It wasn't box office numbers that led to a sequel to Matthew Vaughn's Kick-Ass - it was passionate fans demanding for one. When the first movie was released in 2010 it was buoyed by positive critical response, but ultimately was considered an under-performer domestically, making only $48 million on a $30 million budget. At the time we tried to figure out exactly what went wrong, citing the movie's muddled marketing and lack of the 3D in a post-Avatar world. Regardless of what the reason was, however, one thing seemed certain: we would probably never get to see a Kick-Ass 2.
And that would have stayed true had it not been for Universal Pictures. In May of last year the studio picked up the rights to the project from Lionsgate, hired Cry_Wolf and Never Back Down filmmaker Jeff Wadlow to direct, and gave the film the greenlight for a September production start. Now, nearly three and a half years later, Kick-Ass 2 is actually coming to theaters. But was it worth the wait?
According to critics, the answer to that question seems to be, "no." While the first film got mostly thumbs up from film journalists, the same can't be said about the sequel, which is currently sitting at 28% on Rotten Tomatoes (very low compared to the 77% mark that the first movie). Sadly, I largely agree with the majority consensus. While I was a big fan of the first movie, happy to see something so different and crazy come out of the comic book movie genre, the sequel is unbalanced story-wise, completely wastes its best character (Hit-Girl) in a plot that's essentially a rip-off of Mean Girls, and fails to have the brutal-but-fun impact that the original did. As I wrote in my review earlier this week, "There’s a good amount to like in Kick-Ass 2, including some manic performances from [Christopher] Mintz-Plasse and [Jim] Carrey as well as some cool comic book flourishes by Wadlow... but the good stuff is continually buried in the things the movie gets wrong."
But now that the movie is actually in theaters and the general audience gets to see it, we want to know what you think of Kick-Ass 2. Do you think it lived up to expectations or was it a disappointment? Did you like what it did with the characters? What would you have liked to see them do differently and what did you really love? Vote in our poll, and hit the comments to let us know your thoughts, feelings, and opinions, and, as the title says, SPOILERS ARE WELCOME!
This poll is no longer available.
