Woove staff writer William Case reviews new film release, Kick-Ass.

The allure with any assortment of comics today is that they simply let us be who we’re not. From Batman and his nighttime escapades to the arachnid-heavy misfortunes of Peter Parker, each carbon-printed hero is a piece of what the kid in us yearns to be. Yet there is an undeniable magic in reading a comic book that can’t be translated onto a television screen or movie — and that’s the loss of imagination. Where the comic allows for the reader to read between the lines, the movie fills in all the gaps.

Thankfully, with the audacious storyline that “Kick-Ass” delivers, handholding isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Taking its plot cues and a majority of the original story line from the original comic’s writer Mark Miller, the film follows the workings of average schmuck Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) as he finds his “inner-hero.” This of course is spoken loosely, since for the majority of the film he spends his time whining about his despondent life or bleeding on the floor.

Luckily Lizewski, aka Kick-Ass, isn’t alone in his midnight adventures. His gallivanting attracts the attention of duo Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage) and Hit-Girl (Chloe Mortez), as well as a drug lord (Mark Strong), who is looking to make up on some of the lost product that Big Daddy has been taking some liberties on. The why doesn’t really matter in the overall story — in reality, the plot writes itself as you sit and laugh at the quick-fire jokes, excessive violence and needless gore.

Yet it is how director Matthew Vaughn blended so much of a jagged collection of characters into a realistic Disney-like world of psychopaths that makes the film standout. Johnson does a fantastic job of embodying that everyday kid you find sitting by his lonesome in the lunchroom wailing on his PSP. His ineptitude at being Kick-Ass, the thing that he tried to personify, is something gratifying since we know it shouldn’t justifiably work.

Thus, when given glimpses of Strong as cocaine kingpin Frank D’Amico, it’s that much more powerful. Strong, who had become so accustomed playing the villain since “Sherlock Holmes,” fits well into the character — just as easily as the expensive Armani suit he wears throughout the film.

Surprisingly, neither of these two men stole the show as much as big Cage and little Mortez. This pairing was so versatile, crude and violent that nobody could turn away, let alone stop smiling. Cage, who had been in a serious creative slump since his two-minute disaster “Next,” finally found a movie that reached out and stroked his awkward sense of humor. The loving and Mr. Rodgers-like smiles, coupled with a Bruce Wayne-esque background makes him a perfect melting pot for self-destruction ... or Prozac.

The tone of Mortez is very much unlike that of her crime-fighting counterpart. Mortez considers crime-fighting all one big game and makes it known in a big way. Throwing a knife into a thug’s throat, spinning over a chair to follow it up with a swift kick and an even faster comment, all Hit-Girl knows is revenge and how to fight. That’s the beauty of Mortez and what she brings to the character: She makes it effortless. As Hit-Girl, she walks with an air of someone that has been in the game for twice as long and double her height (which has caused serious controversy in the industry on the use of child actors), while as mild-mannered daughter Mindy, she is sickly-sweet and every bit the child she appears to be.

Vaughn put his neck on the chopping block, borrowing $40 million from here and there, to independently release this film. Hoping to make it back in one weekend alone, he has already been let down with abysmal results, hitting barely $20 million. If anything, it’s a film to watch for it’s melding of characters. Think of it as its own version of a schizophrenic Justice League: They just all have their own visible suits.