying himself differently than how he comes across here which is as every bit the force of nature you’d expect him to be. Here he openly admits to choking out production team members, as part of his efforts to inject energy into them…..still not sure how that works, while the best thing is to hear him actually admitting to  his obsession with working a giant spider into the script for Superman to brawl with.

While certainly entertaining in places and showing enough behind the scenes footage, production sketches and props to satisfy those curious about the film which could have been, while the sheer scale of the ideas being covered in the script only makes it more frustrating that the film was cancelled so close to production. At the same time the film does feel that it runs too long and could have benefited from losing around 20 minutes of its runtime, rather than trying to work in every scrap of footage and every interview he could get. As such its ultimately works against the film making the last quarter feel sluggish and bloated. Still despite the flaws its worth giving a curious look if only to satisfy your curiosity as to what could have been or if only to see Nicolas Cage in his Superman costume.

Dredd

Title: Dredd

Director: Pete Travis
Released: 2012
Starring: Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby, Lena Headey, Wood Harris, Domhnall Gleeson, Warrick Grier

Plot: In the future the United states has been turned into a irradiated wasteland known as the Cursed Earth, while on the east coast lies Mega-City One, a violent metropolis with a crime rate spiralling out of control. To restore order the Judges were introduced with the power to act as judge, jury and executioner. The most famed and feared of these judges is Dredd (Urban) who has now been tasted with evaluating potential judge Cassandra Anderson (Thirlby) who also is a powerful psychic. However Things take a turn for the worst when the judges find themselves trapped in the 200-storey slum tower block run by drug lord Ma-Ma (Headey), leaving them with no choice but to battle their way out, while being hunted by Ma-Ma’s legion of armed thugs who are now all hunting for the judges.

 

Review: Growing up in the UK we didn’t get a regular stream of DC / Marvel comics, more so if you lived out in the country like myself were the nearest comic book store like the nearest decent store to buy films was an hour train ride away. What we did have though was “2000 AD” a weekly comic whose pages were packed with colourful characters, exciting stories and most importantly lashings of violence that you’d never get in those other comics. While the comic itself has more recently been the subject of the documentary “Future Shock! Thee Story of 2000AD” it’s leading man Judge Dredd has already had one prior adaptation with the 95 Stallone movie "Judge Dread", which was largely (let alone unfairly) mauled by critics and fans alike. Needless to say the news of this latest attempt to adapt the long running series was met with almost universal scepticism.

Directed by Pete Travis who is probably best known for his UK TV work other than a sole feature credit for "Vantage Point" and a script written by Alex Garland, this latest adaptation has a distinctly British feel let alone one closer to the source material than its American counterpart. At the same time they wisely don’t attempt to adapt any of the major storylines or characters that would require prior knowledge of the series though Ma-Ma perfectly fits into this world. The downside though is that the plot is scarily similar to that of “The Raid”, which is more a case of coincidence rather any kind of sneak remake as only confirmed by the directors of both films.

Right from the start Travis perfectly sets up this dystopian vision of the future while providing the viewer with all the information to allow them to hit the ground running, which of course he does with Dredd engaging in a high speed pursuit with a trio of drug dealers, which ends true to the source material in bloody violence, here shown in voyeuristic slow motion. While perhaps a more sparse vision of the metropolis than fans of the series have come to expect the world inside the Peach Trees tower block is unquestionably more truer to the source material.

Karl Urban, an actor I can never place being in any film gets the honour of doning (and yes Dredd fans he doesn’t take it off) the iconic helmet as he plays the emotionless and by the book Judge in a great performance which truly brings to life the character while managing to avoid any traces of humanity or emotion which is no easy feat especially when placed in a situation which would in normal people see them making decisions based on their emotions. At the same time though Judge Anderson covers for a lot of these moments, as here she is far from the veteran judge of the comics and instead introduced as a rookie, hinting that perhaps in the sequels we would get to see her develop her skills as a judge. Sequels which at the time of writing still remain in development hell sadly, especially when this film sets up so much potential to build upon this world especially with the plans being for a trilogy of films in a similar vein to how Nolan crafted his batverse.

The real standout here though is Lena Headey playing with obvious relish the role of Ma-Ma, a psychotic and heavily scared creation who is very much sitting comfortably at the top of the pile, largely thanks to having having butchered her competition in order to claim the block for herself, which she has turned into her own personal fortress, while she solely controls the production of the highly addictive drug Slo-Mo which reduces the user’s perception time to 1% of normal and which generally seems to have been included so that Travis can get away with gratuitous use of slow motion footage, which make for some of the worst moments of the film, while not being helped by the cheap looking CGI which has been used to enhance these sequences.  

The main issues I had though with the film other than the worrying similarities to “The Raid” which left me with the feeling that I was watching a film I’d already seen before, while at the same time it lacks pacing with so that it often feels like a number of impressive set pieces largely strung together under the pretence of climbing floors in the tower block as the judges head ever closer to the inevitable confrontation with Ma-Ma. This being said the action sequences make this film worth giving it a watch alone, with enough blood and gore to keep things interesting with exploding limbs being torn off in frenzied firefights let alone with Ma-Ma’s personal love of skinning those who displease her before tossing them over the balcony in one of the early standout moments.

While this might be a slightly more truer adaptation of the source material than 1995’s “Judge Dredd” it not without its issues with the stop start pacing really stopping me from liking it more along with the excessive use of slow motion footage which has none of the style that Zack Snyder brings with his use of the same technique. This of course is only made the more frustrating when so many aspects such as the character design and casting work so well. For now though this might be the truest vision of the world of “Judge Dredd” and I can only hope that Urban is still able to don the helmet once more when the studios finally decide the future of the franchise.

Sin City: A Dame To Kill For

Title: Sin City 2: A Dame To Kill For

Director: Robert Rodriguez, Frank Miller

Released: 2014

Starring: Mickey Rourke, Jessica Alba, Josh Brolin, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Rosario Dawson, Bruce Willis, Eva Green, Powers Boothe, Dennis Haysbert, Ray Liotta, Jaime King, Christopher Lloyd, Jamie Chung, Jeremy Piven, Christopher Meloni, Juno Temple

Plot: Another collection of tales from Frank Miller’s “Sin City” as Cocky gambler Johnny (Gordon Levitt) finds himself on the wrong side of Senator Roarke (Boothe) after beating him a backroom poker game. Years before “The Big Fat Kill” Dwight (Brolin) gets caught up with his former lover Ava (Green) only to get caught up in a dangerous double cross.  Elsewhere four years after the events of “That Yellow Bastard” exotic dancer Nancy (Alba) is still plotting her revenge against senator Roarke who she blames for Hartigan’s suicide.  All in all it is going to be busy few nights for muscle for hire Marv (Rourke)

Review: It’s hard to believe that it has been nine years since our last visit to Frank Miller’s legendry neo-noir city of violence and corruption, but after various delays and re-casting Rodriguez and Miller have teamed up once more for this second collection of stories from Miller’s cult series as this time the film builds around the story “A Dame To Kill For” which forms the main meat of the film while book ended by two new stories “The Long Bad Night” and “Nancy’s Last Dance” which Miller penned specifically for the film.

Right from the opening short “Just Another Saturday Night” which sees Marv waking up next to a crashed police car and trying to figure out how he came to be surrounded by a group of dead frat boys, its almost as if we’ve never been away as Rodriguez once again sticks to the black and white shooting style of the first film, while once again clearly using the source comics as the storyboards. A style which Miller tried to replicate for his misguided let alone plain random adaption of “The Spirit” but thankfully Rodriguez it would seem is the voice of reason in this team as this film thankfully is free of any such randomness, while largely giving us more of the intoxicating mix of gratuitous violence and black humour, even if the later is noticeably more absent than in the previous film as the duo seem to be aiming for a solid noir style tale. Frustratingly though when humour is introduced it is often clumsily handled and more of a distraction than the light relief it provided the first time around.

Still despite this slight change in direction, the familiar faces waiting to welcome you back to Basin city means that it’s often none too noticeable until you stop to examine the film closer. Thankfully in the time which has passed nothing seems to have changed for any of these characters, with perhaps the exception of Dwight who we get to finally see what he looked like prior to his surgery. For most of the cast though it’s still business as usual as they go about their various dirty deals or trying to find a way to escape their various issues. At the same time we also get a whole heap of new characters to add to the local colour even if these new characters are largely to fill minor or supporting roles.

Sadly while it is a great cast which has been assembled here, the performances throughout vary greatly with Bruce Willis phoning in yet another performance for what is essentially a glorified cameo. Rourke especially suffering as a result of his role being increased so that he now appears in every story with the exception of “The Long Bad Night” almost as if no one can pull of a plan in this city without his assistance, something which really damages the mystique of his character as previously he was seen as a lone wolf, while here he is largely to add to the violence quota or to provide clumsy comic relief. Elsewhere and most disappointingly Joseph Gordon-Levitt appears to be giving us a poor man Bogart impression as he snarls though his lines, with none of the cool he brought to his previous Neo-noir effort “Brick”. The fact his character lacks of any real purpose other than trying to embarrass senator Roarke only adds to the creeping sensation that like “Nancy’s Last Dance” that this story was only added as filler when it became obvious that they couldn’t stretch “A Dame To Kill For” to feature length, while the fact its split into two parts lacks the natural breaking point that we had with “That Yellow Bastard” in the original and comes off looking like they remembered part way though the film that they hadn’t finished Johnny’s story and return to hastily wrap it up the same way all the stories end this time with someone getting a bullet to the head.

Due to the long delays between this film and the original it has meant certain roles being recast with Jamie Chung taking over from Devon Aoki due to being pregnant at the time of film resulting in deadly little Miho going from a stone cold killer to just another pretty girl from old town whose handy with a sword. Dennis Haysbert makes for a great replacement for Michael Clarke Duncan even if he doesn’t have quite the vocal presence of his predecessor. Josh Brolin is equally on good form, even if his portrayal of Dwight is perhaps alittle more gritty than Clive Owen’s who was supposed to share the role with Brolin only to ultimately not be available for filming which now leaves us with the scenes were Dwight has supposed to have changed his appearance through plastic surgery, which I suppose would have seen the role switch to Owen and now leaving us watching Brolin looking like he’s had a bad facelift while bad guys act like he’s a completely different character!?!

The real star of the show here though is Eva Green, who is utterly captivating as the titular Dame and despite spending a vast amount of time in the nude, it never feels that it is being done for titillation, as here it gives her an almost siren esq quality, especially when she uses her womanly charms to further her own causes, usually with fatal consequences for the men who succumb to her. While Angelina Jolie was the original choice for this role, this is truly Green’s role and its hard to imagine any other actress being so willing with some of the more risqué elements of this role, much less the amount of nudity required.
 

Unquestionably though “A Dame To Kill For” is the strongest of the stories featured and in a way makes sense considering that it was written when Miller was writing in his prime, which as anyone who has read any of his more recent efforts will tell you those days currently seem like a long lost memory. Judging by Miller’s directorial debut with “The Spirit” it would also seem that Rodriguez is the voice of sanity in the duo as this features none of the sheer randomness that plagued that film, while lifting the visual style of “Sin City” which here doesn’t seem to be as edgy as it was back in 2005, yet at the same time it is a style which suits the film still even if perhaps the moments of colour we get throughout the film don’t seem to have any of the poignancy of the original, which only used colour for the character of Goldie and occasional splashes of crimson. Here though what qualified for the colour treatment seems more sporadic and frequently without reason, though thankfully Eva Green’s eyes are amongst the things which do.

While this might not come close to the original, it still has its moments as well as fun smaller appearances by both Christopher Lloyd and Lady Gaga as a drunk doctor and waitress respectively. Perhaps because of the strength of its middle section though I still would love to see another film in the series, if perhaps based solely on original material than letting Miller try and write anything new again as here when it does it only detracts further from the film. Like any night we see in the film this is one to be certainly approached with caution.

Kick-Ass 2

Title: Kick-Ass 2

Director: Jeff Wadlow

Released: 2013

Starring: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Chloe Grace Moretz, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Morris Chestnut, John Leguizamo, Jim Carrey, Clark Duke, Donald Faison, Angustus Prew, Lindy Booth, Olga Kurkulina

Plot: Dave (Taylor-Johnson) having retired from fighting crime as his superhero alter-ego Kick-Ass, starts training with Mindy (Moretz) aka Hit-Girl to become a proper hero despite also being forced into retirement by her guardian Marcus (Chestnut). Elsewhere the former Red Mist Chris D’Amico (Mintz-Plasse) still wanting revenge on Kick-Ass reinvents himself as supervillian “The Motherfucker”

 

Review: Back in 2010 when the original “Kick-Ass” was unleashed on the unsuspecting movie going public, it finally brought a much needed fresh spin to the superhero genre which had pretty much grown stale thanks to a stream of less than stellar adaptations, while Marvel had only taken the most tentative of steps in establishing their all dominating cinematic universe. Like the source material though, here was a film which did for comic book movies what “Scream” did for the horror genre, as it shook things up while playing off the long established conventions as it applied them to a real world setting, only without the dark edge of Alan Moore’s legendry “Watchmen”.  

Unsurprisingly “Kick-Ass” was followed by a host of imitators such as “Defendor” and the wonderfully bizarre “Super” but ultimately “Kick-Ass” was the only one which left me wanting to see what happened next. Which was especially the case after the first was so much fun, with its intoxicating mix of warped humour and over the top violence which perfectly captured the tone of the source material. The fact that it stuck so close to the material really made me wonder how this sequel would play out more so when the source material for the sequel really doesn’t pull any punches as Mark Millar’s book not only ramped up the violence, but also contained numerous controversial scenes including children being machine gunned and one character being gang raped by The Motherfucker and his crew.

This controversy was only added to by Jim Carrey suddenly withdrawing his support for the film in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting stating

“I did Kick-Ass a month before Sandy Hook and now in all good conscience I cannot support that level of violence. My apologies to others involved with the film. I am not ashamed of it but recent events have caused a change in my heart.”

Of course this proved to be better promotion for the film than if he had done a dozen press junkets, especially as the prospect of controversial violence had fans clamouring to see what the film had in store for them, especially those who’d read the book whose curiosity was sent into overdrive as they wondered if director Wadlow was going to truly give us a no holds barred adaptation. The answer of course is….no.

Unsurprisingly while there are numerous things you can do in fiction and comic books (just look at the antics of Clive Barker and Alan Moore for prime examples) these same things just don’t carry across to their film adaptations and if they do they usually won’t make it past the censors shears. So it comes as little surprise to see numerous elements being toned down or played in a more humorous light as especially seen with the gang rape sequence which has now been replaced with a impotence jab which honestly was the right choice like so many of the changes between the film and the source material as here Wadlow trades the darker aspects in favour of moments of slightly warped humour.

Focusing on two main plot threads it is a delicate balancing act that Wadlow pulls off here as the film switches between Dave’s return to costume vigilantism, which now seems him now teaming up with fellow like-minded have-a-go heroes to form “Justice Forever” lead by the square jawed patriot Colonel Stars and Stripes (Carrey) while finding a new love interest a group member Night Bitch (Booth). The other main plot follows Mindy and her attempts to live a normal life now she has retired her Hit-Girl persona, which soon sees running afoul of the resident mean girls at her high school. Needless to say it is only a matter of time before Mindy cracks and finds a way to get her revenge which is spectacularly graphic to say the least.
 

Despite having had a run of tough guy roles in the likes of the frustratingly smug “Savages” and the more recent “Godzilla” reboot, it is nice to see him being able to tone things down again to play the weedy Dave whose sole power is pretty much from his ability to take a pounding (thanks to his damaged nerve endings) and makes his training at the hands of Mindy only all the more hilarious to watch, especially when she reminds him frequently that he’s been beaten up by a 15-year old girl while proving that she’s lost none of her acid tinged wit in the time since we last saw her.

Elsewhere Christopher Mintz-Plasse continue to surprise and really seems to have a blast playing the off the rails Motherfucker whose sole ability is being filthy rich and being able to hire his own team of misfit villains including the towering Mother Russia (Kurkulina) who make up his Toxic Mega-Cunts a reminder that Miller really didn’t expect this film to be resonating with any kind of highbrow audience that’s for sure. Mintz-Plasse’s Motherfucker is the typical idea of what a supervillian should be if you gave a teenager the free reign that Chris has, caring little for what is politically correct as he names his henchmen based on race hence we get the likes of “Black Death” and “Genghis Carnage”. Thankfully John Leguizamo’s Javier is on hand to balance out Chris’s frenzied nature, as he attempts and fails frequently to provide the voice of reason to Chris’s OTT plans of domination, which Leguizamo’s performance only further serves to remind us just how underrated he still is an actor, much like Carrey who gets to play a more subdue role as Captain Stars and Stripes, not that you could tell from the trailer which ironically choose to show the two oddball moments he allows himself.

Perhaps not as sharp as the original film, especially when it frequently relies on toilet humour than the sarcasm and wit of the original making Jane Goldman’s absence from scriptwriting duties all the more noticeable. This aside Wadlow gives us here a fun sequel and a nice setup for the proposed final part of the trilogy, which due to the film underperforming might be something we see solely in the comics.

Elwood's Essentials #8: Ghost World

Title: Ghost World

Director: Terry Zwigoff

Released: 2001

Starring: Thora Birch, Scarlett Johansson, Steve Buscemi
 

Plot: Life long friends and recent High school graduates Enid (Birch) and Rebecca (Johansson) embrace their place as social outcasts and care little for what anyone else thinks about them as they rain down scorn and sarcasm on their peers. However after finding a personal ad placed by the lonely Seymour (Buscemi), their prank call leads Enid to find a kindred spirit in Seymour, as the two start to build an unlikely friendship. Meanwhile Enid finds her own relationship with Rebecca deteriorating as she fights to keep things around her from changing.

Review:  It’s time for me to once again revisit another of my all time favourite films. Always a daunting prospect to say the least and mainly because I'm of the mindset that once I review a film that I'm essentially done with it and to write about one of my favourite films means the prospect of never getting to have the pleasure of writing about it again. Still after a recent conversation about films with one my work colleague revealed the horrible truth that there still folks out there who have not seen this film that I knew I had to try and readdress the balance.

 

Based on the cult graphic novel by Daniel Clowes. The story first appeared in Clowes’s now defunct comic book series “Eightball” before later being republished in its more recognised trade paperback format. Clowes would also write the screenplay for the this film alongside director Terry Zwigoff in his first film in seven years, since directing the insightful documentary “Crumb” about another cult comic artist Roger Crumb, so it seemed almost perfect that Zwigoff would choose the work of another cult comic artist for his return to film making.

Needless to say the assorted colourful characters of “Ghost World” are almost too perfect for Zwigoff, who has made a career out his obsession with misfits, antiheroes and alienation. All themes which he gleefully gets to explore here, especially when these themes are equally popular with Clowes own work making this collaboration the perfect partnership, while Clowes is certainly not afraid to adapt his popular graphic novel, for anyone who has read it will tell you that it is nothing like the film version, outside of perhaps a handful of scenes and its familiar characters. Still the more obsessive fans of Clowes work will no doubt recognise the references to his other comics he has included throughout.

What remains the same though is the bond which Enid and Rebecca share, which is one not so much of close friends, but in fact much closer to a sisterly relationship. A relationship which has been perfectly captured by Birch and Johansson, who truly embody these characters with Birch in particular giving another memorable performance which (her meddling father's career interference aside) only makes you question why she has not been picked up for more mainstream projects rather than working almost exclusively on indie films as she currently is? Johansson on the other hand as we all know would explode into mainstream movies shortly after the release of this film, even though she regularly fails to muster half the laid back talent she showcases so proudly here and later in the equally wonderful “Lost In Translation”

On equally good form is Buscemi, who once again brings his oddball charm to the character of the lovable loser Seymour, a character which Clowes reportedly based in part on director Zwigoff, who in turn had insisted that the character was expanded way beyond his appearance in the original graphic novel, were he shown solely as the victim of the prank call. The similarities between Zwigoff and Seymour only continue through out the film with Seymour’s obsession with 1920’s Blues and Jazz records mirroring Zwigoff’s own obsessions, something which was the focus of his debut film "Louie Bluie". This expansion of his character works only more in the films favour, especially with the graphic novel seemingly being a series of events randomly strung together, while this change instead gives the film a much more structured format and in turn makes the story all the stronger when viewed in this format, for what works as a graphic novel it’s safe to say would not have worked here.

Still the relationship between Enid and Seymour is a fascinating one to watch, as the urge to instantly pair them together is fiercely resisted, with Enid seemingly doing anything she can to help Seymour break out his cocoon of old records and classic nostalgia he has crafted for himself and even when they do get together it is only as a meaningless drunken one night stand, which serves more a catalyst for Enid’s own changing self than it does for their relationship. This however is just one of the numerous risks that the film takes, as it fights against the usual storytelling conventions and somehow never puts a foot wrong.

Though the name “Ghost World” has by Clowes own admittance nothing to do with the story and more to do with the fact that he felt it would be funny to have a bunch of places named after this like Ghost World Elementary. Still Zwigoff has seemingly taken this title in another direction, as he shoots the film almost as if being viewed from a ghosts view point, especially as the camera opens gliding past the windows of Enid’s apartment block, glancing momentarily at each of the various occupants as if choosing who to follow before finally setting in Enid in the throws of her imitation of the dance routine from the bollywood mystery movie “Gumnaam”. Such shooting style continues throughout, with Zwigoff shooting from the position of the onlooker than sat with the characters, while other examples include the extended shot of a video store clerk absentmindedly picking his ear with his pen. Still even though we follow Enid and Rebecca through this journey the audience is still very much left with the feeling of just being ghosts in their world, especially with the films ending seeming so ambiguous on the first viewing.

Unquestionably a hard film to define and in many ways only makes it more like both "Welcome to the Dollhouse" and "Daria" which combine forms an unofficial timeline for Enid, with Dollhouse's Dawn representing Enid in seventh grade, "Daria" her high school years with "Ghost World" representing graduation. I guess all we need now is a film which shows an Enid style character in her wilderness years to further the chain, a film we continue to hold out for.

This is a film which is hard to sell, but easy to fall in love with once viewed, while finally being the high school movie, which will no doubt ring all so true to its fellow misfits and anyone whose felt themselves an outcast.

The Losers

Title: The Losers

Director: Sylvain White
Released: 2010
Starring: Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Zoe Saldana, Chris Evans, Idris Elba, Columbus Short, Óscar Jaenada, Jason Patric, Holt McCallany

Plot: Presumed to be dead after being double crossed by the mysterious Max (Patric), Clay (Morgan) and his special forces team nicknamed "The Losers" are given a chance for revenge when they are tracked down by the mysterious Aisha (Saldana), a beautiful operative with her own agenda.

 

Review: With the key comic properties like Spiderman and Superman now essentially being tied up either by the major studios or Marvel themselves thanks to the success of their own Marvel studios a gamble which it is safe to say has more than paid off with their Phase one series of films. So with the public demand in the last few years for comic book movies and the studios as always looking for any way to milk a trend, it is hardly surprising that more indie comics have started seeing big screen adaptations, a trend which it’s safe to say that this film belongs in.

Based on the comic book series of the same name, released by DC Comic’s as part of their Vertigo imprint, which also serves as a home to fellow indie favourites Sandman, 100 bullets and Fables, while also providing movie fodder on more than one occasion with Hellblazer (which became “Constantine”), A History of Violence and V for Vendetta all being released via Vertigo. Still the series is hardly known outside of comic book fans, making it an usual choice for a film adaptation and meaning that upon its original release, most movie goers didn’t even realise it was a comic book movie.

Like the A-team on crack, this group of ex-special forces operatives, each bring their own special set of skills, while working under Clay’s leadership, a man guided by his own moral compass and one which soon leads to their attempted murder by Max. Making up his team of self-titled losers are

• Jensen (Evans) – Intelligence specialist and computer hacker, aswell as the groups oddball and comic relief.
• Pooch (Short) – transport specialist, so if it rolls or flies he is all over it, aswell as the owner of a dog bobblehead, whch somehow makes it into every vehicle he gets behind the controls of.
• Cougar (Jaenada) – The almost permanently mute sharpshooter with an affection for his cowboy hat.
• Roque (Elba) – Demolitions

While the group make up might hardly be anything new, the way in which they choose to operate, acting like a group of superheroes who don’t actually have any superpowers, while using largely guerrilla tactics with a heavy dose of humour to get the job done, with this intoxicating blend really helping them to stand out from the groups which came before them. Aisha meanwhile plays the wild card of the group with her dubious sense of alliance to the group, while marking the start of Saldana establishing herself as an action heroine, something she would continue with “Colombiana” a character none to dissimilar to the character of Aisha, especially seeing how both are more than capable of looking after themselves, let alone packing their own impressive armoury of weapons as especially seen here, as she proves herself more than capable of holding her own with the boys on more than one occasion, as highlighted by a couple of room trashing fistfights with Clay while reaching a pinnacle of badassery when she appears suddenly welding a rocket launcher under one arm at the finale.

Meanwhile the losers themselves are capable of unleashing their own brand of hell, even if they are generally more low key about it, with any outlandish action heroics kept to mainly to the opening and finale which also include this shining moment of badassery from Cougar, which makes me wonder why more people haven’t pick up on this film.

The rest of the time, they tend to stick to more low key infiltration and engaging in the occasional round of military grade grand theft auto, while director White continually gives the impression that he is atleast trying to do something which hasn’t been seen 100 times before. Still it is an infectious mix of comedy and action which White brings to the table, most of it via Jensen a character which Evans is clearly having a ball playing, as he always has a wise crack no matter how dire his situation gets, while more randomly even managing to convince a group of security guards that he has the power of mind Bullets!

The casting here is great while especially spot on with Morgan, making a great lead for the group with his gruff charm and gravelly voice and after seeing him previously as The Comedian in “Watchmen” it is nice to see him playing a more lighter character, that you don’t feel so guilty for liking, which was always the problem with the Comedian. What fails though with his casting in this role is the unlikely romance his character has with Aisha, which while important to the storyline still comes off as clumsily handled. Elsewhere Patric is suitably villainous as Max, always sharply dressed while carrying a dark sense of humour as he argues with his henchmen over mistakenly interpreted nods, after said henchman throws one of his scientists off a roof, while equally prone to random acts of violence as he shoots a girl carrying his umbrella for allowing the sun to momentarily shine on him.

For one reason or another this film never got its due upon its release and like the equally overlooked “Shoot Em Up” has been left for the action fans to rediscover, now it has been largely forgotten by most, which only makes it more of a shame when this film is so much fun from start to finish, while giving us a group whom I would have loved to have seen further adventures with, something I seriously doubt we will be seeing anytime soon, so for now we might aswell just enjoy it for what it is. A one shot curiosity and a snapshot of what could have been, but one worth giving a look none the less.

With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story

Title: With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story

Director: Terry Dougas, Nikki Frakes, Will Hess

Released: 2010

Staring: Stan Lee, Avi Arad, Nicolas Cage, Samuel L. Jackson, Todd McFarlane, Jon Favreau, Kevin Smith, Brett Ratner, Joan Lee

Plot: Documentary about the life and creations of Comic legend Stan Lee.

Review: Even if you know next to nothing about Comics, there is still a very good chance that you still know who Stan Lee is, especially as he is arguably as well known as his creations and certainly with good reason, as without a doubt Stan Lee has done more for comics than any other writer past or present, having created Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, Fantastic Four, X-Men, Iron Man and Thor, to name but a few of his most popular creations, yet for a man who seemingly single handedily changed the face of comics forever he comes off an incredibly humble man, who is always quick to credit the artists he worked with before taking any kind of credit himself.

It’s only makes it more surprising considering the astonishing body of work he has built up, that we havn’t seen a documentary like this before now and it’s his amazing career which this documentary attempts to chart from his inconspicuous debut with “Captain America Foils the Traitor’s Revenge” back in May 1941 through to present day and the founding of his own production company “Pow! Entertainment” where even at the age of 89 he refuses to retire as he continues to create even more new characters, as he continues to see Retirement as nothing but a dirty word.

Built around a mixture of stock footage and extensive interview footage with Lee, who personally leads the journey through his life, with the occasional input from his wife Joan who also has many of the best lines of the documentary, including her openly confessing that her role in their marriage is to spend Stan’s money, while also providing the insights into his personal life, which Stan doesn’t openly revel himself especially with his focus more on his work than his personal life, but still seeing how open Lee comes across here, it doesn’t leave much but what she does revel does help to create a more full picture of the life of this living legend.

Breaking his career down into decade sized chunks; it makes it an easy ride for the non-established fans to understand why Lee is seen as such an important figure in the comics community, as Lee talks through each break through he made with the help of artists like the equally legendary Jack Kirby, with whom Lee would create nearly all his most memorable creations, when during the 60’s they revolutionized the industry by crafting complex and naturalistic characters, who could have bad tempers, arguments with their fellow superheroes and even worry about things like paying the bills and impressing their girlfriend. This game changer Lee is happy to admit was by pure chance, as at this point he was considering leaving the industry and was inspired by his wife to write the stories he wanted to read, especially as he had nothing to loose seeing how he was planning to leave anyway, only to lead to the creation of his most memorable creations, following the success this style of writing had with the newly created “Fantastic Four”. This period also lead to his creations all making a home for themselves in New York, rather than a traditionally fantastical city like Metropolis or Gotham City. Still the most personal of these new creations would be with “Spider-man” for whom his wife admits is essentially based on Lee himself.

Possibly what has delayed this documentary from being made earlier, could possibly be the sheer lack of scandal in his life, making it reminiscent of Bruce Campbell’s fantastic autobiography “If Chins Could Kill” which was equally as positive as this film is, with the sole dark moment coming from the heartbreak of loosing his second child, days after she was born and while it is not necessarily a huge part of the documentary, it is still a touching scene and one which Lee would rather not talk about, leaving it for his wife to tell much like the majority of the footage concerning his family outside of his wife, whom he clearly adores and happily shares stories from their long lasting marriage including his regret at previously macho comments that his wife would not work while they were married to an argument which lead to her destroying his prized typewriter, all regaled with a great sense of humor which carries throughout the film, as Lee’s life has clearly one lived in good humor.

Unsurprisingly there is a wealth of celebrities all wanting to share their stories about either working with Stan or his creations, with celebrity comic fans Nicolas Cage, Samuel L. Jackson and Kevin Smith are all on hand to give their insights, though only Cage gets to really express his opinions on Lee’s work, which was a shame especially seeing how both Jackson and Smith would no doubt have given a fascinating fanboy angle, but due to the sheer amount of admiring celebrity fans on hand here all eager to express their love for his work that these interviews are noticeably cut down to what amounts to basically sound bites. Still while the film maker have seemingly been given unlimited access, it’s really at the cost of depth for although it’s a fun insight into Lee’s career, there are no real leaps outside of the conversations with Joan to really get inside of his mind for a fuller picture, but it’s not something that is going to leave you feeling unfulfilled and it does still feel like a full portrait of the great man, even if it’s a picture comprised largely of what he has achieved in his career and the parts he played in the revolution of the comic industry and for most of us it is all we need and want to know.

Kick-Ass

Title: Kick-Ass
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Released: 2010

Staring: Aaron Johnson, Garrett M. Brown, Clark Duke, Evan Peters, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Mark Strong, Nicolas Cage, Chloe Moretz, Lynsey Fonseca

Rating: 5 / 5

Plot: Dave Lizewski (Johnson) is a high school nobody and obsessive comic book fan, who despite having zero super powers, no training and absolutly no real reason, except a fascination with why no one tries to be a superhero in real life. Taking this into account he decides to become a superhero himself, taking on the guise of Kick-Ass.



Review: Okay allow me to start by pointing out that a film has to have something really special, to get me to drag my ass to my local cinema, especially seeing how it’s so darn expensive, the seating usually sucks and I always find myself at the same screening as the guy, who wants to be a critic but is to lazy to start a blog and instead bores the crap out of whoever he's convinced to go with him, as he rattles off pointless trivia about the film. All of these things I tend to thankfully avoid by waiting for most films to come out on DVD. Still like I said it takes something special and “Kick-Ass” is one of those films and honestly it was so worth the trip.

Based on Mark Millers graphic novel of the same name, who was also responsible for “Wanted” whose film version resembled the source novel really in name only, proved a crushing disappointment for myself, being such a huge fan of the graphic novel, which made me kind of wary when, I found out his latest creation, was being given the big screen treatment, even more so after the comic suddenly got put on hold after four issues, with the full trade paperback only recently being released with the film, which I’m sure had a lot to do with the studio dropping that truck load of money off at his house, to secure the rights. Thankfully this time they bothered to stick to the source material, no doubt helped by having comic book uberfan Jane Goldman work on the script, who has done a great job of adapting the comic for the screen, capturing not only the characters, but also the darkly comic humour of the source material, which is clear right from the start, as we watch a would be superhero leaping from the top of a skyscraper in his make shift flightsuit, only to crash directly into a taxi cab below, as Johnsons commentary points out that this particular superhero was just some guy who’d gone of his meds, in a deliciously dark humoured introduction to what is to be the tone for rest of the film, a film which is essentially asking the question of

“How would superheroes really work in the real world”

which it’s true was also the base idea of Alan Moore’s epic “Watchmen”, but it’s a more light hearted approach that Miller has chosen to take and it works all the better for it, especially when you consider that Millers best work is always crammed full of violence and humour, with the less thinking the better and this has certainly been carried over into the film version, but certainly not to the point were it feels like it has to dumb things down into frat boy humour, which has in the past proven to be the undoing of so many potentially great movies with “Superbad” (2007) proving especially true of this.

It would certainly seem that Miller has spent a lot of time going over a lot of the things, which we take for grantee with superheroes, as he attempts to find ways around so many of the potential problems a wannabe superhero has to deal with, such as dealing with large quantities of pain, which is covered nicely after Dave’s first failed attempt at super heroism, which see’s him not only stabbed and beaten up, but then run over and left for dead, forcing him to have numerous metal grafts and plates added to his skeleton while also at the same time screwing up his nerve endings, giving him the ability to endure beatings, which sure is handy as despite calling himself “Kick Ass” he really can’t handle himself overly well in a fight, as he waves his clubs wildly around himself, during his second more successful attempt at being a hero, while reminding the audience that we are not watching a guy who is a trained or even skilled fighter, but in fact just a regular Joe in a diving suit who thinks he’s a super hero.

The flip side to Dave of course though is “Hit Girl” (Moretz) who is not only hyper violent, but also highly skilled with it seems anything she can get her hands on, having been trained as a weapon of revenge by her father “Big Daddy” (Cage). Moretz is absolutely fantastic as this character, who loves ice cream sundaes and butterfly knives and whose foul mouth will no doubt leave the more stiffer critics grumbling, (but then compared to some of the kids I know, she seemed pretty timid) but she delivers a performance with such energy and enthusiasm, that I found the majority of my favourite scenes to be the ones she appeared in, while her daddy daughter scenes she shares with Cage, carry real emotion even if their daddy daughter relationship is anything but traditional, even more so whenthe first time they are introduced it sees her getting shot by her own father as part of the ongoing training regime which he has created for her, with Goldman’s script perfectly capturing their relationship, which for myself especially was always going to be the point, were the film was either going to work of fail horribly and thankfully it manages to make it seem like a believable relationship they share, while at the same time not coming across too fantastical to accept, while Cage does a great job of playing Big Daddy a man who is clearly trying to balance his lust for revenge, with his desire to look after his daughter and even though I was unsure about Cage playing the character, his restricted appearances throughout help stop his oddball characterisations, from becoming over powering especially the strange Adam West esq voice that he has chosen to use for the character.
I guess the other main surprise here would have to be with Mintz-Plasse, who finally manages to break away from the shadow of “Mclovin”, as he proves to be surprisingly enough the perfect choice for spoilt mafia son Chris D’Amico and his superhero alter ego “Red Mist”, who is actually a plant to help capture kick-ass tying in the old cliché of the nemesis starting out as a friend of the hero, which made me all the more frustrated that the scene in which Chris compares himself and Dave to Spiderman’s Peter and Harry, as their climatic showdown almost seems like an afterthought, with the final showdown being largely devoted to Hit Girl taking on Chris’s father and mob boss Frank (Strong). Still were as I have found him largely irritating in the past, here is used to great effect as the competition for Kick ass’s popularity when he emerges as the new hero on the block, even if his powers seem more grounded in flash gadgets than anything resembling a super power.

Vaughn in the directors chair doesn’t really challenge himself here, allowing the script to bring all the shock and awe, though thankfully he ensures the action is kept pacey enough to prevent any fidgety moments, while thankfully avoiding drowning the whole thing in the same kind of angst which constantly seems to plague every superhero movie which comes out, with the “spiderman” films being especially guilty of this crime and it made a refreshing change, to not have to watch characters mope around with their feelings, with instead the time it seems being used for a Dave being mistaken for being gay subplot, which proves an entertaining way of giving him something to do, when he is not running around in his scuba gear costume, as he attempts to score with the target of his affections, the token popular girl Katie (Fonseca), who thankfully is the target of a more favourable character rewrite here, much like the character designs which have also been reworked outside of Kick-ass who is still in his trademark green, but these redesigns all add to the pop culture cool which the whole film is essential drenched in, from the snappy quotable dialogue about superheroes to the MTV style editing of it’s fight scenes, this is certainly a bold attempt to break free of the traditional conventions which the genre has been bound to, with the notable exception of films like “The Dark Knight” (2008) who were not afraid to try something not so family friendly with their material and kick ass is certainly one of these films.

Overall “Kick-ass” makes for a fun and mindless couple of hours, while proving how there is certainly life outside of the main superhero characters, who have in recent years dominated the genre, which at the same time certainly make it clear that this indie creation has certainly more than enough originality to take on the big boys of the comic world, as he brings the comic world kicking and screaming, bang up to date, leaving me already hungry already for Kick-Ass 2

Still loving Hack / Slash

So after a huge wait and much hunting around, I finally managed to get my hands on "Hack / Slack: Reanimation Games", which is the fifth collection of the long running series and for those of you not to familar with comics and wondering what I'm going on about, Hack / Slash is basically the fantastic horror comic series created by Tim Steely, who is clearly a man in love with the horror genre, something that is quite obviously clear from the writing of each issue, as he crams manages to cram in numerous horror references, without losing the flow of the writing, something that is certainly not easy, to pull off as we have seen in the past and only proven further, with the numerous amount of films, that have attempted to emulate this style first popularised by Quentin Tarantino. You only really have to notice the similarities between Cassie Hack and Tiffany Shepis ( B movie star of "Scarecrow" and "Die, Delta, Die!") to realise that Steely is not trying to cash in on a popular market, but instead pay homage to the genre he loves, as the series walks the tightrope between Horror and Humour, in much the same vein as the Evil Dead movies.

The main plot line for the series revolves around Cassie Hack, a wise cracking slasher hunter and survivor of the attack by a vicious slasher, known as "The Lunch Lady" who ironically also turned out to be her own mother and who now with her partner Vlad, travel through America hunting down Slashers.

Still it would seem that not happy with creating his own gallery of gruesome slashers for Cassie and Vlad to deal with, which so far has included psychotic teddy bears, killer conjoined twins and a demon worshiping Elvis, Tim Steely has also in the past has even brought famous slashers into his world with the most memorable, certainly being Chucky from "Childs Play" (1988) whose storyline bridged the gap between the end of "Seed of Chucky" (2004) and his own stand alone comic strip, which "Devils Due Publishing" the same company which publishes Hack / Slash would later publish continuing the story from the end of his Hack / Slash appearance and it's continued within in the pages of this fifth collection of the series, which gathers together issues 11, 14 - 17 aswell as the sellout annual, which revolves around a slasher killing off members of the "Suicide Girls", in a story which would also bizarrely enough lead to Cassie being featured in her own set of Suicide girl photos, which Steely would go on record to admit, that one of the main reasons for doing this, was because of the high volume of letters he received from people wanting to see Cassie naked.

The main selling point of this fifth volume though is, a storyline involving Cassie's dead mother being resurrected, by Dr. Herbert West from Stuart Gordon's"Re-animator" (1985) in a classic storyline, which bridges the gap from the last re animator movie "Beyond Re-animator" (2003) and the forth coming "House of Re-animator" which at the time of writing, is currently set for a 2010 release, which see's Dr. West being called to the White House, to bring back to life the corpse of the President. These Dr West issues are proof once more, of Steely's love for the genre, as he seamlessly fits the world of Re-animator into the world of Hack / Slash, especially when it comes to writing the character of Dr. West, while at the same time still managing to reference the films, with loving nods to the films, he is using as his reference point, which no doubt the fan boys, will have much fun in trying to spot.

Currently for myself Hack / Slash is still one of my favourite series and thankfully currently seems to show no sign, that it is running out of ideas to keep the series fresh, while I have to wait patiently for the release of volume 6, which hopfully won't take as long as the first volume of "Kick Ass" which seems to have been put on hold for the moment, while the film version takes priority. This I can only assume is after the backlash that greeted the adaptation of "Wanted" which also came from creator "Mark Miller", which the fans of the comic will rightfully point out bares no resemblence to the source comic, which was a shame really especially seeing how funny and violent "Wanted" was as a comic and I personally urge you all to hunt it down, just so you to can see how much the film pales in comparision. Still with the long mooted film adaptation of Hack / Slash still in pre production with "Rogue Pictures", I can only hope that it too doesn't fall prey to a studio taking such a liberties being taken with the source material.