Overall entertaining, but the film never seems totally focused. The main plot is fairly flimsy; held together mostly by the character arcs and only coming together at the end of the movie. Of the three major character arcs, Hit-Girl’s is easily the most interesting, but it does get a little weird with a “Mean Girls” inspired plot. In and out of costume, Hit-Girl is really the star here and you always want more of her. Kick-Ass’ storyline hits and misses. He’s at his best when interacting with his Justice Forever teammates. I think those who haven’t seen the first film will probably be the least satisfied with Kick-Ass himself, since his motivation for being a superhero is only touched upon in the sequel. The portions of the film dealing with the evolution of the film’s villain never seem to reach their potential. Every time things get interesting, there’s an odd twist that takes things in a different direction. Most of the supporting characters are fairly one-dimensional, with Jim Carey’s Colonel Stars and Stripes being the most interesting. The film’s humor is pretty strong, with some good one-liners and funny moments throughout. The action scenes are bloody and fairly realistic, but the overuse of CGI blood tends to stand out as a distraction. There’s a post-credit scene that I missed, but it didn’t sound like anything really worth staying for.
*** out of *****