Some movies are aptly named, and “Kick-Ass” is most certainly one of them. From start to finish, kick-ass is exactly how I would describe it.

The story is simple: A guy wants to make a difference in the world, wants to be a hero, thanks to the comic books he has grown up reading. He has no superpowers. He is not super-intelligent. He is not some Bruce Lee incarnation. He’s just a high school kid that is sick of seeing criminals succeed because people are too afraid to do anything. This is the hero Kick-Ass.

By itself this is a perfect start of a heroic tale, but then other plots are intermingled. There are a couple others who have also loved the world of comic books, who are driven by the ever-so-classic motivation of revenge. They make up the father-daughter tag-team of Big Daddy and Hit Girl.

The rest of the story plays out with love interests, acceptance, loss, remorse, forgiveness, betrayal, lust, friendship, fear … you name it, “Kick-Ass” delivers it — oh yeah, and violence. This movie has some excellent violence. Between Hit Girl and Big Daddy, you’ve got enough violence to make any action junkie stand up and cheer. Then Kick-Ass himself is full of violence — less actually from him, a whole lot more done to him.

The hero tale is played out perfectly with villains who are clearly villains, heroes who are heroes, comic relief that doesn’t take away from the movie, and messages that don’t need to be shoved down the audience’s throat because they are very well integrated. They are all acted in such a way that is almost too stereotypical, but then kept right at the brink, making them simply amazing.

That’s one of the other kick-ass things about “Kick-Ass.” The acting is right. It is not anything Oscar-worthy or groundbreaking, but the actors portray the characters so correctly that you don’t really doubt that this is who the person is.

As for concerns of comedy, many people had misconceptions about this film due to the previews. Some people thought it was going to be stupid jokes and superheroes in a manner similar to a parody. “Kick-Ass” has some great laughs, but this movie isn’t about just being a comedy. The jokes are all assistance to the story, rather than substitutions for scenes that are otherwise just wastes of time.

One of the best uses of the comedy is to make the otherwise extremely brutal action scenes a little less twisted. For instance, Hit Girl is an 11-year-old that has been trained for years to kill people and revel in the wonderful world of guns and blades and martial arts. Her childhood has been twisted, though it’s been done lovingly rather than for sadistic reasons. Nevertheless, her life is really disturbing.

Luckily, the witty banter and vulgarities that Hit Girl delivers through the movie make the fact she is shoving knives through people’s throats and mercilessly shooting dozens of people in the face less disturbing, and really turns them into things you cheer for.

“Kick-Ass” makes it a point to let the audience understand what the characters are feeling and how they are growing not just by acting, but by occasional voice-overs explaining what is going on in the character’s head. Normally, I would say that this is unneeded and is a sure-fire sign of bad writing — very few movies do voice-overs well, yet writers somehow just keep on doing it — but for this movie it works. The voice-overs help maintain the understanding that “Kick-Ass” is based on a comic book of the same name. The audience is, essentially, given a comic brought to life and without most of the annoying pandering to demographics that plague so many of today’s feature films.

To be honest, I could talk for hours about how much I liked this film. I could dissect it scene by scene to applaud the great way it all came together, but I won’t. I know that I really like this type of movie and I know that what I appreciate is frequently not what other people do. So I will just say this:

Go see “Kick-Ass.” It’s worth every cent and is my favorite film I have seen so far this year. Go out of your way to make sure you don’t miss “Kick-Ass,” because, well, it kicks ass.

Gabriel Stoffa is senior in communication studies and political science from Ottumwa.