A good friend of mine who’s based in Australia posted on Facebook a favorable reaction after watching this movie and I was intrigued.  He said the movie was ridiculous but fun, whic I feel was an apt description of Matthew Vaughn’s work (X-Men: First Class, Kick-Ass, Stardust).  I had a couple of hours to kill before my passport renewal appointment anyway, and Collin Firth, so why not? Here’s the round up:

Please note that there may be spoilers.  Read at your own risk.

THE STORY:

Gary ‘Eggsy’ Unwin (Taron Egerton – Testament of Youth) is a brilliant but unmotivated young man who chooses to use his talents to do petty crimes, the occasional drug use and get into pub brawls.  Although to be fair, circumstances were stacked up against him because when his father died in the field seventeen years ago, Eggsie and his mum were only given a medallion with a number and a code word to show for his bravery.  He was raised soley by his mother who was always too preoccupied with her lovelife to actually care for him. After getting into yet another altercation with the son of his mother’s current douchebag boyfriend, Eggsy lands in jail and uses his one phone call to contact the number on the medallion as a desperate attempt to escape eighteen months of imprisonment.  Harry Hart (Colin Firth – The King’s Speech), a man who introduces himself as the man Eggsy’s father died saving, shows up and gets him released in an instant.  Seeing Eggsy’s potential, Harry Hart, codenamed Galahad, offers him the chance to prove himself worthy of joining a secret gentlemen spy organization called the Kingsmen.  A spot has opened up when Lancelot (Jack Davenport – Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl) died investigating the actions of the American genius entrepreneur Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson – Captain America: The Winter Soldier) and his assistant/secretary Gazelle (Sophia Boutella – Street Dance 2).  Not only does Eggsy have to prove himself to the Kingsman’s higer-ups Merlin (Mark Strong – The Imitation Game) and Arthur (Michael Caine – Inception), he also has to compete with nine other trainees, all bred from London’s finest while also stopping a plot that can destroy mankind as we know it.

THE GOOD:

1. Colin Firth was at his snootiest upper class British man.  It’s always a joy to watch Colin Firth and a good deal of his charm comes from his posh-ness.  Here, he pulls out all the stops and just unapologetically goes for it.  He’s also slimmed down considerably to prepare for his stunts so he looks devastatingly good in those expensive suits.

   

2. Samuel L. Jackson was a lisping delight.  Gotta respect a man who commits a hundred percent to his character.

   

3. That was a pretty good villain’s plan, actually.  In some ways I do agree with his line of thinking and do see the appeal of ridding earth’s ‘virus’ before it’s too late.  I just don’t agree with him personally handpicking who gets to survive and who doesn’t as it’s too prejudiced.  If i were to do it, I’d have everybody do an IQ test and only the cream of the crop would get saved to jumpstart the new world.
4. They totally subverted the expectation of Roxy and Eggsie being romantically linked.  Hooray for no awkward will they/won’t they bullshit!

   

5. The suits were pretty bad ass and obviously were very expensively made.

   

THE BAD:

1. Terrible CGI.  It’s a silly action movie and had no business showing shitty special effects.
2. The messy fight sequences.  As is usual with Matthew Vaughn’s action movies, the fight sequences were poorly shot and were a tad bit confusing.  The sequences were actually kind of good but he tends to zoom in real close when the choreography could’ve benefited from a panned out shot.
3. Not enough training scenes.  The first one with the water filling up the dorm room was pretty good, I wish there were a few more of those thrown in.
4. Was that the same house where X-Men: First Class was shot?

THE UGLY:

1. Eggsie’s mum’s acting during her first scene.  That was just so bad, I cringed.
2. The ending.  I’m all for them not pushing the Eggsy/Roxy relationship but random sex in a prison cell with a missing princess was a step in the opposite direction too far, I think.
3. Too small roles for the big wigs.  Michael Caine, Mark Strong and Jack Davenport were all delights and I wish they had more to do on screen.
4. Things didn’t really gel well together.  It’s been a constant problem of mine in Matthew Vaughn’s movies because no matter how close he sticks to the formula, I feel like something is always missing to make the watching experience of his movies cohesive.  In this case I think that he failed to set up Eggsy’s character that I, as an audience, didn’t really care what happened to him.

All in all Kingsman: The Secret Service was an okay movie.  It was ridiculous and fun, and clearly strove to emulate the spy movies of olden times.  Performances were generally good, although it was a shame that some of Britain’s best had so little to do.  I just wish that the action sequences were shot with a little more finesse and that the main character in particular was fleshed out a little bit more.

THE VERDICT: 6.5/10.

*All photos are lifted from the film’s IMDB page.