"Kick Ass" stars Aaron Johnson as the invisible-t0-girls Dave Lizewski in this modern-day superhero movie that answers the question "why don't people just put on capes and fight crime?" Throughout the film, there are many references to the cyber - from the mundane activities Dave takes part in during his free time to the MySpace page of his alter-ego Kick Ass. Through the internet, Dave's life is flipped upside-down and his identity has been altered.
In the beginning of the film Dave purchases a wet suit online to begin his transformation into Kick Ass. In comics, I'm pretty sure there was no internet for the masked avengers to purchase their garb. Once the wet suit is received, Kick Ass immediately begins his training. Through the use of Kick Ass' MySpace page, he is able to communicate with people who need assistance with anything. From this, he ends up attempting to rescue a cat from outside a donut shop and becomes entangled in saving a man who is chased by a gang of thugs. During this battle, a teenager inside the donut shop films the ensuing fight on his cell phone and posts the video on YouTube. The video immediately goes viral and Kick Ass becomes all the rage.
As the film progresses, more elements are introduced and we're brought to one of the most tense scenes of the film. Kick Ass is kidnapped (along with fellow-superhero Big Daddy) and a video begins streaming on the web to display a live execution. More follows from this, which you'll just have to watch the movie to find out for yourself.
I took this movie to be a literal example of what the internet has the power to do. The internet has this transformative property that can turn somebody from an anonymous blogger to becoming a leading expert on a certain topic. But what the internet can create, the internet can also destroy. The live execution of Kick Ass that was staged, can be seen as critics of Kick Ass delegitimizing his work online. All in all, I thought the film was very modern and relevant (aside from the MySpace references) and caused me to think about what will be created by the internet in years to come.
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