I saw two movies recently, both based on comics.

I liked Kick-Ass, but I think I liked it because I wasn’t expecting much. It was kind of like a Spider-Man origin story the way it would happen in the real world, which gave the movie a realism not seen very often in comic book movies. Yes, I know realism in comic book movies doesn’t really sound right but think about it; if a guy did put on a mask and fought crime; he would probably get his ass handed to him more often than not. In a world of YouTube and instant celebrity, there probably would be copycat people trying to capitalize on it.

The best thing in Kick-Ass was, hands down, Hit Girl. She was a foul mouth little girl who knew her way around weapons. The fact that there was some debate about her use of language before the movie came out probably is what made the film soar because the film was in no way a PG-13 film, so if you had a girl raised in that environment she would talk that way. It was kind of funny hearing talking heads on TV so concerned about how having Hit Girl use such language might be inappropriate, then getting on public transportation or going into the courtyard of my apartment complex and hearing children about her age using the same sort of language.

Iron Man 2 was like eating at a local buffet. For the price it can be good food but forgettable after a few hours. I saw Iron Man and liked it to some degree, but a few hours later I couldn’t tell you what it was about. Iron Man in retrospect seems to be the definition of a silly summer movie. It had lots of eye candy, some shiny stuff, things blew up but it was all set pieces and moving characters through the set pieces instead of having an involved story.

One thing I do see that may begin to hurt the surge in comic book movies from the two big comic book companies is the desire to make the movies meld like a comic book series. In the case of Iron Man, the first movie hinted at The Avengers movie. The new movie had a link to the Thor movie and the Captain America movie. Presumably those films will have links which will all come together in the big Avengers movie.

It’s an interesting marketing move, but in the case of Iron Man 2 it felt like the movie was just a placeholder waiting for the Avengers movie. It didn’t stand up on its own as a movie because it was trying to introduce elements that would fit into the larger picture. That works for comic book fans but I’m not sure how that will work for the general public.