The Kick-Ass series has always sounded good in theory - kids in thrall to the Spiderman and Batman comics donning homemade costumes and patrolling the streets – but the execution (both in the comics and the film) feels like a missed opportunity, trading the inherent humour of such a set-up for lashings of ultra-violence that becomes merely wearisome.

This spin-off features the 12-year-old Hit-Girl, who has taken Kick-Ass on as her sidekick, but when he gets benched she has to take on a bunch of mafia types on her own. She offs the heavies in an increasingly inventive series of ways, while simultaneously staying one step ahead of her disapproving guardians, but a subplot involving her popularity (or lack of it) with the school’s hip-kids feels underdeveloped. It zips along at a fair old crack however, and if you do enjoy the prospect of a potty-mouthed 12-year-old laying waste to sundry thugs, then this should keep you going until the next film which is due out later this year. RM