12 Awesome Performances That Saved Underwhelming Films

Kick-Ass was an extraordinary movie. It was very tasteless, but as a darkly comic satire it was masterful and it was full of extremely emotional and stirring moments. It's a strange beast of a film and there's nothing else like it. Kick-Ass 2 on the other hand? Nope.

Inexplicably, Mathew Vaughn handed writing and directing duties over to some random guy who'd never directed a well-received film. The result was an occasionally fun but generic and overly dark movie that totally missed the point of the first and had one of the worst endings in recent memory. That's not even mentioning the sick stick scene and that hugely tasteless rape joke.

Chloe Grace Moretz, however, lifts the film up. She's utterly brilliant in Kick-Ass 2 and is endlessly cool, hilariously funny and dramatically compelling in every scene she's in. With Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Christopher Mintz-Plasse burdened with poor character choices and Jim Carrey barely in it, it all falls to her. Even when the writing falls apart, she always holds it together. It's when Hit Girl is around that the film becomes funny, exciting and emotionally stirring in the unique way the first one was.

If they ever get around to doing Kick-Ass 3 - recent rumors suggest they might - they shouldn't even bother unless Moretz comes back. Given that she's in a career slump at the moment it'd be good for her as well.