--- title: "Kick-Ass" year: 2010 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/kick-ass" fi1m_score: 72 critics_score: 75 critics_reviews: 22 published: "2026-09-17T00:41:36.655378+00:00" updated: "2026-09-17T00:41:37.109575+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Kick-Ass (2010) Directed by Matthew Vaughn · 1h 58m · MPA R · Action, Crime **Fi1m score: 72** · Critics 75 from 22 reviews *In a sentence:* The best fights in the film belong to a schoolgirl, and the film keeps cutting back to the boy > Matthew Vaughn’s comic-book film is quick, rude and cut with real skill, and Chloë Grace Moretz’s Hit Girl is an eleven-year-old who kills better than anyone else on screen. Around her is a teen comedy that runs out of ideas well before the 118 minutes do. ## Synopsis New York. Dave Lizewski (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) is a teenager who reads comics, is ignored by Katie Deauxma (Lyndsy Fonseca) and wonders why nobody has ever tried to be a superhero. He orders a green-and-yellow wetsuit online, is stabbed and run over on his first night out, and on his second is filmed by a diner full of phones seeing off three men. The footage makes Kick-Ass famous. Across town, Damon Macready (Nicolas Cage) trains his eleven-year-old daughter Mindy (Chloë Grace Moretz) with knives and a bulletproof vest for a private war on the crime boss Frank D’Amico (Mark Strong), whose son Chris (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) is watching Kick-Ass’s rise with interest. ## Review Dave Lizewski (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) reads comics, cannot get Katie Deauxma (Lyndsy Fonseca) to look at him, and asks why nobody has ever put on a costume and tried it. He orders a green wetsuit, is stabbed on his first night out and filmed on a dozen phones on his second, and becomes Kick-Ass. Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughn’s script sets that up as a joke about a boy with no powers, then introduces two people who do the job properly: Damon Macready (Nicolas Cage) and his daughter Mindy (Chloë Grace Moretz), who are working through the gangster Frank D’Amico (Mark Strong) one henchman at a time. It is a good, fast, foul-mouthed film, and a much better one whenever Mindy is in it. The action is the reason to see it. Three editors are credited, Pietro Scalia, Eddie Hamilton and Jon Harris, and they keep every fight legible: you know where the door is, who has the knife and how far away the gun is. Hit Girl’s first appearance is a single corridor in a block of flats, a purple wig, a punk cover of a children’s television theme, and a roomful of grown men dealt with in ninety seconds. Ben Davis shoots it wide and lets her do the moving. We laughed. Then we noticed she was eleven, and that we were laughing at a child cutting through adults, and we did not know what to do with our faces. The film cuts to Dave being sick in a corner, which is as close as it gets to an opinion. Cage is the other reason. Sammy Sheldon puts Big Daddy in a moustache and armour shaped like Batman’s, and Cage speaks in the clipped, oddly paused voice of the 1960s television Batman, so every line arrives a beat late. The scene where he shoots his daughter in the chest to prove the vest works, then offers her ice cream, made us laugh and then feel slightly ashamed of ourselves, the effect the whole film chases and rarely manages elsewhere. His history is told as comic-book panels, the neatest idea in the film. Cage plays the man as gentle, and that is the only way the part could have worked. The trouble is Dave. Taylor-Johnson is likeable and gets the gangly, apologetic physical comedy right, but the script gives him a teen film we have seen before: Katie decides he is gay, he goes along with it to get near her, and Clark Duke’s Marty is on hand to comment. The film keeps returning to this as if it were the main story, and each return costs pace. Christopher Mintz-Plasse’s Red Mist, a rich boy’s superhero with a car and a sound system, has a better idea behind him than the script has time for. Mark Strong is a proper villain in a film that does not much need one. The satire is thinner than it looks. It says once that a superhero in the real world would end up in hospital, then spends ninety minutes staging exactly the fantasy it mocked. It is not commenting on anything; it is enjoying itself, loudly. Five composers are credited, Marius de Vries, Ilan Eshkeri, Liam Howlett, Henry Jackman and John Murphy, and the result sounds like a compilation, with a big string theme lending a late set piece more weight than it has earned. Russell De Rozario’s production design is sharpest in the Macready safehouse, a wall of weapons in a room that otherwise looks like a bedsit. This is Vaughn’s third film after *Layer Cake* and *Stardust*, and the most confident of the three; he has learned to hold a shot and let a joke sit. It arrived when comic-book films were at their most solemn, and the relief in most reviews is understandable. A minority found the Hit Girl material indefensible. We think both sides are describing the same scenes, and that the film has no view on them. The 15 certificate is doing a great deal of work. Watch it with people who like this sort of thing. At 118 minutes it is a quarter of an hour longer than its ideas, and the quarter is mostly Dave’s. *Fi1m score 72, published 17 September 2026.* ### Reviews we read (22) - **Little White Lies**, Matt Bochenski (4/5/5): The critic hails Vaughn's comic-book adaptation as a fresh, irreverent breath of air in the superhero genre. It singles out the sharply scripted mix of sex, violence and knowing wit for particular praise. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/kick-ass) - **Empire**, Chris Hewitt (90/100, inferred): The critic hails the film as an evolutionary leap for Vaughn, a thrilling, violent and darkly funny comic-book movie made with creative freedom. He singles out the world-class action sequences, tonal shifts and performances, especially Chloe Moretz as Hit-Girl. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/kick-ass-review/) - **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw (90/100, inferred): The critic finds Kick-Ass a hilarious, outrageously violent black comedy that twists superhero tropes into something anarchic and irresponsible. He singles out the film's genius for provocation and incorrectness, particularly in the Hit Girl action sequence. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/mar/31/kick-ass-review-film) - **Screen Daily** (85/100, inferred): The critic calls it an adrenalin-fuelled shot in the arm for the superhero movie, likely to become a cult classic with strong box-office potential. It highlights the over-the-top violence and strong performances, particularly from Chloë Moretz as Hit-Girl. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/kick-ass/5011630.article) - **Total Film**, Mark Salisbury (85/100, inferred): The critic calls it the most refreshing spandex cinema in years, a profane, violent, gory and gleeful romp that pokes fun at po-faced superhero films. He praises Vaughn’s handling of tone and character, and singles out the twisted father-daughter dynamic of Big Daddy and Hit-Girl. [Read](https://www.gamesradar.com/kick-ass-review/) - **Evening Standard** (80/100, inferred): The critic deems it a triumph of wit, energy and visceral violence, an assured leap for Vaughn. He singles out the strong central performances, especially Aaron Johnson and Chloe Moretz, and the audacious, funny deflation of superhero and teen-movie conventions. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/first-review-kickass-kicks-ass-7419146.html) - **The Independent** (75/100, inferred): The critic finds the film hugely enjoyable, riddled with profanity, jet-black comedy and kick-ass action. He singles out Chloe Moretz as the ultra-violent, potty-mouthed Hit-Girl as the standout star, along with strong turns from Cage and Mintz-Plasse. [Read](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-kickass-15-2068831.html) - **Los Angeles Times**, Kenneth Turan (70/100, inferred): The critic calls the film a seductive but disturbing mix of slick mayhem and profanity that captures young male fantasies, praising the live-wire energy and Chloe Grace Moretz's performance while noting its R-rated brutality and cultural provocations. It positions the movie as a timely exhibit of hyper-violent pop culture. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-apr-16-la-et--kickass-20100416-story.html) - **Time Out**, Ben Walters (70/100, inferred): The review finds the film an efficient, reference-packed action romp with engaging performances, especially from the young leads. It notes the hyper-violent tone and post-Tarantino ultraviolence as defining elements. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/kick-ass) - **The AV Club**, Keith Phipps (C+): The film squanders its clever premise of an ordinary teen becoming a superhero by opting for stylized comic-book bigness over real stakes. It shines in scenes featuring Chloe Moretz's memorable Hit-Girl but otherwise feels like an ersatz blockbuster. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/kick-ass-1798164765) - **Slant Magazine**, Nick Schager (2/4): Vaughn's film is a sloppy trifle that panders to fanboy audiences with wish-fulfillment and pop-culture references but lacks grit or imagination as either satire or entertainment. It fails to develop characters or earn its heroics beyond cheap thrills and profanity. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/kick-ass/) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, The Associated Press (50/100, inferred): The critic describes an awkward everyman who succeeds as a crime-fighter without powers, noting strong performances especially from Chloe Moretz as Hit-Girl. The film mixes fanboy wish-fulfillment with ultraviolence but struggles to sustain its balancing act. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/kick-ass-film-review-29392/) - **The New York Times**, A.O. Scott (40/100, inferred): The critic examines the film's extreme violence, particularly scenes featuring an 11-year-old girl as a vigilante, questioning audience tolerance for such brutality in a comic-book adaptation. It notes the performances and the filmmakers' restraint in not killing the child character but highlights how the movie reflects jaded cultural attitudes toward screen bloodshed. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/18/movies/18scott.html) - **The New Yorker**, Anthony Lane (30/100, inferred): The review criticizes the film's cynical use of an 11-year-old girl in hyper-violent scenarios, likening it to violence's answer to kiddie porn and faulting the script for coarsening viewers. It finds the rest of the movie secondhand and overly reliant on familiar comic-book excess without effective satire. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/04/26/street-justice) - **Collider**, Matt Goldberg (A-): The critic praises the film's fun, balanced mix of heart and extreme violence, highlighting strong performances by Aaron Johnson and Chloë Grace Moretz, and Vaughn's direction that captures comic-book chaos with childlike joy. [Read](https://collider.com/kick-ass-review/) - **Den of Geek**, Mark Pickavance (5 out of 5): The film is brilliant and the best comic book movie of 2010, more consistently entertaining than The Dark Knight. It cleverly upends superhero conventions with brutal yet balletic action sequences and strong performances, especially from Chloe Moretz as Hit-Girl. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/kick-ass-review-4/) - **Eye for Film**, Max Crawford (4.5/5): The review describes the film as delivering exactly what it promises—an energetic, self-aware superhero parody with cartoonish violence and strong performances. It singles out Hit-Girl as the standout character and praises Matthew Vaughn for keeping studio interference at bay. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/reviews.php?film_id=18586) - **/Film**, David Chen (9/10): The critic finds the film an irresistible, over-the-top culmination of recent action and superhero trends, expertly fused by Vaughn into something fresh and crowd-pleasing. They highlight Chloë Grace Moretz’s scene-stealing Hit-Girl performance and the film’s humorous, excessive violence. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/508622/davids-kick-ass-movie-review/) - **The Wrap**, Leah Rozen (90/100, inferred): The critic defends the film against accusations of being morally reprehensible, calling it a wildly fun superhero movie that upends tired formulas cleverly. She singles out the extended shootout scene that references and tops Tarantino’s Kill Bill for its dazzling violence and humor. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/kick-ass-too-offensive-oh-lighten-16365/) - **Digital Spy**, Simon Reynolds (80/100, inferred): Kick-Ass is a hell of a ride and a fresh, vigorous love letter to superhero stories with punk rock energy. It excels in its energetic action sequences and standout performances from Nicolas Cage and Chloe Moretz as the memorable father-daughter duo. [Read](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a205110/kick-ass/) - **HeyUGuys**, Craig Skinner (4/5): The critic calls the film audacious and hugely entertaining, a fun mix of over-the-top action, comedy, and comic-book references that delivers crowd-pleasing vulgarity and spectacle. They single out Chloë Grace Moretz’s layered, pitch-perfect performance as Hit-Girl for particular praise. [Read](https://www.heyuguys.com/review-kick-ass/) - **Paste**, Sean Edgar (80/100, inferred): The critic calls it a pitch-black love letter to the genre that realizes fears of violent vigilantes in ironic fun, praising the manic energy, Chloë Moretz's Hit-Girl, and how it blends teen memoir with violent satire. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/chloe-moretz/kick-ass-review) ## Details - **Director:** Matthew Vaughn - **Director:** Matthew Vaughn - **Screenplay:** Jane Goldman, Matthew Vaughn - **Cinematography:** Ben Davis - **Editor:** Pietro Scalia, Jon Harris, Eddie Hamilton - **Music:** Henry Jackman, John Murphy, Marius de Vries, Ilan Eshkeri, Liam Howlett - **Production design:** Russell De Rozario - **Costume design:** Sammy Sheldon - **Producer:** Tarquin Pack, David Reid, Brad Pitt - **Cast:** Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Dave Lizewski / Kick-Ass; Chloë Grace Moretz as Mindy Macready / Hit Girl; Nicolas Cage as Damon Macready / Big Daddy; Lyndsy Fonseca as Katie Deauxma; Mark Strong as Frank D'Amico; Deborah Twiss as Mrs. Zane; Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Chris D'Amico / Red Mist; Elizabeth McGovern as Mrs. Lizewski - **Runtime:** 1h 58m - **Certificate (MPA):** R - **Release (the US):** 16 April 2010 - **Genres:** Action, Crime - **Budget:** $28 million - **Box office:** $96 million - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdBiTjy7AEI ## Where to watch in the US - Amazon Prime Video: streaming, uhd - Amazon Prime Video: free, uhd - Amazon Prime Video: add-on, uhd - Amazon Prime Video: rent $3.99, uhd - Apple TV: rent $3.99, hd - Amazon Prime Video: buy $3.99, uhd - Apple TV: buy $4.99, hd *Checked 2026-09-17.* Also available in: AR, AT, AU, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, DE, EE, FR, HK, ID, IT, LT, MX, NZ, PA, UA, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## Awards - European Film Award – People's Choice Award for Best European Film 2010: European Film Award – People's Choice Award for Best European Film (nominated) ## If you liked this - *Léon* (1994), Fi1m 74: A hitman trains a child; Hit Girl’s obvious ancestor, played straight and sadder. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/leon-the-professional.md) - *Super* (2010): The same idea, a man with no powers and a wrench, taken to a grimmer place. - *Kingsman: The Secret Service* (2014): Vaughn again, same rudeness and the same clean, legible violence, in a suit. - *Scott Pilgrim vs. the World* (2010), Fi1m 81: Comic-book panels brought to life with more wit and much less blood. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/scott-pilgrim-vs-the-world.md) - *Defendor* (2009): Woody Harrelson as a homemade superhero, played for pity rather than laughs. --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/kick-ass