Movie Review: ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’

The last time a film as promisingly ludicrous as “Kingsman: The Secret Service” came out, it was also by the hand of director Matthew Vaughn. “Kick-Ass” was a gleefully unprofessional way to handle cinematic adaptations of comic books, and it was all the better for it.

“Kingsman” fits the same genre-bending mold, but with more suits – many, many more suits. For the classy gentleman in everyone, “Kingsman” is a messy take on the modern spy movie and the modern action movie that is so ballistically chaotic that it’s hard not to smile and laugh at the debauchery depicted on screen. Whatever flaws the movie has – and it very apparently has these flaws compared to Vaughn’s more polished works – there is a large portion of the viewing audience who are destined not to care.

Like “James Bond” smashed with “Harry Potter,” “Kingsman” is a protege film done with an edge of pizzazz, centralizing on Gary “Eggsy” Unwin (Taron Egerton). Eggsy is a bit of a hoodlum, defending himself against the local street kids while also protecting his mother from her new, abusive boyfriend. By ridiculous luck and a bit of fate, Eggsy runs into Galahad (Colin Firth), a very posh man who manages to incapacitate all of Eggsy’s bullies with a few swift moves of his umbrella – which, by the way, shoots bullets out of its holster.

Galahad informs Eggsy that he is a “Kingsman,” a clandestine part of the British government that eliminates threats before the public can hear about it. Eggsy’s father was one of Galahad’s closest friends, so Galahad sees the perfect opportunity to groom him into the perfect Kingsman – an extremely dangerous training process and competition that Eggsy has to enter against several other young potential spies.

Only one of them can join the elite Kingsmen, the ranks of whom include other British personalities with Camelot-inspired nicknames, such as Arthur (Michael Caine) and Merlin (Mark Strong). In a cast so filled with fun talent, almost all of whom get several gore-filled moments to shine, the most outrageous character is the villainous mastermind Valentine, given a no-holds barred performance by a lisping Samuel L. Jackson.

Vaughn has a habit of turning star performances out of young actors, and Egerton’s snappish, witty Eggsy might be Vaughn’s finest revelation yet. To be fair, though, anyone would look terrific under the extremely sharp film editing of “Kingsman.” Especially during the most brutal action sequences in a movie overwhelmed with R-rated fight scenes, Vaughn circles the camera around his subjects at incredible speed, making a punching sequence between two people seem like a war zone.

The most remarkable downside of the film’s destructive tour across London, and eventually the world, is the unsteadiness of its writing. Some of the most eye-catching moments in “Kingsman” are so outlandish that it’s hard not to grimace, even if that grimace is followed by a confused grin. It’s not that the film is predictable – its unpredictability is one of its fine points – but maybe the Kingsmen shouldn’t defy the laws of physics and common sense to get from point A to point B.

It’s very clear that this is how Vaughn and company want “Kingsman” to be viewed by the public: with a nudge of fourth wall-breaking acknowledgement, an unrestrained excitement, a plentiful amount of “James Bond” references and an excess of black comedy that is guaranteed not to be outdone for the rest of the year. The film is so filled with these elements that it’s nearly obnoxious, and will certainly be called such by anyone who doesn’t abandon all expectations of civility at the theater door.

What’s been spoken about “Kingsman” so far has been pretty high-grade – particularly in regards to one fight segment that might go down as the best use of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird” in our culture’s history. “Kingsman” isn’t perfect by any means, but it’s an argument for the genre that no one really saw coming: The current comic book adaptations dominating the box office are too composed and tame. What the world needs more of is Colin Firth blowing peoples’ heads off – if you’re into that sort of thing.

– Sebastian Torrelio