Kick Ass 2

Set not too long after the events of the first movie, we find that the three survivors are all heading in three directions which will ultimately put them on a collision course. Dave / Kick-Ass (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) has become a member of a cut-rate Avengers group of "superheroes", including Colonel Stars And Stripes (Jim Carrey) and a motley crew with some truly darkly comic "origin stories". Then there's Chris / Red Mist / The Mother-F**ker (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), who is still smarting that Kick-Ass killed his dad with a bazooka, so sets about to become the world's first super-villain with an odd Norman Bates vibe to him. Meanwhile, Mindy / Hit-Girl (Chloe Grace Moretz) has become a member of a cut-rate Mean Girls group, as she tries to keep her promise to her new foster-dad that she'll give up superheroics for good.

If there is a comic book movie trope that annoys and frustrates in equal measures as much as the "origin story", it's the "hanging up my cape and mask for the greater good" arc. We've seen it all before in the likes of Spiderman 2 and Batman Forever, and for a comic-book movie that was so steeped in originality, it kinda sucks that the sequel ends up following in the footsteps of so many similar movies that have come and gone before.

After all the hoopla that Jim Carrey caused by not wanting to do any publicity on this movie due to its level of violence, the biggest surprise is just how little he appears on screen. If you enjoyed what he and his character get up to in the trailers and can't wait to see more, you're in for a big disappointment, as you've seen pretty much all of his scenes in the movie. Also, the empty costume of Big Daddy (previously played by Nicolas Cage) looms heavily over the whole movie, with no character or actor coming close to filling that void.

That's not to say that this movie is out and out bad; there are some very fun scenes of destruction in an otherwise idyllic suburban neighbourhood, and Moretz is still an absolute revelation as Hit-Girl, completely owning the screen whenever she shows up.

However, aside from the lack of originality, the biggest problem on the display here is that nobody seems to be having much fun. The rule of "sequels MUST be darker" chokes out the hysterical and volatile nature of the original, and if nobody IN the movie is enjoying themselves, then nobody WATCHING the movie will be, either.