Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014) Review
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Cast: Taron Egerton (Eggsy), Colin Firth (Harry Hart), Samuel L. Jackson (Richmond Valentine), Mark Strong (Merlin), Michael Caine (Arthur), Sophie Cookson (Roxy), Sofia Boutella (Gazelle)
Unfortunately, this movie wasn’t able to catch me by surprise since I saw it after becoming aware of how well it turned out. But that did not prevent me from enjoying the movie. I’ve always had an affinity for action comedies, provided they’re actually good (with Deadpool and Police Story 2 being two of my favorites). So naturally, I had to see what all the fuss was about.
First, I have to commend Vaughn for using “I Want My MTV” as the backdrop for the opening action scene. That helped set the tone for the movie. In this scene, Eggsy’s father sacrifices himself to save Harry Hart and two other agents. Afterwards, the story picks up 17 years later with one of those agents getting killed. Meanwhile, Eggsy is arrested for stealing a car and is selected by Hart to be a new Kingsman (replacing the one who just died). However, first, he has to go through training in which only one will be selected. Meanwhile, tech genius Richmond Valentine is working on a plan to severely reduce humanity’s numbers.
The above plot resulted in some intentionally hilarious moments. I especially loved the “catholic whore” line used immediately before the church massacre. Also, the movie possessed some pretty good fight scenes and this may be the most unabashedly entertaining spy movie to come around in a long time. If anything, the only noticeable drawback is that there are quite a few goofs in the movie. Though, the movie is so entertaining, I barely noticed.
Kingsman: the Secret Service, in Review
Overall, I feel this movie is extremely good. It’s not perfect, but due to Matthew Vaughn’s direction and some rather hilarious dialogue (that reminds me of James Gunn, but more sarcastic and little less offbeat). This helps the film overcome the continuity errors. For this reason, I give the movie four out of five stars.