Last weekend’s box office was a stacked one, pitting Kingsman: The Secret Service against popular titles like Spongebob and Fifty Shades of Grey—those of which already have a dedicated fan base.
That being said, Kingsman isn’t exactly original. In fact, it is a comic book adaption, but general audiences aren’t likely to have that information on hand. The more you know.
Directed by Matthew Vaughan (Kick-ass, X-men: First Class), Kingsman is a smart, stylish and thrilling spy drama about a troubled young man named Eggsy (Taron Egerton) who gets recruited by his late father’s friend Harry Hart (Colin Firth) to train in an exclusive program to become a gentleman spy.
While his young ward is involved in his intensive training, Harry, codename Galahad, goes off on a mission to expose a maniacal terror plot. Samuel L. Jackson, who stars as the genius billionaire antagonist Valentine, plays his role with interesting Bond villain like quirks. Valentine has a distracting lisp and a serious phobia of gore, which is rather inconvenient for his line of work.
Even his right hand woman, Gazelle, is armed with blades in the place of prosthetic legs. Together they are working on a plan to cure the cause of rapid climate change: overpopulation.
However, the way in which they plan to do this isn’t exactly humane. It is insane, actually—allowing the virus to kill the virus. Or less metaphorically, he wants to diminish the overall population by manipulating humans into killing each other.
A disappointing amount of action movies lately have failed to deliver half of what they have promised in their marketing campaigns. Sometimes adding Jason Staham to the bill isn’t going to cut it if the plot is so convoluted or stalled it’s beyond being enjoyable.
The thing that seems to be hurting most action blockbusters these days is greed. Sequels and tent pole franchises is where it’s at, and in order to rake in more cash, many studios are opting to attract larger audiences by lowering the ratings on their films.
Even the last Expendables installment swung for a PG-13 rating for a broader box office appeal. The downside to this is that the MPAA guidelines that one has to follow in order to get a particular rating can inhibit creative freedom.
When you are sitting in an action movie you want to be stirred by the emotional and physical impact of a scene, not notice what sort of things have been cut out so as not to offend you.
However, with Kingsman, everything just feels right. Not one technical aspect seems to over shadow the next. It balances comedy well with the elements of action in just the right doses to lighten some of the more wicked moments.
It is a well oiled, self aware machine. It cleverly chips at the fourth wall without breaking it down. While it is an action comedy that openly acknowledges that it is homage to the spy thrillers of old, the characters never wink into the camera.
There are definitely scenes here that have already been buzzing with a swarm of controversy. An ultraviolet action sequence that takes place in a church, and a head scratching end scene that feels out of character for the protagonist. Despite Vaughan’s explanation of the scene in question in several interviews—it’s supposedly a jab at an old Bond innuendo—it still feels like a cheap and awkward footnote to end on.
The action and fight choreography is very stylized. It reminded me of two of my favorite and fairly recent action films, The Raid and John Wick. One of the best was the jaw-dropping church scene. It was brutal, fast-paced and completely insane—oddly enough, I never wanted it to end.
It was said that Firth did a majority of his stunts, if so it was a privilege to pay ten dollars to see him not only man handle Mark Hamill (Star Wars), but take out an entire hate group to Lynrd Skynrd’s “Free Bird”. His character talks a big game to Eggsy about behaving like a gentleman, and never fails to deliver.
Whether, he’s engaging in a bar fight or shaking down a suspect, he is prim and proper, spilling not one drop of blood on his bullet proof bespoke suit. Eggsy soon follows in his footsteps, taking his wise words to heart: “Being a gentleman doesn’t mean being superior to those around you, it means being superior to your former self.”
British drama alums Michael Caine and Mark Strong, though their roles are small, are not wasted. Jackson plays Valentine with a devious but sweet edge. Sophia Boutella’s sexy and lethal Gazelle is an excellent mirror to the vulnerable, but brave Kingsman recruit Roxy.
While they never come face to face, it is amazing just knowing the two strong female leads can exist within the same movie. With Melisa McCarthy’s comedy Spy, the next Bond Spectre and The Man from U.N.C.L.E starring Armie Hammer (Lone Ranger) and Henry Cavill (Man of Steel) all due out later this year, hopefully there will be a revival in the quality of action and spy movies.
Zhana Johnson
Senior Features Editor