3. Rushed Pacing And Editing
Many scenes in Kick-Ass 2 are completely rushed to the point where the viewer feels zero emotional impact. The early scenes are acceptably paced, but by the time we reach the death scene of Colonel Stars and Stripes the movie charges into overdrive. It becomes a whirlwind of blood, violence and death too fast to properly register anything. While the death of the Colonel hits home mostly successfully (thanks in large part to Jim Carrey's scene-stealing performance) each subsequent scene is ripped of its core. Consider: there is virtually no breathing room after the Colonel's death, just the brief conversation at the diner table, and then we're immediately thrown into more Mother F**ker carnage. The movie cuts from there to Dave's father finding out about Kick-Ass, to his father's arrest, to his murder, to Dave's reaction, to the funeral, to the firing rocket, to Hit-Girl on the truck - all in 10 minutes or less. It's particularly offensive that Wadlow would blow through the death of Kick-Ass' father as though it's just an unimportant plot device. In the comic, his death provides the emotional core. It has a huge impact on Dave, and causes him to doubt all of his life choices. It's heart-wrenching, and is justifiably given ample space in order to deal with the emotional consequences. In the movie it's impossible to feel anything. We move so quickly between scenes that they lose all of their impact, without which the subsequent violence - like the big team showdown - feels unjustified. This is why critics everywhere have been calling Kick-Ass 2 pointless schlock. If only they had read the comic, they would see just how much of it is Wadlow's fault. Judging from the rushed treatment of these scenes, Wadlow's mind was only on one thing: action. Anything in between the action scenes is treated as second fiddle. Ironic considering the action scenes aren't even well put together. Vaughn's dazzling choreography is replaced by Bourne Identity shaky cam. But unlike in Bourne, the technique isn't used to create a unique style, it's just used to cover a lack of talent in executing action sequences. Breakneck cutting and repetitious switching from wide angle to close-up artificially intensify scenes like Hit-Girl's attack in the alleyway of her fight on the truck. This is the laziest form of constructing an action set-piece, only pleasing to the most untrained eyes. It's obvious why the film had problems telling a coherent story. Consider this: the first Kick-Ass film, based on only one graphic novel, ran over 2 hours. This film, based on 2 entirely separate graphic novels, is around 20 minutes shorter. Huh? The movie could have really benefited from an extra 15-20 minutes to give those later scenes more room to breathe and allow the proper audience impact. It would have been easy for Wadlow to extend some of the scenes, but I suspect either his heart wasn't in it, or he's just completely incompetent at storytelling. Probably the latter, considering his Rotten Tomatoes track record. On the subject of incompetence, please turn to the next page...