Under the stewardship of Never Back Down director Jeff Wadlow, gutter-revelling comic author Mark Millar's brutal and juvenile superhero satire sequel finds enough heart and sincerity to balance out the vacuum of stylistic acumen left by the departure of Matthew Vaughn. The X-Men: First Class director retains a hands-on producer role in the bawdy, hypocritical franchise, as is emphasized throughout the special features included with the Blu-Ray edition of Kick-Ass 2.
Demonstrating a sharp understanding of what makes bonus content exciting for fans and reaping the benefits of the intelligence of and chemistry between Chloë Grace Moretz, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Wadlow — with frequent interjections from Vaughn — guides viewers through the process of being hired to take over the series as a major fanboy of the first movie and the unique challenges of making a micro-budget superhero picture.
Most of this information is conveyed through a five-part "Making Of," which also details how Wadlow developed the script concurrent to the writing of the second comic series, a situation that gave him considerable latitude to make the story his own. Since there's no way Jim Carrey was going to participate in the special features of a film he later disavowed, there's an abundance of behind the scenes footage of the famous funny man doing his thing, which is actually one of his strongest performances of the year. Everyone involved is careful not to comment on Carrey's change of heart, instead concentrating on the value of his contributions to the film, including some uncredited writing.
In addition to the extensive look at the film's production, Hit-Girl's elaborate fight scene atop a speeding van is demonstratively broken down and built back up, and a number of extended and alternate scenes (including a different, exposition-heavy opening) are also featured, with optional (and very welcome) director's commentary. The crowning jewel of the supplemental content, however, is a ridiculously entertaining and unexpectedly critical feature commentary track from Wadlow and his young principle stars.
For forgiving fans of the subversive, Kick-Ass 2 is essential viewing with something to say beneath the abundance of dick and fart jokes.
(Universal)Demonstrating a sharp understanding of what makes bonus content exciting for fans and reaping the benefits of the intelligence of and chemistry between Chloë Grace Moretz, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Wadlow — with frequent interjections from Vaughn — guides viewers through the process of being hired to take over the series as a major fanboy of the first movie and the unique challenges of making a micro-budget superhero picture.
Most of this information is conveyed through a five-part "Making Of," which also details how Wadlow developed the script concurrent to the writing of the second comic series, a situation that gave him considerable latitude to make the story his own. Since there's no way Jim Carrey was going to participate in the special features of a film he later disavowed, there's an abundance of behind the scenes footage of the famous funny man doing his thing, which is actually one of his strongest performances of the year. Everyone involved is careful not to comment on Carrey's change of heart, instead concentrating on the value of his contributions to the film, including some uncredited writing.
In addition to the extensive look at the film's production, Hit-Girl's elaborate fight scene atop a speeding van is demonstratively broken down and built back up, and a number of extended and alternate scenes (including a different, exposition-heavy opening) are also featured, with optional (and very welcome) director's commentary. The crowning jewel of the supplemental content, however, is a ridiculously entertaining and unexpectedly critical feature commentary track from Wadlow and his young principle stars.
For forgiving fans of the subversive, Kick-Ass 2 is essential viewing with something to say beneath the abundance of dick and fart jokes.
