Kick Ass Can Thank Vaugh
I had reservations about seeing the film, Kick Ass. I had heard mixed reviews of the campy-looking, wannabe superhero teen flick. The advertisements appeared to draw a younger audience without emphasizing the extreme violence in the film. Many were put off. Personally, I love gore in film so I wasn’t deterred. I decided to give Kick Ass a try. Those reservations were alleviated, though, when I saw the film was directed by Matthew Vaughn.
Although Vaughn is not the most well-known of British directors, he is famous for his first film, starring Daniel Craig. Layer Cake, released in 2004, is a gritty crime drama about a cocaine dealer, Mr. X (played by Craig), who is given two nearly impossible assignments on the eve of his early retirement. Craig was actually considered for the role of James Bond because of his role in Layer Cake.
Naturally, I was curious to see how this director, who bounces around from genre to genre like Danny Boyle, would handle a satirical action film about a kid who decides to become a super hero with no training, talent or riches.
Although what I first noticed about the film is the art direction, upon further reflection I noted that it was the direction of Matthew Vaughn that truly made the film compelling.
The sheer fact that Vaughn was able to control the loose canon that is Nicholas Cage speaks volumes to his ability as a director. Cage, although highly eccentric, was a believable character (a stark contrast to the other roles that he’s played).
The best directing is the directing that goes unnoticed. The strongest directors not only make the actors feel comfortable, but allow these actors to assume new identities. The actors shouldn’t sound or look like they’re acting, the audience should forget they’re watching actors. They should feel like they’re watching real people live their lives onscreen. This is where Kickass becomes a sticky situation.
Due to the satirical nature of the film, the characters already had a dramatized existence. Much like its graphic novel background,
Despite the excellent function of each individual part of the machine, the pieces never fully came together in Kick Ass. The characters, despite their otherworldly existence, never fully make it off the page. I never forgot they were acting. I never believed they were real (within their world).
The main character, although being shockingly adorable, was missing a certain aspect of humanity: that of reason. I just couldn’t relate to his choices, and couldn’t understand his motivations. Therefore, he never became a real person for me.
This film made me recognize the incredible challenge of directing actors within a fictionalized and self-sustained world. The directing and acting needs to be subtle, it needs to be consistent. But most of all, it needs to be real. The actors can’t just act, they have to live. They have to become the character. The best directors don’t just go over intonation for specific lines, they foster character growth.
