This new action comedy from Matthew Vaughn (Kick-Ass), Kingsman: The Secret Service, riffs on old spy movies, class divides and Tarentino-style violence. Based on the comic book from Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons, Kingsman radiates Saville Row and good Scotch, jamming in gadgets and secret lairs galore.
This kind of pastiche isn’t new (Johnny English, Austin Powers) and to this expanding genre, Vaughn injects a flamboyant, occasionally tacky, lads’ mag quality with a modern twist: Kingsman’s billionaire villain (Samuel L. Jackson) is fanatical about the environment. This maniacal version of a Steve Jobs tycoon is notable for his sheer Americanism, an affection for baseball caps and McDonalds.
Jackson’s eccentric performance is an enjoyable contrast to the British archetypes brought by spies Michael Caine, Mark Strong and Colin Firth (whose nimble, Kill Bill style martial arts makes jaws drop). Yet Kingsman’s central culture clash comes, not from this anglo-american sparring, but from car thief ‘Eggsy’ (Taron Egerton) entering the elitist spy agency as its newest trainee.
In Kingsman, ‘being a gentleman has nothing to do with accent’. Such instructive chestnuts challenge class stereotypes but Vaughn garbles the message, enthusiastically embracing cockney clichés and a simplistic, outdated view of London’s unemployed. Vaughn’s film applauds bettering oneself while curling its lip at tabloid readers who put ‘Brad Pitt ate my sandwich’ on the front page.
Kingsman is exuberant and energetic, its action is slick and relentless, but even Eggsy recognises it’s as much My Fair Lady as it is Roger Moore’s James Bond.
VERDICT: ✭ ✭ ✭ 3/5
Certificate: 15
Running Time: 129 minutes
Images: © TM and © 2014 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
UK Release Date: 29 January 2015
Review first printed in Ashfield & Mansfield Chad
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I didn’t expect much from this one, just hope it’s entertaining enough to kill 2 hrs of my life. Can’t wait to see this next week!
Hi Ruth. I’m sure you’ll be entertained by it – there’s plenty of action and the pace is rapid! There are some quirky visual effects too.
Fine review! I can’t quite figure out my expectations for this one. Sometimes it looks fun and entertaining. Other times it looks completely absurd. Still I find myself anxious to give it a look.
Hi Keith. I definitely found it entertaining, but you’re right there are some very silly effects, especially towards the end. The main issue I had with it was its exploration of class – there was a message hidden in there somewhere but it was very confused.
I really don’t fancy this, even though I enjoyed Kick Ass. The stuff I’ve heard and read about the misogyny is putting me off. I might give it a whirl when it’s available to stream, though.
Hi Stu. I really enjoyed Kick-Ass too but this one just doesn’t match up. There is one extremely tasteless and misogynistic joke at the end. As for the rest of the film, the treatment of women isn’t as bad as you might expect – there’s a fairly strong new female spy too. For me it was the exploration of class that I took issue with. There are just so many clichés in there that any messages the film tries to have are just completely lost.
Hey Natalie, I completely agree about the class message being garbled. I’m still not sure what it was supposed to be saying. Maybe just that manners are important?
Hi Mikey. Yeah I was mulling it over for a while and I still don’t feel entirely sure of what the director was aiming for. I’m interested to take a look at the comic and see how that handles the class issue.
The only clear message i got was that Americans are burger chomping egomaniacs!
I really have strangely high hopes for Kingsman. Love of Colin Firth, that’s what I blame.
Hi Jay. Hope you’ve enjoyed Kingsman – I thought it was really great to see Colin Firth take on such a different role.
Loved this film so much…it’s been over a month since I’ve seen it and it actually comes out here on Friday and I’m going in for a second run at it.. 🙂
Great to hear you enjoyed it Peggy. It’s definitely entertaining! It’s not quite up there with Kick-Ass for me, mainly because of its cliché representations of class, but Kingsman begs not be taken too seriously, so it’s easier to forgive 🙂
It might be why I liked it so much at the time also..because I had just been on a run of seeing so many Oscar movies that were all so serious and then to see this one was and just have some fun with it was kind of a relief. It didn’t want me to do anything but be entertained for 2 hrs and not be serious. ha! ya know sometimes you just need that. so I completely agree with you on the ‘not be taken seriously’ part! I did give it a pretty good review though.. 🙂 http://peggyatthemovies.com/2015/01/22/kingsman-the-secret-service-2015-20th-century-fox/
Very good review! Looking forward to this one. If it’s loud, silly and over the top, then I’m there! Thanks 🙂
Sounds like you’re going to love this one then Vic! Thanks for following by the way 🙂
My pleasure 🙂