Retrostudious
Joined Feb 2008
Welcome to the new profile
Our updates are still in development. While the previous version of the profile is no longer accessible, we're actively working on improvements, and some of the missing features will be returning soon! Stay tuned for their return. In the meantime, the Ratings Analysis is still available on our iOS and Android apps, found on the profile page. To view your Rating Distribution(s) by Year and Genre, please refer to our new Help guide.
Badges4
To learn how to earn badges, go to the badges help page.
Reviews31
Retrostudious's rating
So this is what happens when you combine Illumination Entertainment's superannuated tween pop culture-obsessed storytelling with Paul Feig's poor grasp of humour.
At times, the majority of the characters are often loud and obnoxius, as if that's the punchline, which just falls flat and makes for nauseating viewing. I don't know what it is about most modern kids films, but for the last 20 years they have relied on the same tropes that have characters following contemporary dance trends, i.e., flossing, using "flash in the pan" pop music, and making gags about topical things that are only relevant for that time and place. Unfortunately, this ages these films like milk, and when you catch them on television a decade later, they lose that timeless quality that Pixar, Don Bluth and Disney once mastered.
The only film's saving grace is Jim Carrey, who hits his mark and pulls out a performance not too dissimilar to when he played The Riddler in Batman Forever. He totally hams it up, has all the best dialogue, and just looks like he's having the time of his life.
I watched to see Jim Carrey's "last film", it wasn't the send off he deserved.
At times, the majority of the characters are often loud and obnoxius, as if that's the punchline, which just falls flat and makes for nauseating viewing. I don't know what it is about most modern kids films, but for the last 20 years they have relied on the same tropes that have characters following contemporary dance trends, i.e., flossing, using "flash in the pan" pop music, and making gags about topical things that are only relevant for that time and place. Unfortunately, this ages these films like milk, and when you catch them on television a decade later, they lose that timeless quality that Pixar, Don Bluth and Disney once mastered.
The only film's saving grace is Jim Carrey, who hits his mark and pulls out a performance not too dissimilar to when he played The Riddler in Batman Forever. He totally hams it up, has all the best dialogue, and just looks like he's having the time of his life.
I watched to see Jim Carrey's "last film", it wasn't the send off he deserved.
It's a shame that it has such a hamfisted approach to its subject. Subtext seems to be all but dead in modern screenwriting; everything is so insultingly obvious and force-fed to the viewer.
The fact that eight writers brought this to life and there's no unique voice amongst them, barring the author of the source material, is evident. The humour doesn't really land and seems to be meme or tik-tok humour that rarely invokes a laugh. There are some moments that are plagarised from better films, but that is true of most films, as modern writers seem to lack life experience and base their ideas on things they've seen in other films rather than what they've lived. The fact that Chloe Grace-Moretz has a scene causing chaos while accompanied by the sound of The Dickies' Banana Splits is not lost on me, or I can imagine other Kickass fans.
I'll give it credit where it's due, and the flashback montage has a moment of beauty that has you really caring for the protagonist, but it comes too late in the film, where at 1 hour and 10 minutes you've had to put up with a very snarky and annoying character that lacks any sort of humble quality. In fact most of the characters are quite bland and one dimensional barring the title character, whether this was an intentional choice to make the main character stand out from the rest but it hurts the story. The villains are a bunch of airhead himbos that inhabit the very worst of "bro culture." Overall I found it to be very poor and just not for me.
The fact that eight writers brought this to life and there's no unique voice amongst them, barring the author of the source material, is evident. The humour doesn't really land and seems to be meme or tik-tok humour that rarely invokes a laugh. There are some moments that are plagarised from better films, but that is true of most films, as modern writers seem to lack life experience and base their ideas on things they've seen in other films rather than what they've lived. The fact that Chloe Grace-Moretz has a scene causing chaos while accompanied by the sound of The Dickies' Banana Splits is not lost on me, or I can imagine other Kickass fans.
I'll give it credit where it's due, and the flashback montage has a moment of beauty that has you really caring for the protagonist, but it comes too late in the film, where at 1 hour and 10 minutes you've had to put up with a very snarky and annoying character that lacks any sort of humble quality. In fact most of the characters are quite bland and one dimensional barring the title character, whether this was an intentional choice to make the main character stand out from the rest but it hurts the story. The villains are a bunch of airhead himbos that inhabit the very worst of "bro culture." Overall I found it to be very poor and just not for me.