Kick-Ass was released in 2010 and it feels like a movie from a completely different time. I don’t just mean with the visuals or that it haphazardly flaunts names like Skype and MySpace, but rather in its action, humor, and attitude. I love it as much as I did the wild comic it is based on, so revisiting the film after so long was quite a pleasure. I’m not sure how I missed it back then, one of Kick-Ass’ greatest powers—this thing has a killer soundtrack.
For anyone who hasn’t seen this movie, our main character is a dork who spends most of his intro talking about jerking off to his English teacher with lines about making “deposits in the whack-off warehouse,” and still somehow becomes a hero, even if a ludicrous one. The tone is set right off the bat, though, in an opening scene I adore, as we watch someone try to take flight for the first time and unceremoniously fall to their death in front of a crowd. Then we’ve got a badass little girl who curses a ton and murders everyone, even the prostitute, who gets shot by her father for training. Gotta be prepared for anything, right? This adventure is incredibly violent; people aren’t sure if they’ll live long enough to see the end of Lost, and it’s all made better by a collection of great tunes.
“F— this shit, I’m getting the bazooka.”
On March 30, 2010, we were graced with Kick-Ass: Music from the Motion Picture by Interscope Records, which brings together most of the licensed tracks featured in the film. A few of the songs weren’t on this album or the release as a part of the film’s score, even though they were featured in the movie or trailers. It’s a common practice we all used to get mad about before Spotify. “Hey Little World” by The Hives is heard in multiple trailers but doesn’t have a presence in the movie, while “Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley (remember them?) is prominently used as two of the main characters bop around town, but wasn’t put on the official soundtrack. Similarly, during one of Hit Girl’s big scenes, we are treated to Joan Jett’s “Bad Reputation,” while the version on the album is a cover by a band called The Hit Girls. It isn’t bad, maybe not even noticeable to some, but it’s missing some of that gruff aggression in the vocals.
One of the songs heard in the trailers that made it to the movie was “Stand Up” by The Prodigy, and they blessed the record with another track as well, “Omen.” The first starts a little jaunty and takes its time to build, but I love the trumpets, while their second contribution feels a little more powerful and closer to what I expect from that group. Both of these, along with a couple of other pieces, help set what I feel is the desired tone of the movie. Everything else comes off as if it was chosen for a specific scene or to pop a portion of the crowd.
I don’t think there’s a ‘bad’ track on the album – they just overuse sound clips from the film – at least not one I dislike enough to skip, but the main theme by Mika and RedOne, “Kick-Ass (We Are Young,” almost feels like it doesn’t fit anywhere. I’d bet money they wrote this without seeing the movie because it’s fine, but it feels like the wrong theme for the experience. “Can’t Go Back” by Primal Scream and “Make Me Wanna Die” from The Pretty Reckless both have a similar approach while aligning more tonally with the finished product.
For songs that stand out a bit more, most people remember the scene of Hit Girl murdering people to “Banana Splits” by The Dickies (it’s the Tra La La song), a tune that seems attached to the movie for some viewers. It’s a fun little thing, adding a small sense of surreal playfulness to the violence. That matches perfectly with “There’s a Pot Brewin’” from The Little Ones, which makes the feet start tapping, while Zongamin’s “Bongo Song” is worth fully grooving to. Meanwhile, “This Town Ain’t Big Enough for Both of Us” sounds like a faux operatic epic by Sparks that always makes me smirk.
For something with a little more weight, we get Elvis Presley singing “An American Trilogy” and the absolute classic “Per Qualche Dollaro in Più” by Ennio Morricone, better known as “For a Few Dollars More.” Now that’s epic standoff music. Also, what would a hero’s tale be without some romance, which is why we have Ellie Goulding’s “Starry Eyed,” while “We’re All in Love” from The New York Dolls kind of works for that, too.
The score has excellent selections as well, but a few stand out over the others. Most notable are “In the House, In a Heartbeat” and “Adagio in D-Minor” by John Murphy. These songs are more famous for being in the films 28 Days Later and Sunshine, respectively, but they are powerful pieces that would probably uplift anything they play over. Some people, however, thought their presence took away from the film, distracting viewers who recognized them and felt more like ‘stealing’ rather than carefully curating selections. I also didn’t realize Danny Elfman contributed a piece, “Walk to Rasul’s,” which is perfect since he was referenced in the original Kick-Ass comics and was the composer for Batman (1989), making Red Mist’s stolen Jack Nicholson quote at the end mean just a little more.
“Wait ’till they get a load of me.”
Kick-Ass is a movie with that superhero pedigree – it does have two actors who have both played different versions of Quicksilver in it – and had a darker tone at a time when that didn’t feel as played out yet. Sure, there are a couple of cringe elements that haven’t aged well, but the music still elevates the majority of these scenes, having a soundtrack that lives up to the movie’s name.
