Kingsman: The Secret Service

Matthew Vaughn made his name directing the stylish and ultra violent Kick Ass.  An adaptation of a Mark Millar comic, which took a very different look at super heroes.  It was successful enough that he bagged himself an X-Men film.  However, with Kingsman: The Secret Service, it appears Vaughn is going back to the w, as it’s another Millar adaptation, but this time see’s him dealing with gentlemen spies.

What you get is a wonderful blend of Kick Ass, Roger Moore era James Bond and Men In Black.  We are introduced to the Kingsman, a group of gentlemen agents whose operations are completely covert.  Into that mix is thrown Eggsy (Taron Egerton) a kid ‘from the streets’, who is forced to prove himself to a group of people, who were born with the proverbial silver spoon very firmly wedged into some sort of orifice.  On top of this, his mentor Galahad, Harry Hart to his mother and Colin Firth to you or I, is on a collision course with Richmond Valentine, a lisping Samuel L. Jackson, who wants to cull the world’s population, in order to combat climate change.

It is a suitably ridiculous plot and one that kind that in all honesty takes a back seat to the visuals.  Vaughn knows how to shoot a fight scene and there are several in here which are near perfect.  One in particular, which see’s Colin Firth massacring the attendants of a particularly right-wing church, is masterfully done.  The camera follows Firth, speeding up and slowing down to get the best of the action and never once leaving you confused as to what is going on.  It’s a technique that the Michael Bay’s of this world, could learn a lot from.  This ultra violence is of course not for everyone, but if it is your bag you can’t help but enjoy it, even if you will occasionally question just how many people have died in this film.

Alongside this gratuitous violence, there is a fair dollop of crude humour, some of which has offended people.  I have to be honest and say that the particular joke, which comes at the end of the film, which has caused the most fuss really didn’t bother me.  Sure, it was a bit blue, but it didn’t even cross my mind that it might be going over a line.  In fact, it was the violence that made me wonder, not that it was too gruesome for me, but I did think a few people might have an issue with it.  Shows what I know.

It has to be said that some of the characters are a bit two-dimensional.  Eggsy is made likable by Egerton, but some of his from the streets stereotypes should really not be appearing in cinema anymore.  While his female competition for the spot in Kingsman, Roxy (Sophie Cookson), never gets past being the friendly posh lass, about all we learn about her is that she has a fear of heights.

On the other hand, Colin Firth is great.  He switches between cool, gentlemanly Firth, the one we are all used to, and efficient super spy at the drop of a hat and somehow insures that we never question whether or not Mr. Darcy can actually do that.  Mark Strong also continues his form of being in everything and being quite good in everything, as Merlin, Kingsman Q like character.  While Samuel L. Jackson is, as always, an engaging on-screen presence, although his lisp is a bit off-putting to begin with, as he does eccentric well.

It all comes together in an over the top romp of a spy film, full of exploding heads and fine suits.  Sure, if violence and crudity aren’t your game, you really should give it a miss.  But if that sounds up your street, Kingsman is a breath of fresh air in a time when most spy films are deadly serious and never embrace the ridiculous that completely inhabited their early incarnations.  If you are willing to sit down, turn off your brain and have fun, Kingsman: The Secret Service will give you exactly what you are wanting.