Has anyone else seen Kick-Ass? I saw it on the big screen in Leicester Square on Friday and came out reeling. It is much, much more violent than I was expecting, (though I am a bit of a wuss with violence) but also much more entertaining and thought-provoking. What's really interesting to me is the exploration of ideas of justice, the playing on the idea of good guys and bad guys. It does this in a different way from The Wire, which shows us the humanity of the 'bad guys', and basically makes everyone equally messed up. In Kick-Ass the bad guys are two dimensionally unsympathetic, and the good guys are heroes we cheer for despite their flaws and bad motives and, in the case of the 11 year old female superhero, their filthy mouths.
I don't have any developed thoughts about what is going on, but was really struck by the use of the old gospel classic 'His Truth is Marching Home' at a key moment of extreme retributive violence, as the bad guys finally fall.
There is a really good review in the Guardian here, but I'd be interested to hear your thoughts. Need someone cleverer than me to help us engage with it as I'm fairly sure it will be an instant cult classic....