Kick-Ass 2 - Justice Forever

'Kick-Ass 2' was a very average film, not a totally terrible one but it lacked the joyous spirit of the first film. I honestly doubted that a fanedit could fully rescue it, improve it sure... but fix it... no. Thankfully BionicBob proves me wrong, as I'm writing this with a massive grin still lingering on my face and with goosebumps on my arms from just having watched 'Justice Forever'!

First off, the few issues: There was a match-cut that didn't quite match, the colours were a bit off in some of new material, there were two moments in the new Sound-Mix that felt wrong (MF Store robbery and Hero montage), the Night-Bitch removal left a couple of continuity problems and the cut to black in Night-Bitches home didn't quite work.

However, all of the above things I noticed were in places where something was removed or something was added that transformed a bad scene into a great one, so I honestly couldn't have given a toss if the change was very slightly noticable from a technical point of view. Because I was too busy noticing the dramatic change that they made to improving the story!

BionicBob cleverly realised that it wasn't that the film was originally devoid of heart (Although the deleted material he has added, piles it on in spades), it was that the heartfelt moments were being constantly undercut by buzz-killing bad jokes, moments of questionable taste and out-right irritating lines. Here, I even cared for Chris aka The MF for the first hour, where as you just couldn't in the original cut. Heroic moments are now allowed to be heroic without having to trip them up with a bit of mean spirited sarcasm.

I'll give an example of how dramatic a single change in this edit can be. An early deleted scene is used about "one arm pull ups", this thematic device is used and reused throughout the film including the final crowd pleasing shot. Without the original scene the end was meaningless and Kick-Ass' character arc is all but redundant. The rest of the deleted material fleshed out the JF team's place at the center of the movie, making friendship feel like the core of the film rather than cheap crassness. Even the sadly underused Colonel Star and Stripes gets a little emotional callback at the end bringing him back emotionally if not physcially. He is now the moral father-figure to the young team and we too feel his loss.

This is all testiment to Orson Welles' assertion that great films aren't directed, they are edited. Turns out Director Jeff Wadlow did a great job behind the camera after all (And a good job with his script too), it's just that he failed to edit that material into the great film it could have been. Luckily BionicBob has given it new life, nobody should ever watch 'Kick-Ass 2' ever again, I know for me at least, there is now only 'Justice Forever'!

I second the other comments that an HD version would be very cool, if BionicBob thinks the positive feedback is enough to encourage him to undertake it at some point in the future.

This is the first time I've watched Kick-Ass 2 and I'm glad I waited. I didn't see it in the theatre but I got the Blu-ray because I liked the first one so much but then I read the mediocre reviews and kept putting it off.

Although as a film it doesn't live up to the first movie - as a fan edit this is near-perfect. I just read the list of changes and I don't think I'll be watching the Blu-ray ever. My only wish would be that this were in HD so I only gave a 9 for A/V quality as it was a tad blurry, even for DVD. That being said, color timing looked good throughout and I couldn't tell the difference between the deleted scenes and the original.

You did a great job, BionicBob! Thanks for making this an enjoyable viewing.

i have to agree with steelio.
this is an awesome edit, it fixes everything that was wrong with the theatrical cut.
the MF is way better evil, i like how it is more about them as superheros.
it is amazing just how close the producers and director were to having a great movie instead of an average one.
this is highly recommended.
the editing is excellent both audio and video.
this is defiantly my go to version, my DVD of number 2 will now collect alot of dust.
thank you bob for giving me an awesome sequel to the original.

Hello everyone, It's been while since left a review n been round these parts. So here it is.

When the first KA came out, I enjoyed it immensely. It was a pretty outstanding film. I had read the comic and thought it was okay. But felt like it did give an idea of what could possibly ensue if someone had decided to put on a suit n become the worlds first superhero. I had also began looking forward to and hoping that there'd be a sequel.

Then KA 2 came out, read the comic first. Felt like it was bigger but filled with less superheroic moments. Felt like it was made to be more outrageous and absurd. So, was still looking forward to the film. Even tho, there were aspects of the comic that I were hoping that wouldnt get adapted. Then I saw the film. And it felt like something was missing. It was missing that spark that made the first film good. Even tho, it was making things a bit more outrageous and bigger than before.

Well, I can say that I think Bob has definitely been able to lose some of the more annoying elements. He was able to mold it into a bit more of a more heroic film with what he had to work with. This is definitely my go to version of KA2 now. The editing of the little elements being removed has made this a better film, imo. And the editing was pretty seamless. Really solid job.

There still was the whole HG-High school subplot that still irks me a little bit. However, there was nothing could be done bout that really cause it's part of Hitgirl's story.

Again, I'd highly recommend this to those that are looking for something that has a bit more of the similar spark that the first KA did.

Overall: 10 out of 10.