With the news that Jim Carrey playing a small role in the forthcoming Kick-Ass 2, the sequel to the hit movie from 2010 scripted by Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughn, I have made the decision NOT to watch the sequel.
Why?
Vaughn worked bloody hard to secure the financing to make the first film when no film studio would touch the material with a 200ft bargepole. Once he had the financing in place and made the film, the distributors were practically bitchslapping themselves to buy it.
Now that Mark Millar has written the sequel in comic form, it’s been adapted as a film – and finance is no longer an issue. And that’s where I have a problem. Now that Vaughn has proven it works, the studios are more than happy to splash the cash.
I can’t reward that behaviour. The studios knew full well Vaughn’s background and successes prior to Kick-Ass and should have trusted him (and Jane) sufficiently during the pitching phase to have stumped up the cash.
I’m also bitterly disappointed that films like Berberian Sound Studio are struggling to find decent nationwide coverage across independent and chain cinemas of all sizes while Kick-Ass 2 is financed and shipped out to practically ever damn cinema everywhere in the UK. Absolutely not fair.
So no, I cannot and will not support Kick-Ass 2 as a film. As a comic, absolutely – I’ll be buying my copy soon (I’ve been struggling whether or not I think sequels are good in any format – one story can often be just enough, but to hell with it – I like Mark Millar’s work very much and Wanted in it’s original form was truly one of the finest twists on superhero genre that I’ve ever read). But as a film, absolutely not.
Universal, you total schmucks.
