After first Kickass movie explored the possibility of having superheroes in real life, the second installment takes a step further. It does not only try to dig deeper into a possibility of having masked and caped law enforcers around but also into identity crises of the people turning to wear masks and capes.
When we see biggest superheroes from the comic world, Batman, Spiderman, Superman and Ironman; (I do not really feel an inclination to take Thor, Hulk, the Fantastic Fours and the X-men into an account!) what these greater four superheroes tell us? We either need a superhuman power or a lot and lot of uncountable and unaccountable money. Real people do not have either. I actually tried to get myself bit by a spider but all I got was an itchy finger. What real people have is an identity crisis. Most of them either cannot fit in the society or just do not find proper means to make better of the society they live in. Possibilities are so endless that Kickass 2 actually has a scene where everyone introduces them to each other and tell why they turned to masks and capes. One lady (Yes! A lady! Real superhero world is better than the comic world in this regard!) has a purse with a brick in it. Another guy has a modified baseball bat. Kickass 2 makes this distinction clear every time.
Villainy is equally evil. And an unmistakable sense of this being real than the comic world makes it sound even harsher. There is an interesting quote comes from the masked villain, I dare not take his name here, that is, “What’s the point of wearing a Mask if you can’t do what you want!”. This is another way things may turn out in the real world. Why everyone would think only good of the society, some might very well just think more about themselves! For me in the real world, there is much more possibility of people turning masked villains rather than superheroes. Batman and Ironman seem much far from reality now.
Even if our protagonist is Kickass, the movie is equally about the Hitgirl too. Hitgirl and Kickass are confused teenagers for the most part about their real identity. Is Hitgirl just a highschool freshman or a masked superhero devoted to clean out all the evil? I just happened to read an interesting observation somewhere that went like Batman wears a mask to be a superhero while superman needs a mask to be a plain human! I see an interesting connection here among Batman, Superman, Hitgirl and Kickass; that their real identities are jumbled up and out of constant need to be someone else, they turn to masks.
The major point or a tragedy is you need a mask in either case. If we can well have superheroes in real world, we might well have them the way they are! May be this will be the theme they will be building upon if they wish to take the franchise further. As the Hitgirl shares her first kiss with the Kickass and goes away somewhere else in a very open ending, I think we shall also see these real superheroes all grown up!!
Alhad Mahabal
Appendix
Kick-Ass (Movie) IMDB Wiki
Kick-Ass (Character) IMDB Wiki
Hitgirl IMDB Wiki
Kick-Ass 2 IMDB Wiki
आल्हादक प्रतिबिंब! 