Kickassia Review

 So Saturday I watched Kickassia again, seeing as it was my birthday and we didn't want to do anything really over the top. I debated doing a video review about this one but I figured since we have Blogger at our disposal, we should use it. Now, you're probably asking: what's Kickassia?

Kickassia is the two year celebration of the website That Guy With The Glasses, a pop culture reviewing site (and one of my inspirations to do Coffee With The Cynic), and follows the story of various alumni invading the micronation of Molossia for their own purposes. And yes, Molossia is a real place.

This movie is like the Destroy All Monsters of That Guy With The Glasses. The majority of the site's personalities are here. Being led by the Nostalgia Critic (Doug Walker), the army consists of Nostalgia Chick (Lindsay Ellis), Cinema Snob (Brad Jones), Handsome Tom (Thomas Hanley Jr), Angry Joe (Joe Vargas), Bennett The Sage (Bennett White), Jew Wario (Justin Carmical), Linkara (Lewis Lovhaug), Phelous (Phelan Porteous), Film Brain (Mathew Buck), Benzaie (Benjamin Daniel), Spoony (Noah Antwiler), Marzgurl (Kaylyn Dickson), 8-Bit Mickey (Mickey Paradis), Still Lee (Lee Davidge), LordKaT (Jason Pullara) and PawDugan (Paul Schuler). Rounding out the cast is Chris Larios as the news reporter from Channel Awesome and Molossia leader Kevin Baugh as himself.

The story itself is pretty good. Feeling slightly insane, The Nostalgia Critic confronts Molossia president Kevin Baugh on his doorstep and basically tells him, "We're gonna take over your land so get out." Baugh slams the door in his face so The Critic rounds up various members of TGWTG for an all-out invasion. The appearance of Baugh's SMG thwarts their first invasion attempt but the second attempt goes much better, thanks to the hulking out of Still Lee. Of course, trying to keep this as spoiler free as possible, the power goes to Critic's head and during a series of unfortunate yet hilarious events, everyone is at each other's throats and Kickassia goes to war with itself.


The performances here are really great.  It shows that these reviewers aren't just pessimistic socially awkward geeks in their reviews/rants but actually actors.  Good actors, in fact.  Doug's presence in an M. Bison costume is just fun to watch, as is Lindsey's Sarah Palin impression, but it's some of the other characters who are more or less the same way that they are in their reviews that really surprised me.  This movie more or less tells you what you've been missing by showcasing these other characters.  Of all of the reviewers involved, the one that stands out the most is Cinema Snob.  Brad Jones is like the Robert Downey Jr. of That Guy With The Glasses in the way that it's just fun to watch him do anything and to hear him talk.  In parts of the film, he channels Stacey Keach & Jack Nicholson in brilliantly well timed performances.  Seriously, check out this guy's stuff.  You won't regret it.

The timing of this movie doesn't waver, either.  It doesn't ever feel slow in any given part of the film and has a nice balance between action, suspense and comedy.  To go from a scene where Critic and Film Brain are just acting strange to a plotting scene and then to a fight with Critic & Spoony's alter ego, Dr. Insano, flows so well.  It never feels forced.  The fight with Critic & Insano is very well done in the same sense with balancing the various elements of comedy & action.  It's like a comic book movie fight on a Wal-Mart budget with Home Alone bits thrown in, and I loved every second of it.

I could go on and on about every little bit of the movie from Linkara's Patton impression to the cameos of various other internet personalities (including James Rolfe, aka The Angry Video Game Nerd, as his Board James character), but this review would never end, so I'll try and sum it up.

The final verdict?  Kickassia lives up to its name.  If you follow these kind of pop culture reviewers, you OWE it to yourself to look into Kickassia.  Even if you don't follow these kinds of things, you should check it out anyway to see the performances and just how much effort was put into this film.  It amazes me that Doug & Rob (Doug's brother) Walker was able to orchestrate something of this magnitude.  Not everyone in this film is even from the U.S.  Phelous is from Nova Scotia, Film Brain is from the UK, and Benzaie is from France.  I don't know if Doug actually pulled for their hotel rooms the way he says in the movie or if they themselves are loaded or if they are just THAT loyal to him, but in the end it doesn't matter.  The effort that went into this movie is astounding and can rival that of Hollywood.  Honestly, my only gripe with Kickassia is that The Distressed Watcher (TJ Kincaid) isn't in this movie, not even as a cameo.  I would have loved to see him as something like an Ambassador to America then see him argue with a 7-11 clerk of the price of something mundane like a pack of cigarettes or something.  However, Cinema Snob made up for this in spades.  Nah, lemme rephrase that, EVERYTHING in this movie makes up for any missing TGWTG alumni.

It was also announced that a Kickassia DVD is in the works and should be released sometime in August.  Rest assured, I'll put up the link to buy it once it's available.  It's that good.  Click the links below to watch it:

Part 1: Uh, Part 01
Part 2: Triumph & Treacle
Part 3: Inglorious Glory
Part 4: The Beginning Of The End Of The Beginning
Part 5: The Fall Of The Risen
Part 6: All The Really Bad Shit Happens

There's also a ton of Making Of, Commentaries & Bloopers on That Guy With The Glasses & Cinema Snob's websites, so check those ones out if you have the chance to do so.