Review: Kick-Ass 2

One of cinema’s most unlikely comic book franchises continued this summer with Kick-Ass 2, the follow-up to 2010’s outrageously misbehaved Kick-Ass. But was it worth the wait?

Sequels enjoy an unfortunate reputation as being the poor country cousin to their robust predecessors, which isn’t always the case (The Empire Strikes Back, anyone?)

But it seemed like Kick-Ass 2 was always going to be the weaker opponent to its ass-kicking original: after all, it’s hard to top the shock of hearing an 11-year girl dropping the C-bomb on celluloid, never mind watching her beat the crap out of everyone.

Image credit: Nerdist

And in a broader sense, it posed a refreshingly anarchic take on the comic book/superhero film; there’s no special powers at play, the violence looks real and bloody, and the nerdy hero is still just as nerdy at the end of it all.

Picking up a few years on from its previous outing, Kick-Ass 2 is a satisfying but perhaps inevitably less shocking progression, even though some things have remained the same.

Dave Lizewski – a.k.a Kick-Ass (Taylor-Johnson)– is still a loveable dork, and Hit-Girl/Mindy Macready (Moretz) again manages to pull focus from our somewhat colourless hero and be the character we’re rooting for.

Christoper Mintz-Plasse as Chris D’Amico. Image credit: Collider

Chris D’Amico (Mintz-Plasse) is still a filthy rich brat, but jonesing for revenge after the death of his crime-boss dad, has tired of the superhero game and decides to don his late mother’s bondage gear – styling himself as the villainous ‘Motherfucker’: scourge of the city and all-round Freudian nightmare.

While he’s building up an evil posse and giving them facepalm-worthy racist identities, Dave’s joining a posse of his own, other dress-up enthusiasts who want to fight the bad guys, headed up by Colonel Stars and Stripes (Jim Carrey), a charismatic ex-mob enforcer with a masked doggy sidekick.

Jim Carrey as Colonel Stars and Stripes
Image Credit: Universal Pictures

But none of the other subplots manage to be as compelling as Mindy’s own personal nightmare of trying to make it through high school without being eaten alive by killer cliques and Queen Bitches.

Now 15 years-old, her sassy ‘tude has been tempered with a typical adolescent crisis – do you be yourself or be like everyone else? For a while she gets drawn into an evil triad of ‘popular’ mean girls – but eventually comes to her senses, and realises she’s more Kill Bill than Bring It On.

All the narrative threads come together in an epic and apical fight scene, involving a shark, but unlike the jarring death of Big Daddy in the previous film, there’s nothing too surprising here.

An enjoyable romp with a predictable end, let’s hope the next film dispenses with Kick Ass entirely and pushes Hit-Girl front and centre stage.

3/5

Shefali Srivastava, Online Editor

 

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Comic Week: "F***k it, how 'bout they're just born with powers."

Senior Reviewer, Thomas Barr examines the final in our series of comic book franchises – the X Men. Is there more to this crime-fighting team than cool powers and team dynamics? Barr unveils an interesting social commentary within the comic…

If you’re ever struggling to come up with an idea, but don’t really feel creative or innovative at that moment, take heart from the X-Men. They are a great example of how sometimes laziness is the solution. In 1963 Stan Lee had come up with some of the all time great comic book series; Spider-man, The Hulk, Iron Man, Thor and The Fantastic Four. When it came to ideas for a new group of superheroes he was running on empty and  basically said “F**k it, how ‘bout they’re just born with powers. Lets call ‘um, I dunno,  ‘Mutants’. I’m hungry, I’m off to lunch.” So from humble beginnings they’ve gone on to be one of the most successful and well loved super-heroes of all time. Why?

Well for a start the X-Men are logistically sound. You can see that they were created with a team dynamic in mind. Each member has a unique skill set that makes the team better for having them in it. No member is significantly stronger than the others and the variety of powers helps them deal with a variety of situations. You don’t get the embarrassing gulf in abilities that undermines so many of the other superhero team-ups. There must be some sort of pro-diversity, union regulation making it compulsory to have an archer in every team. Other than that I can’t see what Superman gains from having Green Arrow nearby. Green Arrow is undeniably really really good at hitting far away things with a bow and arrow, but that becomes kind of insignificant when the guy next to you can level buildings with a single punch.

For me the biggest strength of the X-Men is their ability to reflect social issues to a greater extent than other mainstream comics; racism, religion and LGBT struggles are all represented. As super-powers are a commonly occurring natural phenomenon, the Mutants become the model of an alienated community through which issues such as civil rights and societal acceptance can be explored. These themes would be wasted if the characters weren’t sympathetic. Luckily, when you have awkward characters in their teens experiencing strange and mysterious changes to their bodies, they’re not going to have a problem relating to the alienation of the X-men.

So whilst I admit that comic books don’t have a reputation that screams ‘positive social interaction’, I think the X-Men should be praised for presenting young people with important real-world conflicts in an entertaining and non-patronising form.

By Thomas Barr – Senior Reviewer

Superwomen: Empowered and sexy, or made powerless by sexism?

As part of our Comic Week feature we have been reviewing key figures of the comic-book franchise. But we are yet to analyse the role of any superwomen. In answer to this problem, Elizabeth Moore considers the presentation of women within comicbooks. Are they empowered or powerless? Is there a sexist undertone to the highly eroticised images? Do these superwomen present strong role-models? And are their superpowers simply masking a frightening sexualisation?

Comic book heroes are designed to be idealised versions of humanity: strong, beautiful and perfect, representing all that we could be (you know, minus the superhuman powers). But from a female perspective, this is not neccessarily an image that we should idealise. There are three main issues with the portrayal of heroines in graphic novels: bodies, poses, and costume.

All superheroes have impossible physiques; it’s a part of their fantastical appeal, but the way in which these bodies are gendered proves problematic. For example, Superman’s modern appeal comes from his huge muscles and superhuman strength. However, his female counterpart Superwomen has the focus placed upon her sizable breasts. We have to think why these features are prioritised, and let’s be honest, unless Wonder Woman’s chest holds some sort of super power that I don’t know about, we have a simple case of sexualisation and objectification.

Some of you will be aware of the Hawkeye Initiative, a blog that satirising the characterisation of female heroes by drawing Hawkeye in many of the overly-provocative poses that the superwomen are placed in. Pushing his posterior out, extending his limbs ineffectually, and placing his chest and groin as the central focus of the image, Hawkeye looks ridiculous. Although humorous, the sexualised images of women on comic-book covers arguably show them in poses akin to those of page-three models (see Poison Ivy’s seductive stare, and Catwoman’s handling of a fetishised whip as an example). In fact, when you think about it, the ways in which heroines fight in comics would be fairly powerless, their anatomic integrity sacrificed for the sake of showing more leg, or making their chests more visible. Alright, the male poses aren’t exactly structurally powerful, but at least they retain some dignity within it.

Finally, there’s the costumes, spanning from the skin-tight, low cut suits of the deliberately provocative Catwoman to the exhibitionist ‘boob window’ of Power Girl’s unitard: all superwomen find themselves exposing at least one part of themselves for no discernible reason. Think again to Wonder Woman: yes, she could allegedly deflect bullets with her unbreakable bracelets, but at no point does it say that she is completely invulnerable to weaponry, so in what way is it a good idea to run around with not much more on than armour-plated underwear? Perhaps these images signal sexual empowerment, liberation, and freedom? Looking at the combination of suggestive poses and costume, I think not.

Developed during the same time frame as the “pin-up girl” phenomenon, it’s unsurprising that superwomen have taken on this sensualised iconography; years on, why are we still stuck with the same sexualised imagery? Essentially, the times have changed, but the readership has not. The most recent statistics for DC’s “New 52” series show that only 7% of their readership is female, meaning the sphere is still very much a male one, catering to their ideals. But maybe this isn’t such a bad thing. After all, it is only fantasy, and these characters, no matter how controversial, are memorable. Yes, we could probably do with fewer T&A tributes in female-centred comics, and almost certainly a more realistic spin put on the shapes and costumes of these characters, but what would the appeal of comics be if we sacrificed all their fantastical elements in favour of supposed realism? All that’s needed is a more appropriate balance of fantasy and dignity.

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By Elizabeth Moore

Comic Week: "The Mother-F**king Batman"

To celebrate the Animated Exeter festival, Exeposé Online Books, Screen, and Games have teamed up to bring you the definitive guide to the world of comics. We will be taking a look at the comic books, the films, and the spin-off games to see which of three comic series is the ultimate franchise. Senior Reviewer, Thomas Barr, will be kicking things off with DC Comic’s Batman…

I love Batman. Everyone loves Batman. People who feel indifferent to the Dark Knight are misguided, let me explain. Batman is one of the world’s oldest and best known comic book characters, having first appeared to readers of Detective Comics #27 in May 1939. No character has Batman’s levels of sustained popularity without good reason, the reason in this case being that he’s awesome. Anyone can find something to enjoy in Batman. If you’re just passingly familiar with him you can still enjoy the heroic exploits, cool gadgets and camp escapism that a man dressed as a giant bat provides. No one can fail to enjoy a man defeating a Shark whilst handcuffed. But as a hardcore fan, I can’t help but look beneath the glossy veneer and find an endlessly fascinating exploration of society, psychology and philosophy. Along with all this he exists as one of the most powerful metaphors in popular literature, as a symbol for the potential of the self.

Of all the best known comic book icons, Batman is the only one not there by accident. His powers don’t come from being a member of an alien race or the result of some freak scientific mishap, they come from him. For Batman, it’s not a case of ‘With great power comes great responsibility’, he grasps responsibility for himself and forges great power out of it. We’re not interested in him for any fantastical powers he possesses, we’re interested in him because of him. He is his superpower. Batman is the epitome of human resilience and determination, through a combination of intelligence and willpower  (and the money doesn’t hurt) he crafted himself into a virtual demi-god. He’s a genius-millionaire-scientist-detective-ninja, don’t you know? (take that Tony Stark).

Batman is inspirational in the way that he fights a universal and recognisable enemy: fear. For me, combatting and overcoming fear is the key theme of the Batman comics. In many ways, he is more human than superhuman. Bruce Wayne suffers the most terrifying experience any child could possibly suffer, he watches helplessly as those he loves most are senselessly taken from him. He sees with perfect clarity the chaos and meaningless cruelty of the world. Yet he does not give in to fear or despair, he chooses then and there to force the world into order  and meaning by taking fear and bending it to his will.

See you do love Batman, and you know why? Not for any of the reasons above, but simply because he is the mother-f**king Batman.

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To see what the Exeposé Online Games team made of the Dark Knight series, click here.

By Thomas Barr – Senior Reviewer
Ed. by Georgina Holland – Exeposé Online Books Editor