Protagonist Egsy, clearly not a standard candidate for
the Kingsman.
I
must confess, ever since the film Layer Cake I have been a fan of
Kingsman: The Secret Service director Matthew Vaughan, from films
like Kick-Ass and X-Men: First Class to Stardust he has always made
highly entertaining films. All of which have contained great humour,
characters and not only well staged and genuinely exciting action
scenes, but action scenes that are also frequently wildly inventive.
Kingsman: The Secret Service thankfully continues this run of
excellent films by Matthew Vaughan.
Gary
Unwin, also known as Eggsy is a young man, drifting through life
without any real goals or purpose. Soon enough one of his escapades
has his path crosses with Harry Hart, who is a member of a secret
service known as the Kingsman who are entirely 'gentlemen' in
behaviour. After some rudimentary tests Harry seeks to recruit Eggsy
into the Kingsman. Performances are strong throughout, but Sofia
Boutella as the blade legged femme fatale and Colin Firth as Harry
Hart are easily the highlights. Colin Firth in particular will
surprisingly enough likely leave many thinking how he would have been
a perfect fit for James Bond. Not only fitting the suave nature of
Bond with ease, but providing more then up for the challenge of the
action scenes present. Likewise whilst Sofia Boutella has minimal
dialogue she is able to give a presence that would otherwise be
missing from the amusing but non threatening core villain present as
portrayed by Samuel L. Jackson.
Sofia Boutella as the femme fatale and Colin Firth is a suave
secret agent are particular highlights.
On
that note the humour and action as expected from a Matthew Vaughan
film is handled with a flare and whimsy that films with budgets
several times larger can't even begin to hope to match. Meanwhile the
action is also brutally violent, which is a breathe of fresh air
given the large number of the big budget action films having somewhat
tepid action due to the restriction a lower rating puts on them.
Their is a scene in a church that starts of with one of most
ludicrously brilliant lines in quite some time that evolves into what
is simply jaw dropping carnage that is stunningly shoot and edited
together. For action junkies it is one of the few scenes I have ever
seen that truly leaves up to the notion of being worth the price of
admission alone. Likewise the finale is suitably spectacular and
inventive without out wearing it welcome and dragging on far to long
as has become customary for many action films in recent years.
At
its core of Kingsman: The Secret Service is an unashamed homage to
the older James Bond films where English secret agents used numerous
gadgets and the agents being those women want to be with and men want
to be. However unlike James Bond Kingsman: The Secret Service
features far more humour and has far more brutal and bloody action
which helps sets it apart on its own and given the more recent Bonds
more serious tone leaves Kingsman felling far more fresh then it
probably should. Kingsman: The Secret service comes recommended.
Note:
As is far to common I must recommend people stay away from the full
trailers for this film as they give far to much away as sadly it seems
that those creating trailers still feel the way to sell a film is to
simply have a two to three minute summary of many of the key points
of a film. I strongly disagree.
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