Joe Sergi's Cup of Geek
 
So, I missed the Kick Ass panel at SDCC.  I opted to see the Dollhouse panel instead.

How can you say no to this face:
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Plus, Joss Whedon and some of the cast was there too.  I even bought the limited edition ComiCon exclusive DollHouse Blu Ray set.   
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But I digress.  So I missed the panel (I wasn't the only one since I heard that Hall H was not very full for the Kick-Ass Panel).  The next morning, while in line for the second round of Hall H Disney Panels, I got to talking to people who went to see the Kick-Ass Panel. They were blown away and said the clips that were played got a standing ovation from the audience (a fairly rare occurrence for clips).  Well, it turns out that someone broke the cardinal rule of ComicCon and posted the clips on YouTube.com.  (In the words of Patton Oswald, "Everyone get your camera phones ready, we are going to show a clip. And nothing shows a director the respect they deserve more than putting a grainy blurry version of the project they have been working so hard with blood sweat and tears for the past few years to bring to you today.") Needless to say, I still watched the grainy blurry clips of Kick-Ass and they were great!!  They have since been pulled because of copyright infringement, but I'll bet they will be back.

Kick Ass is a comic released by Marvel Comics under its ICON imprint and is written by Mark Millar and drawn by John Romita, Jr.  Kick-Ass explores what would happen in the real world if someone were to don a costume and fight crime—it isn't pretty.  The series is enjoyable and isn't finished (the last issue is scheduled for a September 9 release.)  Amazon is offering a preorder on the trade paperback.  Get it while its hot.

The movie apparently follows pretty much the same plot as the comic story.  The film has been adapted and directed by Matthew Vaughn (Layer Cake). The cast features Aaron Johnson, who stars as Kick-Ass, a teen who steps out of his house one day and starts to fight crime even though he has no superpowers. Lyndsy Fonseca co-stars as his leading lady.  The film also features Nicolas Cage as an ex-cop whose hatred of a drug lord forces him to train his daughter (played by Chloe Moretz) to be a lethal vigilante named Hit Girl (who, I predict, will be the break out star of the movie).

The first clip showed a perfect reimagining of the comic book opening with music from Superman and a hero poised to jump off a roof.  You can guess that it doesn't end well.

The next clip showed a scene with Cage training Moretz in what could only be described as a Child Protective Service agent's worst nightmare.  And despite the cruelty behind this disturbing scene, Cage and Moretz play the banter well, are likable and funny.  The remaining clips show 1) Kick-Ass in action (or rather inaction) with music from the Dark Knight and 2) Kick-Ass's confrontation with some thugs culminating in a great action scene involving Hit Girl. (I assume it is latter that received the above-mentioned standing ovation.) I did find it odd that a Marvel property would use so much DC music, but I assume that will change in the final film.

I should note that Millar also wrote the original Wanted story, which became a very successful movie that had very little to do with the comic series that inspired it.  Based on the clips, it appears that Vaughn is staying very true to the comic book source material. 

As of the day of the Panel, the movie had yet to find a distributor.  I hope that has changed.  It looks like a great movie. 

 

 
 


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