Movie Review: “Kingsman: The Secret Service” (Rated R)

“Kingsman: The Secret Service” – Fox(NEW YORK) — If you’re an accomplished director who really wants to direct a James Bond movie but is rejected by the family that controls the James Bond franchise, you can either sulk about it, or you can make your own damn James Bond-ish movie. That’s exactly what Matthew Vaughn did with Kingsman: The Secret Service, and the results are somewhat spectacular.

Colin Firth plays Harry Hart, codename Galahad. He’s a Kingsman, a member of “an international intelligence agency operating at the highest level of discretion.” In other words, an organization of spies — very well-dressed spies. Indeed, his point of entry to Kingsman headquarters is a tailor shop on London’s famed Savile Row, a street lined with custom tailor shops. 

Then there’s Gary, a.k.a. Eggsy (Taron Egerton), a military dropout who’s been mixed up in drugs and likes to steal things. On top of that, he lives with his mother, his baby sister and an abusive stepfather who’s a very small-time crime boss of sorts. Unbeknownst to Eggsy, his father was a Kingsman who died saving Harry’s life.  When Eggsy gets into a spot of trouble and is arrested, Harry bails him out, explains who he is, and gives Eggsy the opportunity to replace a Kingsman agent who was recently killed.

I’ve left out the wonderfully creative, violent and hilarious scene that leads to the demise of the agent I just mentioned. This would also be a good time to mention that Matthew Vaughn, besides wanting to direct a Bond film, also really wanted to direct one of the new Stars Wars films, which also didn’t happen. If you can’t direct a Star Wars movie, you might as well hire Luke Skywalker to be in the movie you decided to direct because you couldn’t direct a Bond film. Mark Hamill doesn’t have a huge role here, but it’s instrumental.

Each Kingsman is a gentleman and their organization is cool. Their gadgets are Bond-esque — their umbrellas, for instance, are part gun, part bulletproof shield that also acts as a digital window, allowing each agent to see through it.  They also wear glasses that allow them to see other Kingsman who are in different locations.

What about the bad guy, you say? Samuel L. Jackson plays Valentine, a multi-billionaire tech genius who dresses like and sounds similar to rap mogul Russell Simmons. Jackson comes dangerously close to pushing his performance over the top, but reins it in enough to keep it convincing and funny. Naturally, he has an evil plan to take over the world.

While Harry tries to get to the bottom of Valentine’s plot, Eggsy competes with a handful of other candidates to become the next Lancelot (all agents are named after Arthurian knights).  The training sequences, like the rest of the movie, are influenced by things you’ve seen before, but Vaughn makes it all seem fresh and exhilarating, and funny to boot.

At one point, the movie does take a very dark turn, but the longer this relentlessly violent scene goes on, the easier it is to take and the more obvious the joke becomes.

Kingsman: The Secret Service is a relentlessly entertaining, gratuitously violent, funny homage to every spy film franchise you’ve ever loved.

Four out of five stars.

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