Kingsman: The Secret Service

Plot

Eggsy is a ‘common type’ guy from the streets, who discovers his father was a secret agent, and is now in training to replace a fallen agent and friend to the man his father died saving, Harry.

Meanwhile a tech Billionaire has given out free calling and SMS sim cards to the entire world – but what is his secret deadly agenda behind it?

Direction

Vaughn does a solid job of directing, and it is no wonder he learned his trade from another prolific Brit – Guy Ritchie. The kinetic action is prevalent in most of the fight scenes and they are wonderfully choreographed. Special mention goes to the HALO jump, and the church fight sequence.

Cast/Characters

Colin Firth and Taron Egerton are perfectly cast as the duel leads Harry and Eggsy with their partnership being a play on “Professor Higgins” and “Eliza Doolittle” from My Fair Lady – which is mentioned within the film.

Mark Strong as ‘Merlin’ is a fan favourite as one of the head trainers, and he has several fun moments in the film, especially playing against Eggsy later in the film. Michael Caine as ‘Arthur’ who plays the head of the Kingsman is a little underused.

Samuel L Jackson, who plays the primary antagonist – with a lisp and all hams it up (Jackson always understands the assignment).

Screenplay/Setting

There is a very British screenplay – which may or may not confuse viewers – but having grown up with this type of talk I found it easy to watch. There is also an almost ‘father and son’ bond between Harry and Eggsy, and later Merlin and Eggsy that is quite nice to watch.

Overall

As the film itself never takes itself too seriously, and overdoes it with the inane action sequences, it is paired with a cinematic score that matches it. I did find the first half of the film a little hard to get into, but once the characters grew on me – I enjoyed it more and more. Firth and Egerton are great as the leads. Followed by a sequel, a prequel and a recently announced (at time of writing this) second sequel.

3.5/5