The film captured the early 2010s anxiety of powerlessness. After the 2008 financial crisis, the idea that a single, rich man (Iron Man) or an alien (Thor) would save us felt hollow. Kick-Ass proposed that if heroes were to exist, they would be mentally broken vigilantes (Big Daddy), exploited children (Hit-Girl), or well-meaning idiots in wetsuits (Dave).
After a lengthy, nerve-damaging recovery, he tries again. This time, a chance encounter with some thugs is caught on camera, and "Kick-Ass" becomes a YouTube sensation. But his clumsy heroism attracts the attention of two very different entities: a father-daughter vigilante duo, Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage) and Hit-Girl (Chloë Grace Moretz), who are waging a one-family war against local crime lord Frank D’Amico (Mark Strong); and D’Amico’s awkward son, Chris (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), who dons a green and yellow costume to become the villain "Red Mist" to infiltrate and destroy Kick-Ass from within. kick-ass -2010-
But the film is stolen, outright burgled, by an 11-year-old. as Hit-Girl is a revelation. She delivers lines like "Okay, you cunts, let’s see what you can do now" with the casualness of a playground taunt, then proceeds to clear a room of armed men with choreography that rivals John Wick . The genius of Moretz’s performance is that she never winks at the camera. Hit-Girl is not a joke; she is a traumatized, conditioned soldier who happens to like purple hair and The Love Bug . The scene where she tearfully tells her father, "I’m not going to cry... I’m not going to cry," before walking into a warehouse full of bad guys is heartbreaking and terrifying in equal measure. The film captured the early 2010s anxiety of powerlessness