Director: Matthew Vaughn
Year Released: 2010
Rating: 2.0
A nondescript teen (Aaron Johnson) - who happens to be a comic book fiend - takes his make-believe to a new, unhealthy level, starting a war with a drug kingpin (Mark Strong, really looking for that coke), the drug kingpin's goofy spoiled son (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) and forming an alliance with a father-daughter superhero team (Nicolas Cage and Chloe Moretz). It really is a schizophrenic blend of the 'sweet' and the 'grotesque,' as the picture uncomfortably straddles the two entirely separate worlds of 'youth' and 'adult': the scenes of teen awkwardness clash directly with men being smashed in cars, microwaved until they turn into melted Jell-O and machine-gunned from the sky. No one would bat an eye if an 11-year-old girl were stabbing grown-ups in anime - hell, if there weren't 11-year-olds stabbing grown-ups in anime the fanboys would take to the stree- ... er, Internet in anger - but it's admittedly bizarre here: that said, Ms. Moretz is a fantastic little actress, and real-life comic obsessive Cage is clearly enjoying his time on screen.
