KICK ASS: The Absurdity And Glory Of The Spandex Warriors!

It’s amazing to look at a film as colorfully playful as Kick-Ass, which never shied away from its sheer absurdity, and then look at modern-day superhero films in present 2022. Fuck, have things changed.

As monumental as Spiderman No Way Home was, the fact that there is more too come, even after experiencing what was a cinematically emotional rollercoaster definitive enough in giving the character of Spiderman the kind of resolution that illustrates his trilogy structured maturity shows that the show will go on. Now, as much as our culture has grown accustomed, and in some cases, numbed to the over-indulgent influx of one or multiple yearly superhero films, and as much as we can only pump our chests in testosterone-fueled excitement for the upcoming Matt Reeves Batman film coming this March, there is still an elephant in the room we haven’t addressed.

Superheroes are kinda dumb when you think long and hard enough about the subject. Now, there can’t be much expectation from a culture that is perpetually glued to their phones, while at the same time equally drowning in one over-popularized social media app after the other. But if you pay close enough attention, which is itself a stretch for anyone hooked on Twitter, the fact that every new superhero film, universe-based or not, is just a prelude of more to come. This can range from a direct sequel, or a collection of spin-offs centering on other characters within the film that started it all, or followed right after to further perpetuate the cycle of absurdity that a film as ultra-violent and super meta, though not at Deadpool level, worked to combat. Now, a film being based on or centered on a comic book is irrelevant so long as there is a story to tell. Filmmaker Christopher Nolan (Dark Knight Trilogy, Inception, and TENET) summed this up nicely when commenting on the creative freedom he and his team had in crafting The Dark Knight films that have now served as a template for the modern superhero genre of today. When we did ‘Batman Begins,’ we didn’t know we’d do one and it took three years to do it and then four years before the next one. We had the luxury of time. It didn’t feel like a machine, an engine of commerce for the studio. As the genre becomes so successful, those pressures become greater and greater. It was the right time”

As enlightening as it is for a filmmaker as renowned as Chris Nolan to praise the cinematic achievements of a genre that has become very influential in the industry figures as artistic as him work in, you can’t also help but feel an equal, or at least moderately fair level of cynicism at the remark. If anything, it could easily be looked at as him saying he dodged a major bullet. In this case, that bullet is the colossal monopolization of comic book films, which have become so dominant within pop culture that for a studio to risk any capital on an independent film with alternative subject matter outside of a global catastrophe, is now becoming a rare occasion.

A recent Mark Kermode interview featuring actor Jason Isaacs had him express a similar sentiment about the importance of independent films and how much they are becoming a rarity as he promoted his latest film Mass, which is an independent drama with a shit show budget of less than 350,000 dollars. The plot of the film revolves around two sets of parents, one pair mourning the loss of their son who died from a school shooting, and one pair having to confront those same parents, knowing that their son killed theirs.

In addition to being an independent drama, Mass covers the themes of grief, human connection, and the ability to move forward past pain. Now, there are plenty of emotionally resonating superhero films that tackle similar ideas. But there are the half-assed popcorn spectacles that give way to a masturbatory bombastically action-packed third act, that although thematically beautiful, lack the depth most films used to showcase without compromises. The rare gem superhero films, powerful and unique as they can be, whether its the outliers like the Neo-Western Logan, or the psychological drama Joker, the fact that films with deep emotional/sociopolitical themes need to be presented in the framework of a comic book film isn’t an attack on the film itself, so much as the culture that has neutered the prospect of cinema to a level of absurdity that only makes the appreciation of films like Kick-Ass that more incremental into showcasing just how dumb it really is to dress up in spandex, and risk a trip to the ER or an early grave. It all depends on the structure of the story and how egotistically confident the villain is after they have their first victory, that they decide to spare the hero without looking as foolish as the standard Bond villain who doesn’t just take the safe bet and kill 007 right away.

On a basic level, Kick-Ass is the story of an average high-school outcast (sound familiar), Dave Lizewski (Aaron Taylor Johnson), and how he just wants to be a superhero. It’s no joke, and even though he does suffer the obligatory parental loss that propels all the psychologically traumatized costumed narcissists into a life of crime-fighting, the film’s comedic direction spares no effort in mocking the death of Dave’s mother as the result of an aneurism. It goes even further to show case a rather deliberately shallow approach to the emotional backbone of the film. But then again, the absurdist tone that defines a film like Kick-Ass should not be seen as an accident, or as a means of turning first-time viewers off. The film is riddled with enough comedic moments of parody to showcase that even the most acclaimed of super-hero classics are not to be overlooked, and yes, that includes crime masterpieces like The Dark Knight, a film that kind of set off the explosion of studio attempts to replicate what the filmmakers couldn’t predict given that they were just trying to do what a film like Kick-Ass is already doing, and that’s being a great film. Strangely enough, there is something to be said about the inclusion of an actor as zaney as Nicholas Cage, who is no stranger to the absurd and the bizarrely overacted, and how his Nolan-Verse Batman-inspired costumed hero (Big Daddy) alone further showcases, that even the most grounded takes of the most realistic of the superheroes cannot escape the silliness of their fixation.

Quite a mouthful indeed, but when looking at how much has changed since 2008, and even since 2010, when Kick-Ass was released, it only becomes more incremental in understanding how more accustomed the modern audience, or if we’re being completely frank, more at peace with the idea that the only reason they’re not staying at home to stream and passively watch an average film, is because the latest Marvel or DC film is getting a theatrical release. Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean every non-comic book film will be ignored. 2021’s DUNE is a perfect example of this, and the rare kind held only by the acclaim of the name of a figure as renowned as Denis Villanuave or Chris Nolan, whose 2020 espionage thriller TENET still managed to get audiences into the theatre, even in the midst of a global pandemic, despite having a low box office turn out. In either case, back to the absurdity element that paints Kick-Ass as a perfect examination of the superhero and how the genre that has been birthed by its dominant integration within our popular culture has only worked to fuel its premise.

As much as we love superheroes, the fact of the matter is, they are dumb. It could be argued that they are indeed warriors. But, they are still warriors in spandex, and the kind who embody an altruism that either borders on the idealistically unrealistic in terms of effect, or just simple narcissism disguised as selflessness given that many of the central super-heroes were nobodies living a mundane existence. Then again, the mere clarification of the mundane nature of modern life, which Kick-Ass illustrates through the average life Dave lived, or could’ve been subjugated to, had he just simply kept jerking off to his English Lit teacher (like all teenage boys do) is probably a perfect argument for the super-hero. The fact that they are called super, in addition to the Nietzschean aspect they all exemplify in their ability to create values that are separate from the modern society that actively works to conform or make them as conventional as possible is a statement in itself about their need to be extraordinary.

Whether we look at a film like Kick-Ass or The Dark Knight, one thing is for certain, none of the super-heroic characters are conventional or even remotely capable of being as boring as the society their actions aim in the creation of a better world, as unlikely as it seems. Batman and the murderous Hit-Girl (Chloe Grace Moretz) are anything but boring, and if they were to conform to the rules of society, then one would be sitting at the board of Wayne enterprises bored out of his fucking skull after enduring round after round news of company shares, while the other would probably be urged to play with dolls or film herself on TIK TOK dancing.

In the end, whether or not you agree with the claim Kick-Ass makes on the absurdity all Super-Heroes embody, it’s important to take to heart how Albert Camus said “Life is meaningless, but worth living, provided you recognize it's meaningless.” In many ways, the conventionally repetitive boredom that modern life forces on many people is probably the reason our culture loves Super Heroes so much, that it has embraced the over-indulgent influx of yearly comic book films that aim to tell us that there is no shame in wearing spandex while unloading a barrage of Gatling gun bullets on a group of armed thugs. Just food for the thoughts of many comic book lovers, or those eager to get into comics, which Kick-Ass shows quite well, all thanks to the playfully liberating direction of Matthew Vaughn and the same team that delivered a prequel as masterful as Xmen-First Class.

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