KICK-ASS

I went in expecting something close to Wanted (which I dug the hell out of).
I was glad I was wrong.

While KICK-ASS (I only can write this with capitals, I'm afraid) does carry the same strain of irreverance and anarchy Wanted did (both were originally written by the same person after all), it also manages to be a sort of bastard son of Watchmen & Spiderman.
We're talking a cross between 2 of the best super hero movies ever made, with the energy of one the the best actionner that Holywood produced in recent memory.
If that doesn't give you the picture, nothing will.

The concept only is genius: to make a comic book movie, so set in a comic book environment, but give the leading role to Peter Parker's "normal" friend. So you're not in the real world, but it gives that more edge, as the guy could be anyone.

Any genius concept wouldn't work without a great character to root for. KICK-ASS doesn't have 1, but 3. Big Daddy & Hit Girl will most definitely stay in all memories as the cutest yet deadliest father-daughter team.
Nicolas Cage is just awesome in this. He makes us believe in this deeply loving father who does shoot his daughter in the chest to show her how it feels. And I just loved what he did when he talks as Big Daddy. Completely iconic.
Hit Girl is just so sweet, even when she slices peoples limbs off.
2 characters like that could steal a movie. Yet the emphasis stays on Dave, the main character. Aaron Johnson is again perfect here, as just the "standard" teenager who decides to try and make a difference in his own way. Anyone who has been teen in the last 20 years could identify to him. I certainly would. It's a movie that brings the super-hero fantasy one step closer to the average joe...
They're all nuts, yet so likeable, you just have to root for them.

And because of the "realisticish" setting and the hardboiled nature of the story, you just fear something will happen to them so you just root even more for them.
Even more so because Mark Strong composes a very fearsome baddy to face them...

In the director's chair, Matthew Vaughn delivers like I would never had dreamed he would.
He manages to be gritty yet colorful, mastefully shifts the tone (even the incrusions into teen comedy are a joy) and give us some incredible action sequences.
The movie just moves from memorable moment to memorable moment. Hit-Girl's kung fu antics, a brilliant tracking shot reminiscent of Old Boy, the best in-the-dark-shoot-out since Equilibrium, a back story told in comic book... The list goes on.

It's a wonder that it ever got done and it's another credit to give Vaughn that he originally financed it on his own.
In fine, he single-handledly delivered one of the best comic book movies ever made and a revigorating breeze on the genre.
For that I'm forever thankful to him.