SINGAPORE - Chloe Grace Moretz was launched into stardom as the foul-mouthed, ultra-violent pre-pubescent Hit Girl, in 2010’s Kick-Ass, and now she’s back with most of the old gang in tow for its sequel.

Kick-Ass 2 continues directly from where Kick-Ass left off: Both Hit Girl and Kick-Ass (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) have retired from vigilantism, but once you’ve put the costume on you can’t look back — and both of them make their return, training in secret.

Kick-Ass soon joins up with a vigilante super-team, Justice Forever, led by Colonel Stars and Stripes (an amazing and subtle Jim Carrey). Meanwhile, Red Mist (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) is driven by revenge after his father was killed. He blames Kick-Ass, creating a whole new persona, The Motherf***er, and forms a super-villain team of his own, The Toxic Mega C***s.

So you’ll get blood-drenched violence, swear words galore and sheer offensiveness all around. If you’re up for that, you’re in luck. This may be writer/director Jeff Wadlow’s first major title, but there’s a thrill in watching the action, and he manages to bring a level of energy to the proceedings that is capped off with the final fight: An amazing set-piece of hero versus villain melee combat.

The send-ups of both the superhero world and modern society are there too: The Motherf***er’s lair is hilariously set up, while Hit Girl doesn’t just face street thugs — puberty and gleeful mean girls in high school become her new challange, leading to some of the movie’s major laugh out loud moments.

But there’s a dark edge to it all. While the original Kick-Ass had some subtle satire hidden under its ultra-violence, Kick-Ass 2 is more of a blunt object, constantly reminding us it’s set in the “real world” while finding new ways to offend the viewer all in the name of satire. Some scenes even edge entirely past any form of good-taste, and end up entirely juvenile or rancid on top of being misogynistic or racist.

Still, Kick-Ass 2 delivers what many of its target audience would expect, and to accuse it of being entirely juvenile would miss the point of why the sequel was made. Jim Carrey famously refused to do publicity for the film after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, and it’s only fitting that it’s he that provides the movie with its heart.

The original Kick-Ass might have been a surprise hit, but it looks like capturing lightning in a bottle twice isn’t as straightforward as it seems. With Wadlow tackling the next X-Men movie after Matthew Vaughn’s Days Of Future Past, comic movie fans might want to temper their expectations a little.

(M18, 103 mins)