Kick-Ass 2

The violence is the same as in the first film, but the difference is in the way the film shows the violence. While Matthew Vaughn has somehow managed to justify its use with his own playful directorial style, Jeff Wadlow could not. Blood is again spurting out on all sides of the world (and not only blood, actually), but so what? In my opinion, it's a useless sequel, a hotly edited mash-up that can only stare enviously at its predecessor. The title character didn't interest me at all this time, the heroine didn't interest me either, although she was given more space, and the only really interesting character I really enjoyed was played by Jim Carrey. But there was so desperately little of it... (2014-09-25)

Spoiler. Without anger and bitterness. The start is solid - it honestly exploits the drive of the first film - but the entire film dies with Colonel Stars and Stripes (Jim Carrey). There is too much serious bullshit, the inconsistency of tone and the resulting self-purpose, and there are a few awkward serious scenes for a few punk scenes. The film has problems with things that the first film did with ease. About halfway through, the wheels totally fall off and the film only gets it’s groove back for a moment. Wadlow manages the details, but does not make the whole thing work. I will always love the first film for its audacity and civil pathos, but I have nothing to love or hate the second film for. He's not an evil badass mothafucka, he's just a forgettable hard-working transvestite. [50%] (2013-08-19)

Maybe it’s because meanwhile I’ve read the comic book original, but the sequel is much weaker than part one. For one thing, Jeff Wadlow comes nowhere near Vaughn. His directing is erratic and lacks invention. The story diverges from the comic book in the most interesting passages, while it sticks quite faithfully to the less interesting parts. Chloë Moretz is fine, unfortunately she’s grown a little too old and I simply can’t see the well-behaved, sweet little girl in her anymore. Most of the time the poor girl is hanging around in High School Musical mode and not only is it boring, it doesn’t lead anywhere. Christopher Mintz-Plasse is annoying, completely inappropriate as a bad guy and even Iain Glen who appeared on screen only for about a minute easily outplayed him. And the best characters - Carrey and Leguizamo are given too little space. The action is decent, but in places more distasteful than plain bloody entertainment. The cuts between dramatic and entertaining scenes are about as smooth as a slap in the face. Why am I even giving it 3 stars? (2013-11-29)

This is neither a superfluous sequel nor is it a failure of a sequel; this is just a sad example of what part one would have looked like if it had been filmed by a routine filmmaker with no style who saw the main assets of the material primarily (and exclusively) in all its perversity, controversy, rude words and violence for violence’s sake. Where part one was about children, but not for children, part two is about teenagers, and only for teenagers. (2013-08-23)

A mediocre teen flick that manages to parody and reference a large variety of genres, from superhero flicks to Mean Girls (really!), but unfortunately without a single over-the-top and memorable scene. Moretz is still great, but somehow gets ridiculously little space, and the promise of Jim Carrey's involvement resulted in the most useless and boring role of his career. It just doesn’t work without Vaughn, although the effort can't be denied. 60% (2016-11-03)