Kick-Ass 2 (2013)
Directed by Jeff Wadlow
After Kick-Ass' insane bravery inspires a new wave of self-made masked crusaders, he joins a patrol led by the Colonel Stars and Stripes. When these amateur superheroes are hunted down by Red Mist — reborn as The Mother Fucker — only the blade-wielding Hit-Girl can prevent their annihilation.
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What critics compared Kick-Ass 2 to
Of all the movies self-consciously referenced by this pulp-savvy series, who knew that “ Mean Girls ” would yield the most wickedly funny results?
It’s only after she’s busted by her guardian that she finally hangs up the mask, only to find her character dropped into a Mean Girls rip-off so blatant, they may as well have just had her rent that movie and point the camera at her TV.
But the filmmakers run out of script long before the climax, even inserting a "Mean Girls" theme with Mindy being duped by the popular girls at school.
Having renewed her pledge to her guardian - police detective Marcus Williams (Morris Chestnut) - that she was done whacking criminals as Hit-Girl, Mindy ventures into a remake of Mean Girls, where Rachel McAdams' Regina is now Claudia Lee's Brooke.
Compounding his ineptness is his tendency to rip off movies right and left, from “Mean Girls” and “Carrie” to “Rocky IV,” presenting us with a female version of Dolph Lundgren in the person of evil commie Mother Russia (imposing bodybuilder Olga Kurkulina).
This time, Moretz gets to explore the more "girly" and "vulnerable" sides of Mindy, and the result is some of the movie's best moments, both on the superhero and civilian side of things (see: a Mean Girls -style lunchroom showdown).
As Jake, Asa Butterfield (2013's " Ender's Game ") struggles to make the most of what's on the page, his best moments the ones between himself and Ella Purnell's (2013's " Kick-Ass 2 ") wide-eyed, soulful Emma.
That young girl, Emma (Ella Purnell, "Kick-Ass 2"), recognized him by his resemblance to his grandfather.
Jeff Wadlow (Cry Wolf, Kick-Ass 2), collaborating with screenwriters Jillian Jacobs, Michael Reisz and Christopher Roach, concoct a horror movie around the concept of truth or dare that is precisely what you expect, with one exception: there isn’t one scary moment in it.
Even some work in Truth Or Dare harkens back to his visual prowess in Kick-Ass 2, be it Penelope’s (Sophia Ali) rooftop liquor-chug walk or Ronnie’s (Sam Lerner) barroom embarrassment.
Writer-director Jeff Wadlow (2013's " Kick-Ass 2 ") and co-writers Michael Reisz and Jillian Jacobs & Chris Roach (2014's " Non-Stop ") have fashioned a promising if predictable plot hook, but their disinterest in creating protagonists who are more than worm fodder or even genuinely worth caring about becomes overwhelming.
Director/co-screenwriter Jeff Wadlow (of the loathsome Kick-Ass 2 ) does a decent job of not playing into horror movie tropes.
However, despite one or two well-executed shocks and twists, it’s an opportunity that the four writers and Kick-Ass 2 director Jeff Wadlow never exploit as much as they should.
Directed by Jeff Wadlow ( Cry_Wolf , Kick-Ass 2 ) from a screenplay credited to him and three other people, the film is meant to be a creepy Twilight Zone sort of thing rather than outright “scary”; then, for some reason, it’s also a soapy melodrama with a love triangle.
(Kick-Ass 2 would be the closer analogue to Deadpool.)