NEWS

'Kick-Ass,' 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid' full of teen angst

Nate Hensley Columnist

This week there are two new releases featuring teen angst, albeit radically different kinds of teen angst.

"Diary of a Wimpy Kid" is your more traditional, straightforward type of coming-of-age movie, about a kid dealing with the trials and tribulations of middle school.

"Kick-Ass," on the other hand, is about kids who come-of-age by putting on spandex costumes and getting into bloody battles with criminals. The 11-year-old Greg wants to become popular but ends up on the nerdfest known as the Safety Patrol. The 11-year-old Hit-Girl wants a new knife for her birthday and uses it to stab many people to death.

Kids. They're like a box of chocolates, aren't they?

As different as these two movies are, at their essence they are really about the same thing - young people having to step up and become adults. They have to make moral decisions, decide who they are and what kind of human beings they want to be. It's really not that different from other teen movies, from "American Graffiti" to "Nightmare on Elm Street."

Aaron Johnson is Dave Lizewski, a teenage outcast and comics-nerd who muses, "Why do so many people imitate Paris Hilton and no one imitates Spider-Man?" So he orders himself a superhero outfit, dubs himself Kick-Ass, sets up a MySpace account and hits the streets. But reality sets in: When he tries to stop a couple of carjackers, he is stabbed and left for dead.

After his coma, Dave finds himself with nerve damage so that he can't feel as much pain, making him able to take a heroic beating. He goes back to the streets, and this time saves a man, making himself an Internet sensation.

This brings him to the attention of the local crime boss (Mark Strong) and a pair of lethal vigilantes, Big Daddy and Hit-Girl.

Dave is basically a good kid, trying to be like Peter Parker and make the city a little safer. Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage) and Hit-Girl (Chloe Moretz) leave stacks of bodies wherever they go. Suddenly Dave finds himself in a very violent and deadly situation.

What makes "Kick-Ass" work beyond its cliche superhero conventions is the humorous tweaking it does to those cliches. Big Daddy and Hit-Girl are obviously modeled after Batman and Robin, but taken to the extreme - Hit-Girl is only a child but is repeatedly shot and beaten as she cuts a swath of bloody destruction through the underworld. And Big Daddy, as ruthless as he is, still manages to be an aw-shucks type of dad in the "Leave It To Beaver" mold.

Hidden beneath the costumes and the catch phrases, "Kick-Ass" has a snide point to make about superheroes. Not a great point, but a point nonetheless. Overall, this gives the film enough of a sardonic kick to make it stand out. And in particular, Cage's performance as Big Daddy is terrific, funny and utterly unique.

By comparison, "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" may sound a little mundane. After all, Greg (Zachary Gordon) does not know how to do backflips while shooting two pistols. He does not giggle when throwing someone into a car crusher. His problems are a lot more real, and his actions are a lot more realistic.

But not so realistic that they aren't good for a few laughs. "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" is a movie that remembers what it was like going to a new school and trying to define yourself as a popular kid. It also remembers what it was like to screw up repeatedly and become a very unpopular kid.

Based on a series of popular books, this movie has a very easy-going, familiar feel about it, with a nice snarky sense of humor. Following Greg's misadventures with cliques, bullies and the cursed slice of cheese makes a refreshing change from movies about kids battling wizards and mutants. Instead, we get some real life-lessons on what it means to be a friend. The on-again-off-again friendship between Greg and Rowley is really the heart of the film.

"Diary of a Wimpy Kid" is an easy choice for Family Movie Night. Edgier viewers or older movie fans might find it a bit, well, wimpy. But if there's one thing to be learned from this movie, it's that there are far worse things you can be than wimpy.

Contact Nate Hensley at Nate@nateflix.net.

Political thriller from director Roman Polanski about an author drawn into a web of parliamentary intrigue starring Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan, Tom Wilkinson, Timothy Hutton and Kim Cattrall.

"Finding Bliss"

Romantic comedy about a young, aspiring filmmaker who takes a job at an "adult entertainment" studio and meets its most infamous director.

"Heroes: Season Four"

The final season of the superhero TV series comes to DVD with 18 episodes featuring the ensemble cast and finale of the sci-fi show.

"Mercy: The <0x000A>Complete Series"

Medical drama about the lives of three nurses at a busy New Jersey hospital features all 22 episodes of the canceled series.

"After.Life"

Liam Neeson stars as a man who can communicate with people who are stuck in purgatory and need help to arrive to the afterlife.

Nate rates it:

>"Kick-Ass" Rent It

>"Diary of a Wimpy Kid" Rent It

>Rating key

>Buy It - worth adding to your personal collection; Rent It - worth paying money to watch

>Watch It - worth watching for free

>Skip It - not worth watching at all.

comingsoon.net