Glamorize Violence? Kick Ass 2 "Unglamorizes" It, Actually, Says Mark Miller
It may not an actual word, but Kick Ass creator Mark Miller is pretty sure that Kick Ass 2 unglamorizes violence, instead of the popular opinion that it in fact glamorizes it. The news comes on the eve of the film’s U.K release, and after Jim Carrey withdrew support for it on Twitter.
"In many films you don't see the grieving or the pain but in Kick-Ass you feel every blow... It's a very real take on violence and it almost unglamourises it," Miller explained to the BBC. "Jim Carrey's character ironically is a born-again Christian who refuses to carry a gun because... he doesn't want to be a negative role model for children."
Carrey’s surprising stance came after his outspoken position on violence in films and video games following the Sandy Hook shooting. He was subsequently maligned for appearing in Kick Ass 2 – a film in which violence is seemingly ‘fun’ – which lead to him withdrawing from promotional work for the film.
Watch the trailer for Kick Ass 2 extended red band trailer:
However, losing support from one of the sequel’s biggest stars seems to have provided a PR boost for the film. "Fortunately, this went out like a clarion call across the interweb, claims of too much violence in a Kick-Ass movie akin to claiming a porno has too much nudity,” Miller wrote in Times. “The bean counters at Universal estimate this bought us $30million in free mainstream publicity. And so it goes on."
The Kick Ass franchise has courted controversy from day one; there have been accusations of sexism, trivializing rape, a 13-year-old girl saying “c***” (that wasn’t really an accusation, it just happened) and the most prevalent controversy: stylized violence.