'Kingsman: The Secret Service' Review

There's a sequence in 'Kingsman' in which Colin Firth's character looks to Samuel L. Jackson's lead villain and says that watching old Bond movies as a child are some of his greatest memories, and that spy movies nowadays are too dark. With 'Kingsman: The Secret Service', director Matthew Vaughn ('X-Men: First Class', 'Kick-Ass') tries finding a delicate balance between capturing that classic Bond feel, yet still fitting in the wildly subversive nature Mark Millar brought to the graphic novel on which this is based. In the end, Vaughn only partially succeeds on both fronts.

The story follows a troubled young man named Eggsy (Newcomer, Taron Egerton) who lives in a shabby apartment with his single mother and abusive stepfather. Eggsy takes out his anger by starting fights, running from police and stealing cars. When our lead is thrown in jail, a mysterious man named Harry Hart (Colin Firth) bails him out. Harry then explains to him that he is a Kingsman agent, a tux wearing, military/spy unit that takes on the world's biggest threats. When Harry informs Eggsy that his father was a Kingsman, our lead leaves his dreary life behind and goes into intense training led by Mark Strong and Michael Caine. Meanwhile, the villainous tech guru, Valentine (played wonderfully by Sam Jackson), plans to turn the world's cell phones into a device that makes all human beings act out their anger on whatever pisses them off the most. It's up to our heroes to stop Valentine from changing all human beings into hateful zombies.

Let me first say that I'm not as gaga for Matthew Vaughn as many filmgoers are. His movies have great action sequences and he knows how to make his films look like comic books, but I've seen other directors pull that off with the same, if not more, amount of success. But, like I said, Vaughn does know how to stage an action sequence and 'Kingsman' may feature some of his best work yet. The speed and utter lunacy of these shootouts are terrific and there's a very delicate balance of making the action look frantic, but not allowing the camera to become overly shaky. Vaughn also knows how to keep an audience tense and on the edge of their seat. A terrific skydiving sequence is incredible, and seems to homage the opening 007's 'Moonraker'.

The cast is also quite solid, with a very good performance from Taron Egerton as Eggsy. I could see this guy getting a lot more roles after this performance. In a way, he really does seem like a young James Bond with his mix of wit, sophistication and intensity. However, it's Colin Firth and Sam Jackson who truly steal the show. Firth brings his usual gentlemanly manner to the role of Harry Hart, and it's fantastic seeing him remain proper, even when he's blowing people's heads off. Sam Jackson turns out his best role since 'Django Unchained'. His character has a lisp and it's extremely fun to hear him say the dialogue, yet it never goes overboard.

In the weeks since its release, 'Kingsman' has divided a lot of audiences. Its strange mixture of 60s spy films and grindhouse style shocks in the third act has left a poor taste in the mouths of many critics and filmgoers. For the first hour, one might wonder why 'Kingsman' was even rated R. It starts out like a young adult novel of sorts, with our lead discovering the world of spies, much like Harry Potter discovering the world of wizards just with a few 'F' bombs thrown in to make it seem edgy. Once we see the effects of our villain's sinister plan, it's obvious to see that this movie earns its hard R rating. Some critics have stated that they found the innocence of the first half to be far more intriguing than the subversive second half. One sequence in particular, a church massacre, in which Colin Firth causes most of the carnage has been the subject of plenty of controversy. Some love it, some say it pushes the boundaries of taste too far. While I'm usually one to bow out when a movie gets too overly distasteful, the church sequence was the point where the film grabbed my attention again after a pretty snooze worthy mid-section. Is it too long? Maybe. Is it going to anger people? Sure. But it's the kind of sequence I never thought I'd see in such a big Hollywood production. Also, Vaughn sets up the victims as racist, homophobic bigots, so there's less of an moral queasiness as far as I'm concerned.

However, therein lies my problem with 'Kingsman': it took me a long time to get intrigued. While many have enjoyed the early, non-threatening moments early on the film, I found them extremely generic and somewhat style-less. Granted, there are some terrific moments. A pub fight with Colin Firth, a villainess attacking spies with her sword-legs, and the skydiving sequence I mentioned earlier are all fine, but they're buffered by training montages that seem like deleted scenes of Vaughn's 'X-Men: First Class'. Also, the constant explaining of Sam Jackson's evil plan makes it seem far more complicated than it actually turns out to be. And while I agree the movie's second half isn't flawless, (a graphic sex joke that ends the movie is completely needless and tries to attract only the young male demographic) at least it was different. It finally felt like things were at stake and that the movie was something different rather than a 'rags to riches' story I've seen a million times before. 

Overall, 'Kingsman: The Secret Service' is a fun film. It has a lot of things that don't work, but quite a lot that does. It's not for everyone, and I only give it a slight recommendation, but there are far worse films to see at the movies in early 2015. 

Grade: B-

Review by: Josh McCormack