The first Kick Ass movie was something incredibly special. The surprise 2010 hit was not without its share of critics, in particular Christopher Tookey of the Daily Mail who warned "This crime against cinema is twisted, cynical, and revels in the abuse of childhood". But super-hero fans and movie-goers alike loved this adaptation of Mark Millar and John Romita Jr's comic book as it was an incredibly funny, character driven and believable piece about what would happen if normal people put on lycra suits and decided they wanted to be super heroes.

This 2013 sequel, based on a Millar and Romita comic book follow up, tells the story of how Dave Lizewski (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) has retired as Kick Ass but now sees that civilians all across the city have followed the Kick Ass example, put on the spandex, and are now ready to fight crime. Dave tries to get the help of Mindy "Hit-Girl" Macready (Chloe Grace Moretz) and to make her a real fighter, but she has been forced by her guardian to live a normal girl's life, so Dave joins a team called "Justice Forever", led by Colonel Stars and Stripes (Jim Carrey).

If the first film was the top end of a four star review, this one is in the middle three star area. I found it odd, in a film in which all the characters repeatedly tell each other "this is the real world!", that they repeatedly bend the laws of physics (car doors stopping bullets, surviving fatal falls/injurys ect). At times Kick Ass 2 definitely falls into the same traps as the films that it is trying to satirise and becomes the butt of its own joke.

Kick Ass 2 is, however, a long way from being entirely without merit. There are some good snippets, zingy dialogue, and well put together action sequences that have the same sense of genuine danger and threat as the first film (Michael Bay should take note!). There are also great core performances from Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Chloe Grace Moretz, the latter of which is certainly destined to become the next Ellen Page. Jim Carrey, despite his very public exceptions to film, gives a great counter-intuitive performance as Colonel Stars and Stripes. Christopher Mintz-Plasse is on fine comic form as his character of Chris D'Amico re-invents himself from "Red Mist" to a new super villain "The Mother F***er". However, while Kick Ass 2 contains a great many plot holes, Mintz-Plasse's story line contains the largest. His character has a crime-lord uncle played by Iain Glen, of Game of Thrones fame, who is in one genuinely terrifying scene, set up to play a big part in the rest of the narrative, and is then never seen again!

Overall, Kick Ass 2 is worth the cost of the cinema ticket but still suffers form a classic sequel syndrome. Back To The Future 2 anyone?