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Twentieth Century Fox |
For those who do experience it,
Kingsman: The Secret Service is sure
to become one of those movies that will force some type of grin or cheerful
smirk onto your face at its mentioning. It’s not one that will be remembered
for its story, characters and really won’t be all that quotable but you will be
hard pressed not say you had fun as it’s bizarre, off-the wall quality of
action sequences and moments will keep you entertained throughout. Sure you can pick at the story over and over
but with Kingman: The Secret Service,
Director Matthew Vaughn gives us a reason to have fun at the cinema.
Opening in the year 1997, Kingman: The Secret Service begins with
secret agents Harry Hart (Colin Firth) and Merlin (Mark Strong) being saved by
a fellow secret agent as he gives his life to do so. Soon after this, Harry
goes to the home of the fallen agent’s wife and young son Eggsy, informing them
to contact the spy organization if they are ever in any trouble. Fast-forward
17 years and we find Eggsy (Taron Egerton) contacting Harry at a time when he
is not only in trouble but at a time when the organization is in need of a new
agent. This is all happening as billionaire Richmond Valentine (Samuel L.
Jackson) is plotting to decrease the world’s population because of global
warming.
You know it’s going to be one
wild ride when Mark Hamel is a professor, tied to a chair and the secret agent
there to rescue him fails to do so because he is sliced in half by a women who
has swords for feet. This is one of the first scenes of the film and it really
only gets wilder after that. Due to this, It quickly becomes clear that the
story isn’t all that important, as the spectacle that is an action sequence, infused
with comedy and just flat out bizarreness, is what is meant to catch your eye.
To the benefit of the audience, it accomplishes this with ease.
Director Matthew Vaughn holds
nothing back and at times, even amping up his already out of the ordinary
visuals. Vaughn allows his style to take over by using a silly, one note
premise that, while it doesn’t make much of a story, gives a base to his
extremely fun action sequences. It becomes clear that he doesn’t want to take
away from this entertaining experience with plot details and developments that could
bog everything down. This doesn’t always work but in this case it works and
then some due to Vaughn’s full commitment to not taking things all that
serious.
Buying into Vaughn’s approach
is his cast. Like the story, there isn’t much to the characters this cast
portrays but they understand what they are working with and run with it. Firth
and Strong are required to have a level of reserve to them but get to cut lose
when moments of combat or chaos call for it. In a couple of big action
sequences, Firth is amusing as a killing machine or just letting a few punks in
a pub know who is boss. Strong’s character, Merlin, in charge of training
potential secret agents, acts somewhat as a voice of reason and adds moments of
compassion and whit to the cleverly done training scenes.
Fairly new to the scene, Taron
Egerton as Eggsy fills the role well, getting to let loose a little more than
most characters. What I like about the character and what Egerton brings to
this is the clear evolution of confidence and comfort as the film goes on. In
fact, becoming so confident that he negotiates doing a Princess from Sweden
(Hanna Alstrom) from behind towards the films finale (yes this is worded
awkwardly but not as awkward as what is said on screen).
The most outrageous character
though belongs to Samuel L. Jackson as the villainous billionaire Richmond
Valentine. Using a Mike Tyson-like lisp, Jackson may not make Valentine appear
all that evil but it does go well with the nonsense antics that he is up to.
The film’s final few scenes, features Valentine really only dropping the f-bomb
and nothing more but with the lisp and Jackson’s distinctive delivery in
general it’s hard not to be entertained.
If there is anything to really
fault Kingsman: The Secret Service for,
it would have to be that it runs a little long, dragging at times. Along with
this, a few of the action sequences turn very unsettling in very brief moments
but these are small complaints that really won’t be much of a bother. With Kingsman: The Secret Service, Vaughn
makes it very difficult not to have fun as he accomplishes something few
directors that take on these type of premises forget to do: Entertain first.
Grade:
B-