Kick-Ass Did Kick Ass

Last week's box office number one spot was so contentious that the result couldn't be finalized until Monday.  Or people are just so bad at math that they couldn't count right the first time.  Anyway, Kick-Ass is somehow vindicated.  The fake superhero picture headlined by Aaron Johnson and Chloe Moretz claimed the much coveted number one spot at its weekend debut knocking off the much beloved 3D How to Train Your Dragon movie which briefly was believed to be the number one movie for the past weekend.
I like the movie.  It stands on its own pretty well.  It embraces the genre and yet at the same time flip it upside down to add a certain freshness to it.  Aaron Johnson delivers a very earnest performance as the title character who apparently takes on more than he can chew as a self appointed masked vigilante.  Chloe Mortez is cut out to be the Hit-Girl, the swagger, the bravado, and her sweet pottymouth all make her pint sized Hit-Girl believable and even lovable.  And despite all the controversy, I don't think she is all that foul mouthed as the trailers made her to be.  Probably her utterance is no natural that I don't even notice anything oddly strange about an 11-year old girl uttering expletives.  With an R rating and pervasive violence, I don't think it's going to do well in the box office but then I think it does have an appreciative audience as I am one of them.