Kickassia Review

Before we kick things off, I'd like to say that "Kickassia" is hardly a movie. You're most likely thinking "Why's that? It's clearly advertised as such on imdb and the DVD. I'll tell you why: it's because I consider movies to be entertaining and worth the investment of time, and "Kickassia" is neither. If you have never heard of either "Kickassia" or ThatGuyWithTheGlasses, the website where this special little piece of cinema comes from, then let me explain. ThatGuyWithTheGlasses is a website that started up in 2008, and stars an internet personality named Doug Walker, who produces shows like The Nostalgia Critic, a show that reviews 'nostalgic' movies. The site also houses other contributors who also review movies and games, but the site has been on the decline of quality since its 1st Year Anniversary.



For its 2nd Year Anniversary, TGWTG produced a 6-part movie as celebration, "Kickassia," where the various reviewers from the site plan a hostile takeover of a real micronation, Molossia, with the Nostalgia Critic at the helm of command. Despite my own negative opinions of the site since its decline, I will not let that get in the way of making this review as fair as possible. However, I must also bring something up that was brought to my attention when I read reviews on imdb, "Kickassia"'s creators tenacious enough to actually put this 'movie' in the credible database in belief that it can be taken seriously. Some fanboys wrote reviews on imdb for "Kickassia," giving it anywhere from 8-10 stars, and with a specific plea in mind: they ask reviewers not to criticize Kickassia on the basis that it is fanservice for the devoted TGWTG fanbase, and nothing more, casting any notion that harsh reviews should be taken seriously. For those who made this plea, think about this for a moment: if a movie, fanservice or not, is on imdb and on sale via DVD, what do you expect to happen? Just because something is fanservice does not mean it can't be taken seriously as a movie, and that's obviously what Michaud/Walker were thinking when they put it on imdb. Therefore, "Kickassia" will be judged like any other movie on the database, no exception. With that somewhat tedious and bitchy introduction out of the way, let's finally get to reviewing the 'movie.'



1. Story and Character:

With any 'movie' under review, perhaps the most vital thing to take into consideration is the story, as that is what the audience comes to be entertained with. So how does "Kickassia"'s story hold up? In short, it's incredibly flimsy. Although it is obviously not meant to be a masterpiece in cinema, more could have seriously been put into the plot, but all we get is instead a string of in-jokes, cultural references, and memes. The main objective of a story is to emotionally impact the audience, even if it is to a very minimal level. I understand that not every single movie is going to heavily impact its audience, but even good comedies invoke the reaction of laughter and joy when they are executed well enough. In the case of "Kickassia," I believe this is not the case because the plot is nonexistent, so the string of jokes does not have the capacity to impact the audience in any way outside of TGWTG fans (see "2. Comedy" below for more on why "Kickassia" does not even invoke laughter).

However, you could argue that some movies are character films ("The Big Lebowski", "Wayne's World"), and you could say that because we are following not a general plot but the protagonists like Linkara (played by Lewis Lovhaug) and Spoony (played by Noah Antwiller), it is a character film. There is a dilemma in this thinking, though: you can't have a character film without characters. Perhaps what I see is the biggest flaw of "Kickassia" is that the film is devoid of real personality; all of the reviewers who star in the film are cutouts, one monotone personality distinguishing each person. We are presented with the personalities of every reviewer on ThatGuyWithTheGlasses, which would have been fine if there was actual character development. Instead, I believe that the protagonists are more like cartoon characters, each having their own quirky gimmick but not really contributing anything meaningful to the 'movie'. In short, they personify the memes and in-jokes that have been made popular on their shows and so we already know that we're in trouble because the heart and backbone of any movie, the characters and plot, are both seriously lacking in substance and development.


See: A real character film.

2. Comedy

However, horrible story and zero character development can be overlooked if a comedy has some golden jokes to make it worthwhile, right? ... right?

Well, I'm sorry to say, but there isn't a single joke in this movie that is particularly memorable or humorous in any way. Aside from the occasional joke delivered by Brad Jones, aka the Cinema Snob, the writing for the other characters is simply unfunny. Here's an example: there is a scene where the Kickassia invaders attempt to cross a fence, but have difficulty in doing so. This would have been a great joke, but it goes on for far too long. One of the biggest problems is the comedic timing: "Kickassia" is seriously lacking in good timing, which is again incredibly ironic seeing as one of the Nostalgia Critic's pet peeves in any comedy he reviews in his show is the timing of the jokes.

Another 'joke' I need to refer to is the "I believe in Santa Christ" scene, where the Critic shoots Santa Christ, and the film goes on for a good couple of minutes with nothing but the characters chanting "I believe in Santa Christ!" Again, the joke would have been funny had it been timed correctly, but the comedic timing in this scene is equivalent to the time it takes for a quadruple amputee to cross the road without any assistance.


From 1:23 to the end of the video. They spend all that time on a joke that has nothing to do with the film, and is just drawn out for an agonizingly long time. We're also treated to pointless cameos from other contributors to the site. Huzzah?

However, one of the cardinal sins of "Kickassia" that knocks the score way down is the fact that little of the humor is original. Most of the jokes are either references taken from the multiple review shows on the ThatGuyWithTheGlasses site, or are directly taken from other movies, television shows, or comics. Can you think of another show that solely depends on pop culture references, and has become agonizingly unfunny in the past couple of years? If you're thinking of "Family Guy", you would be correct. Naturally, the lack of original humor in "Family Guy" has resulted in viewers outside of its fanbase vilifying the show as a result, and the same would probably be said for "Kickassia". That is, if many people outside of the TGWTG fanbase actually cared enough to watch it. This means the comedy is much weaker than it should be, and the nonexistent acting capabilities painfully emphasize this.

Let me pitch an example: The Nostalgia Critic reviewed the Street Fighter movie when his show was first starting up, and one of the jokes in the video was a clip of M. Bison (played by the late Raul Julia) exclaiming "Of course!" after it is discovered that M. Bison's ultimate goal was to take over the world. For the past two years, the Nostalgia Critic has recycled that clip whenever it is revealed that the villain in the movie he is reviewing wants to take over the world. For the newer fans who have not seen every single episode of the "Nostalgia Critic" show, they would be completely lost when the Nostalgia Critic (played by Doug Walker), donning an M. Bison outfit, shouts "Of course!" at the end of an interview within the film. The same can be said for the numerous references to Patton, Star Trek, A Few Good Men, Star Wars, and even Looney Tunes: if you hadn't seen any of these movies or shows, you wouldn't know that the humor or quotes from these movies are shamelessly plagiarized.


Here's another example of a cultural reference that is a) out of date, and b) unfunny. Really? Sarah Palin?

To quote a fanboy's defense for "Kickassia's" lack of humor: "Hence much of the humour and enjoyment to be had relies exclusively on the audience[']s familiarity... each with their own styles, in-jokes, memes, continuity, etc."

Another gaping problem with the humor of "Kickassia" is that much of the humor, in addition to being poorly timed and lifted straight from other shows or movies, is mainly memes and in-jokes from the episodes on the TGWTG.com website. That's a huge problem, as memes and in-jokes aren't ever funny to wide audiences. An in-joke may be funny to a certain group, but as soon as you try to explain it to a stranger, they won't understand what you're trying to say. Again, many of the jokes are lifted from the various shows on the ThatGuyWithTheGlasses website, and most likely if you are unfamiliar with any of the review shows on the site, you aren't going to understand the humor. Such instances can be the "Spider Guy" gag, a joke that may make sense to the TGWTG fans who watched the Nostalgia Critic's review of the movie "Lost in Space", but will make absolutely no sense to any audience member, unfamiliar to TGWTG, who may come across this film.


See: Spider Smith, one of the numerous random memes from TGWTG that manage to creep into the 'movie.'

In conclusion, the story and characterization can't be saved because the humor is both largely unoriginal and bone-dry, with jokes lifted from tons of GOOD movies, in-jokes that nonfans won't get, and with the comedic timing of a dead man's pulse. For people who nitpick and criticize movies for a living, they couldn't have screwed up more than in "Kickassia..." unless there is a planned part-two for the inevitable 3-Year Anniversary.

3. Technical Aspects

The technical aspects, like the lighting, sound, score, camera work, and editing, help to form the ideas, story, and comedy into a tangible product: the final film. While the comedy, story, and character development are all surprisingly lacking, the technical aspect of "Kickassia" is surprisingly decent. However, I'm using decent loosely, as there are some major issues that counteract the overall rating of the "movie"'s technical aspects, and prevent it from being truly great cinematography. With that said, it is surprising that some of the technical issues in "Kickassia" are as bad as they are, especially coming from a group of individuals who make their livings critiquing movies and are (supposedly) well-versed in making them.

First and foremost, the biggest problem that I have with "Kickassia"'s technical side is the lighting. While, overall, you can see what is going on, some shots are horrifically overexposed, when the lighting in a scene is so strong or bright that it detracts from the quality of the film. For example, the lighting gives off a really annoying glare whenever the characters were in an exterior shot, or whenever they are near a window indoors. This could have been avoided entirely if the natural lighting was controlled on set. It just looks bad, and this is something that you are taught near the beginning of a film or cinema course, so the fact that 'professional' movie critics made an amateur's mistake is especially shocking. The overexposure ruins some really neat shots at times, like during the Dr. Insano and Nostalgia Critic battle where they start firing bolts of lightning out of their hands, colliding in mid-air and both characters struggling for dominance. You can barely see that any of this is happening because of the overexposure from the window in the shot, so that ruined part of the epicness of that scene and just made it look unprofessional.


Examples of overexposure: First, refer to 3:28-4:25. Notice the window in the background? Annoying, right? Secondly, refer to 5:38-5:56. Can you see the bolts of lighting? I sure as hell can't.

Another large issue that struck me as something to address in this review was that the continuity was all over the place. This is also an important factor in making a movie believable, as the audience wants to believe that the story is unfolding right in front of their eyes. However, to use a strange example, if somebody is suddenly holding a Coke can when they were holding a Pepsi bottle in the last shot, the film becomes a little less believable. In "Kickassia," there are a lot of continuity issues that are rather obvious. For example, when the Nostalgia Chick (played by Lindsay Ellis) goes to proclaim herself the new ruler of Kickassia, she is wearing her Palin jacket. Soon after, when Linkara crowns himself as the dictator of the nation, she no longer has the jacket on. Another error in continuity is when the character Phelous (played by Portean Phelan) is strangling the Nostalgia Critic as the other reviewers claim Kickassia for themselves. His hands change position numerous times throughout the scene, and it's glaringly obvious. Again, continuity is something that is taught on one of the first days of film making courses, so I am surprised to see that the people who made this movie, particularly Lindsay Ellis whose college major at NYU has something to do with film, made such a mistake.


Refer to 5:25-6:30, where the Chick goes from wearing a jacket to just a shirt in the same damn scene. Jarring, isn't it?

However, to close off this section, I must again bring attention to a comment made by a TGWTG fan: "[t]hey were on a budget, they didn't have room for professional... lighting..., things get to be overly bright or dark, and there is grain in some bits) and the continuity can be all over the place".

This is a particularly frustrating comment, as there are movies that have been made on a budget smaller than "Kickassia"'s that had better lighting, had a sense of continuity, and were thus technically superior. The lighting for night scenes in John Carpenter's low-budget film "Halloween," for example, were nothing more than high beams from a car parked off-screen, so the overexposure in "Kickassia" could have been easily remedied. Although "Kickassia" was made in four days, there were also other films just as long as "Kickassia" that were also made on a shoestring budget, and in four days, that were far superior. A popular example is Roger Corman's "Little Shop of Horrors," which would go on to inspire the off-Broadway play and the 1980's musical remake. They pulled off a lot in four days with what they had, so there is no excuse to say that everything in "Kickassia" can be sub-par simply because they were also on a small budget, and had very little shooting time.


Above: A scene from "Little Shop of Horrors"... yes, that is Jack Nicholson.

In conclusion, while the technical aspects of "Kickassia" were better than the story, characterization, and humor, there are still some shockingly major mistakes like jarring continuity or horrendous lighting that simply cannot be ignored because it was made with very little money. I could have mercilessly nitpicked other smaller aspects of "Kickassia", like how some shots sometimes go in and out of focus, but there is no need to take after the Nostalgia Critic and exaggerate on how bad "Kickassia" is when there are plenty of legitimate technical problems that kept the cinematography from being truly competent.

The Verdict

After thoroughly analyzing and critiquing this "Kickassia", I believe that I can safely say that while it was made to originally be a fun project for the fans on ThatGuyWithTheGlasses, it is far from being a good film. The story and character development were nonexistent, the humor mainly derived from memes, cultural references, or painfully obvious joke plagiarism from other movies, and some of the technical aspects, such as the bad lighting and haphazard continuity, made this film a chore for me to watch, let alone review.

While there are few negative reviews critiquing "Kickassia" out there on the internet. As fans of ThatGuyWithTheGlasses generally tend to discount anything that critiques any product of Channel Awesome as trolling, let it be known that when you make something as half-baked as "Kickassia" and put it on IMDB as a legitimate 'movie', or go out of your way to sell it on DVD, there are bound to be potential audience members who will be turned off by this movie. If Kickassia deserves to be on the IMDB, then it deserves to be put under the microscope in the same fashion that the TGWTG crew do to other movies. If the fans or contributors can't stomach the thought of Channel Awesome's work being critiqued and reviewed like their top 'movie critics,' then obviously, something's wrong with this picture.


Whatisthisidonteven

I'm lovin' it so far.

Man remind me to never piss off kenny lol, great job so far, maybe its my nice nature but im tempted to debate you a little, NOT ALOT, just a smidge, give some defense to the Kickassia film... if for no other reason, maybe just for fun?!

Dually noted Kenny is serving the tgwtg fans a taste of their own medicine. In all honesty, how dare the tgwtg crew imply that their fanbase should tip the scales in the imdb? It's immoral and misleading and I hope that you do post your review at imdb.

DONE: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1757779/usercomments

I love it, but it needs some spacing in the IMDB. It's a wall of text and hard to read.

hahahahaa, that review tears them a new ass hole. great job.

I want to post this review as a featured review on CheshireCatStudios.com, but there's some things that NEED to be reworked:

Any references of "rebuttals" to other reviews need to be wiped out and bits of rebuttals (like the plot of the movie) need to be fully flushed out fully.

It also needs some pictures, naturally.

But I want to make this a feature for next weekend (6th, why not) if that's cool with you.

[EDIT]: LOL wow I'm a doofus, I didn't see what you posted in the Dex 3 thread.

Sure, but on one condition: post Dexter 3 shortly afterwards . It's been ready. I'll revamp this review, that was just an imdb review and I didn't want to lose it in case it wasn't accepted by the staff so I put it here. And hey, why not do that if I wanted to write it up on CCS anyway?

It looks like everyone has quite a bit to say about Kickassia. This should be interesting for a few laughs and flame wars but I suggest really giving these Kickassia reviews a lot of extra thought or else these may only do more harm to Cheshire Cat Studios as a whole than to do good. Our opinions of tgwtg are well known however this is the chance to do a better review than them and walk away looking well informed, literate, humorous, unbiased, and especially not annoying.

I don't want to pressure either of you but if these Kickassia reviews are not stellar and well thought then I am worried that a poor reflection could hurt my own work on Cheshire Cat Studios, as well as the others. I strongly implore that both of you keep your rantings to a minimum and stay very professional, and if you want to use humor please make it genuinely funny.

I hope that all remaining contributors review both of the finished reviews by STAR and Kenny Farino before they go live as insurance and assurance. Perhaps we should dedicate several days after both reviews are complete for purposes of refinement.