In The Cinema This Week 19/8/13

Kick-Ass 2

The original Kick-Ass was an innovative affair in that it successfully married awkward teenage humour with extreme violence, all the while remaining funny. Nobody is debating this. Another undeniable claim is that its sequel Kick-Ass 2 is a significant step in the very wrong direction. With a new director/writer at the helm, the quirkiness that made its predecessor so memorable has been sacrificed for the sake of painful shaky cam, a gratuitous surplus of characters and some 26-minute Mean Girls-esque story squished into the middle. Bits of it are fun here and there, the ending is awesome and Jim Carrey in particular has some wonderful scenes (as per usual), but in general this movie is more than a bit disappointing.

2 Guns

There are WAY more than two guns in 2 Guns... I was lied to! But aside from this minor inaccuracy, 2 Guns is exactly what a summertime popcorn flick should be: breezy, dopey and, above all, it's fun. Mark Wahlberg is a criminal who may actually be a cop, Denzel Washington is a cop who may actually be a criminal, and they must team up to... Do something. Honestly the story is about as important as it is nonsensical and much like director Baltasar Kormákur's previous effort Contraband, it's completely forgettable. Totally unoriginal and completely silly, but while you're in the cinema the experience is doubtless an enjoyable one.

Planes

Planes is like Cars, but instead of anthropomorphic automobiles this time we're dealing with. Disney's latest offering is set "in the world of Cars", not that it makes an awful lot of difference as Planes is about as by-the-numbers as kids' films get. Dusty Crophopper is the underdog who thinks he can't fly, so he tries REALLY hard until he does. If placed next to Disney's recent efforts such as Wreck-It Ralph or Tangled, Planes looks like it was drawn with crayon. That said, it's fun here and there, and it has some thrilling 3D flight sequences, although the dubiously stereotyped ethnic planes are worrying. A super average kids' movie by Disney's titanic standards.

Don't forget to check out last week's reviews of The Lone Ranger, Percy Jackson and more.