Jim Carrey Delivers In Kick-Ass 2 Red Band Trailer

Colonel Stars and Stripes is the new Big Daddy, apparently.

I loved the first Kick Ass movie, as it amplified what worked about Mark Millar’s comic, and changed up everything that didn’t.  The result was a movie that kept the manic edge of Millar’s book while also playing as a satirical jab at the modern super hero movies, and it just worked so perfectly.

It worked so well that Millar borrowed more from the movie than his own comic book when he wrote the comic sequel, Kick Ass 2: Balls To The Wall, the comic on which this new movie will be based.  The comic scribe retconned some stuff from the first movie into his on-page narrative, and told a story way more brutal and darker than the original.  And that’s what has my interest piqued in the new movie.

There’s no way the film sequel can be a straight adaptation of the comic series.  Even as a hard-R (which this trailer already proves Kick Ass 2 will be), there’s some really rough stuff in there… I’ve read some virtual eye rolling over the bit in this trailer where returning hero Dave Lizewski (Kick Ass) wants to hang up the mask and walk away.  Yes it’s cliche, but the horrible context under which it takes place in the comic makes it way more unsettling than any other time we’ve seen that bit play out.

What really catches my attention, though is Jim Carrey’s Colonel Stars and Stripes, one of the self-made super heroes who has risen in the wake of Kick Ass’ big debut.  Carrey is going broad and weird here, and the unkempt, almost hobo-esque appearance of his pseudo-military costume, along with his wise guy accent make for a screen presence I’m dying to see more of.  Between the Colonel and Nic Cage’s Big Daddy, this is becoming the franchise for big-time actors to go completely full-tilt crazy, apparently.

I’m hoping Kick Ass 2 is just as good or better than the first film.  It had much better source material to work with, but also much bleaker.  I’m digging the hell out of the new heroes so far, though– Aaron Johnson really nails his “What an asshole” line– and I can’t wait to check out the gonzo midtown Manhattan super hero/ super villain battle that ends this story on the big screen.

“Yeah, there’s a dog on your balls!”