Poster © Lionsgate. Shown at reduced size for review and commentary.
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GenreAction, Comedy & Crime
RatedR
Runtime1 hr 57 mins
ReleasedApril 16, 2010
StreamingSee Where to Watch
DirectorMatthew Vaughn
StarringAaron Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Chloë Grace Moretz
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Kick-Ass (2010)
| ▶Stream It | ★The Numbers |
| 🎫Get Tickets | ✎Edit History |
| iIMDb Profile | %Rotten Tomatoes |
| WWikipedia | LLetterboxd |
| TTMDB | +Add to Top 8 |
| Kick-Ass's Details | |
| Genre | Action, Comedy & Crime |
| Rated | R |
| Released | 03/12/2010 (SXSW); 03/26/2010 (United Kingdom); 04/16/2010 (United States) |
| Streaming | See Where to Watch on this page. |
| Running Time | 1 hr 57 mins |
| Budget | $28–30M (reported) |
| Box Office | Updated daily from Box Office Mojo. See the numbers below. |
| Based On | Kick-Ass by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. |
| Country | United Kingdom, United States |
| Language | English |
| Kick-Ass's Interests | |
| General | Green wetsuits, comic book shops, MySpace pages, batons, purple wigs, very real bruises. |
| Music | John Murphy, Henry Jackman, Marius de Vries and Ilan Eshkeri. Four composers, one wetsuit. |
| Movies | Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010). Same year, another nerd fighting way above his weight class. |
| Television | The Tick. Another regular guy in a homemade suit. Arthur would understand. |
| Heroes | Hit-Girl. Half Dave's height, twice his résumé. |
| Kick-Ass's Crew | |
| Director | Matthew Vaughn |
| Writers | Jane Goldman, Matthew Vaughn |
| Producers | Matthew Vaughn, Brad Pitt, Kris Thykier, Adam Bohling, Tarquin Pack, David Reid |
| Cinematography | Ben Davis |
| Music | John Murphy, Henry Jackman, Marius de Vries, Ilan Eshkeri |
| Edited By | Pietro Scalia, Jon Harris, Eddie Hamilton |
| Production | Marv Films, Plan B Entertainment |
| Distributed By | Lionsgate (United States), Focus Features International (uncredited; select territories; through Universal Pictures) |
Name a movie after a character, then make him the least interesting person on screen. Bold. Dave is fine, Aaron Johnson plays a nervous teen well, but every time the movie cuts back to him you miss everybody else. Nicolas Cage plays Big Daddy with a halting, old TV superhero voice that’s so strange it loops back around to genius. Chloë Grace Moretz’s Hit-Girl walks off with the whole thing, and that’s also where it gets weird: the movie wants a kid doing grown-up action to be funny and shocking at once, and sometimes it’s just uncomfortable. Mark Strong is a solid mob boss. The comic book style is sharp and the soundtrack works hard. Then the last act forgets it was ever about a regular guy with no powers. It grossed $96.2 million worldwide against a reported $28 to 30 million budget. A 6.3 because the sidekicks are a 9 and the hero is a 4. $16 says you browse green wetsuits online for longer than you’d ever admit.
What works: Nicolas Cage’s bizarre Big Daddy voice, Hit-Girl stealing every scene, and Mark Strong as a sharp, funny villain.
What doesn’t: The title character is the dullest person in his own movie, and the kid-in-a-shootout gags swing from funny to uncomfortable.
Who it’s for: Grown-up comic fans who always wondered what would really happen if somebody tried this in real life.
Spoilers
Big Daddy is captured and doesn’t survive, so Hit-Girl storms D’Amico’s building to finish the job. Dave flies in on a jetpack to save her, and Chris ends the movie as Red Mist for real, promising payback.
Dave Lizewski (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) is a comic-obsessed New York teenager stuck on one question: why has nobody actually tried being a superhero? So he orders a green wetsuit online, grabs two batons and starts patrolling. His first night out goes badly. His second one goes viral. Now crime boss Frank D'Amico (Mark Strong) is paying attention, his son Chris (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) wants in on the family business, and two far more serious vigilantes, Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage) and his young daughter Hit-Girl (Chloë Grace Moretz), are already working the same streets. Matthew Vaughn directs. One hundred eighteen minutes, zero actual superpowers.
Comic shop regulars with a wetsuit in the closet. Please wear a helmet.
| Aaron Johnson | Dave Lizewski / Kick-Ass |
| Christopher Mintz-Plasse | Chris D'Amico / Red Mist |
| Chloë Grace Moretz | Mindy Macready / Hit-Girl |
| Mark Strong | Frank D'Amico |
| Nicolas Cage | Damon Macready / Big Daddy |
| Lyndsy Fonseca | Katie Deauxma |
| Clark Duke | Marty Eisenberg |
| Evan Peters | Todd Haynes |
| Sophie Wu | Erika Cho |
| Omari Hardwick | Sergeant Marcus Williams |
| Stu Riley | Huge Goon |
| Michael Rispoli | Big Joe |
| Dexter Fletcher | Cody |
| Jason Flemyng | Lobby Goon |
| Xander Berkeley | Detective Gigante |
| Kofi Natei | Rasul |
| Corey Johnson | Sporty Goon |
| Adrian Martinez | Ginger Goon |
| Katrena Rochell | Female Junkie |
| Randall Batinkoff | Tre Fernandez |
| Tim Plester | Danil |
| Omar Soriano | Leroy |
| Garrett M. Brown | Mr. Lizewski |
| Elizabeth McGovern | Mrs. Lizewski |
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 17 October 2026 DataBot +480 Numbers refreshed: Worldwide box office $96.2M; Domestic box office $48.1M; Opening weekend $19.8M; Profit / loss (est.) +$4.6M; Rotten Tomatoes 78%; CinemaScore B; box office chart updated; Rotten Tomatoes critics 78% (264 reviews); Metacritic 66 / 100; CinemaScore B; IMDb users 7.6 / 10 (625,668 votes); movie.guru score 6.7.
- (cur | prev) 12:00, 17 October 2026 DataBot +2,000 Profile created from Wikipedia and Box Office Mojo: cast, crew, release dates, budget, official trailer.