The first film was incredibly entertaining and a huge breath of fresh air. This sequel is not as bad as all that and there are far worse sequels about, in fact it is quite watchable, but compared to its predecessor it does fall well short. It's still slickly edited, the colours dazzle with no garishness or drabness, the costumes are still a lot of fun and the effects are incredible. The shaky cam while effective in some scenes was too much in others though. The music is breezy, adrenaline-pumping and catchy, if not quite as fitting as the soundtrack in the first. The witty, edgy humour and the (even more) violent, tense action sequences still remain and with little diminished impact, the climax is incredibly exciting. Admittedly some of it does get violent to the point of being too much to stomach for some, it wasn't a problem with me but parts could have toned down a tad. The dialogue is not as fresh as the first's but still quite witty and irreverent. It is the story where Kick Ass 2 falls down on most, it is lacking in the lively pace of the original, due to some overlong and draggy scenes, and there are a lot of tone shifts that are rather abrupt and awkwardly done, there is a bit of trying to do too much quality. The high school/trying to fit in subplot always is a nice idea but again very little fresh or interesting is done with it, it does drag the pace down with the most uninteresting scenes being to do with this particular subplot and it does feel out of sorts with the rest of the film. Of course there are enough fun, exciting and at times emotional moments but not enough to hide how problematic the story is. The supporting characters are colourful enough especially the main antagonist, Mother Russia and Colonel Stars and Stripes but the leads feel underdeveloped and not always easy to root for, certainly nowhere near as colourful, if anything while well played their personalities are bland. The acting is good enough, although John Leguizamo is very much wasted and Christopher Mintz-Plasse while fine as Chris over-compensates a little as the villain(I would say his name but the guidelines have a thing about prohibited words). Chloe Grace Moretz carried the film brilliantly though and Aaron Johnson is just as confident. Jim Carrey is also wonderfully refreshing and a more than pleasing presence. Overall, a watchable sequel but the first Kick Ass kicks ass much, much better. 5/10 Bethany Cox

Mindy Macready (Chloë Grace Moretz) promises her new guardian Detective Marcus Williams (Morris Chestnut) that she won't be Hit-Girl anymore. She tries to fit in but falls out with mean girl Brooke (Claudia Lee). Dave Lizewski (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) as Kick-Ass joins up with Dr. Gravity (Donald Faison),Colonel Stars and Stripes (Jim Carrey),Night Bitch (Lindy Booth),and others to battle street crime. He can't convince Hit-Girl to join. Chris D'Amico (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) wants to avenge his father's death and kill Kick-Ass. He becomes The-MotherFcker and hires a gang of supervillains.

This depends on what you thought about this franchise. The movie tries to up the carnage. It tries to be some sort of Dark Knight lite. But it also tries to be a high school drama with Hit-Girl faced with Mean Girls. The whole things leaves the movie underwhelmed and a little bit scattered in tone. Hit-Girl's story is somewhat interesting but it's not supported by the other characters. Lyndsy Fonseca returns just to break up with Dave. She's prime to be there for the high school drama but she disappears. She could have been one of the new superhero. There is a whole new gang of superheroes. Jim Carrey is taking the place of Nicolas Cage. The other problem is that the three main characters are scattered into their own separate stories. It keeps straining to make some connection between them. Lastly, both Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Chloë Grace Moretz are getting too old to play high school kids.

KICK-ASS 2 is the inevitable follow-up to the surprise comic book hit, which mixed broad comedy with hard action to provide one of the freshest superhero movies in years. This sequel is more predictable, following a familiar action-movie template while mixing in some terrible humour along the way.

The tone of the film is uneven with a mix of genuinely good, well-choreographed action moments with cheesy interludes that wouldn't be amiss in a Z-grade movie. For instance, the final warehouse fight is large scale, hard-hitting and great fun, but the awful green-screen effects on that van fight really take you out of it. Some of the new supporting characters are pretty interesting, particularly the unstoppable Mother Russia, and John Leguizamo bags a very funny supporting role.

Unfortunately, Wadlow is a better director than he is a scriptwriter and he has little idea what to do with his leading characters. Taylor-Johnson is given little to do and feels like an extra in his own movie, while the whole sub-plot with Chloe Grace Moretz going to high school is just stupid, juvenile and needless. The humour is also more uneven this time around, reaching a real low with the ridiculous vomit and diarrhoea scenes.

As ever, KICK-ASS 2 gets by for the wealth of action alone, and the willingness to go one step further than most PG-13 rated Hollywood superhero flicks. Jim Carrey is the film's real ace, bagging the best role as Colonel Stars and Stripes. Carrey is unrecognisable throughout and his own brand of relentless energy marks a real high point. In reality, KICK-ASS 2 is a pretty superficial and unnecessary sequel, but fans of the first film are sure to enjoy it anyway.