Kingsman: The Secret Service

Director Matthew Vaughn (Kick-Ass, X-Men: First Class, Layer Cake), who is a long-time Guy Ritchie collaborator, brings his signature high octane action to theatres with what can only be described as a gratuitously violent James Bondian comedy. Vaughn has made a living taking unknown Brits and putting them in ridiculous action flicks, leading to a rise to stardom. It worked for Daniel Craig, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Nicholas Hoult, and now, Taron Egerton. There is something refreshing about an unrecognizable protagonist making his mark on film. Too often films rely on big stars (although Kingsman has plenty of them supporting Egerton) and that diminishes the action and the story.

Kingsman is a secret British organization with a substantial endowment that allows them to fight crime internationally while maintaining the honorable standards expected of a British gentleman. Fronted by a tailor's shop in London, they liken themselves to King Arthur's court, even using the names of the knights as their cover identity. Pretty cool stuff. When one operative is killed, a replacement candidate is given a tryout. Enter Eggsy (Taron Egerton). He is recruited by Galahad (Colin Firth) to replace the recently killed Lancelot, chosen because his father was a Kingsman years ago. With the help of Merlin (Mark Strong), and Arthur (Michael Caine), Eggsy finds himself battling recruits for the coveted position, and is drawn into an international conspiracy with implications that could kill billions of people. Typical James Bond saves the world stuff.

Samuel Jackson is Valentine, the billionaire technology mogul with an agenda dealing with population control, and he plays the villain with a bit of nonchalance. He has a lisp, and is given too many character flaws to be taken seriously or feared. There is an homage to the spy paradigm of elaborate plans, exorbitant amounts of money spent, world domination, etc. His trusty assassin/girlfriend is the cleverly crafted character Gazelle, played by Sofia Boutella. She is a double amputee, with more in common with Oscar Pistorius than just the carbon fiber appendages. She wields swords in her legs that allow her to kill in original and nasty ways. After doing a little research, I found out that she is a professional dancer with some ties to Nike. Makes sense after seeing some of her dance-fighting moves.

The blink-or-you'll-miss-it character is Professor Arnold, played by Mark Hamill. Yep, Luke frigging Skywalker. It was either makeup, or unkind aging, but that's him. I didn't even notice until the credits rolled. The film weaves iconic veteran film actors (Caine, Firth, Strong) with a youthfulness (Egerton and Sophia Cookson) that strikes a nice balance, and makes for a really outstanding cast overall. The tone of the film on the other hand, I didn't find quite as palatable.

On paper, Kingsman sounds really cool, and even the previews make it look like a fun time. Maybe I'm getting old, but this film would have been better losing some of the blood, dropping a few F-bombs, and going with a PG-13 rating instead of R. The sheer amount of blood and death is out of place with the comedy and fun spy gadgetry that the movie conveys. Even the gentlemanly aura that Firth puts out goes off the rails when we start to see shootings, stabbings, slicing, dismemberment, and more. Granted, Vaughn does an incredible job in one of the best choreographed fight scenes I've seen in some time. Firth in a church, taking on literally an entire congregation of insane people. The break-neck action is exciting and the choreographer deserves some serious props. The church scene will be talked about, and is certainly the most memorable part of this film. So violent in fact, that it has been removed from certain international cuts of the film (Vietnam and Indonesia confirmed, others I'm sure will follow suit). It reminds me in many ways of a Tarantino film, and I'm not convinced that Vaughn has that level of genius to be able to pull it off. I see it more as a way to garner attention and set himself apart from other directors in his genre.

The film loses appeal for me because of the ultra-violence, but it is an entertaining story with some brilliant action sequences. Pretty entertaining to see Colin Firth doing some full-on action for the first time in his distinguished career. He would have made a great James Bond a decade or so ago, but we'll have to settle for a more polished version of Liam Neeson. I am also tired of Samuel L. Jackson. He has done some incredible work, but I'd like to see him take a break and maybe reinvent himself. Granted, he's amassing a fortune due to volume of work (nearly 160 movies and counting), and has 4 films in post-production, 1 filming, and 3 in pre-production. Take a break, Sam! The villain should have been given more thought. A flamboyant billionaire? Maybe a young British actor would have given it more credibility. Had it been an unassuming Bill Gates/Steve Jobs type, it would have been even better. But Sam Jackson reeks of insincerity. The film was begging for a more villainous antagonist.

There is a hint of a love interest as Eggsy is training with some of the other recruits. A young woman named Roxy, played by Sophia Cookson, strikes a bond with him as the rest of the recruits are too busy trying to get themselves ahead of the pack. Eggsy and Roxy are the only true team players, but their chemistry isn't given time to heat up. I kind of felt the inclusion of her into the story was a bit unnecessary seeing how it didn't really go anywhere. Even at the end, I'm sure I wasn't the only one in the audience wondering why Eggsy chose the princess over Roxy. Oh well, maybe I'm reading too much into the story.

It was as entertaining as anything else out there. Fun story, insanely great action, but a bit too indecisive with its own identity, and the violence was unexpected. I had a similar complaint about Kick-Ass a few years back. 6/10.