Film Review by Collin Stroup
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Stars: Colin Firth, Taron Egerton, Samuel L. Jackson
Rating: 3.75 out of 5
When you are paying homage to a specific kind of genre or a film, you not only have to hint at the original, but put a distinct flair on it that makes something fresh as well. This takes a lot of confidence on the filmmaker’s part, as well as a solid understanding of their source and sense of where their story is going to go. Kingsman: The Secret Service not only had that understanding, but had the confidence to pull it off.
Throughout modern history, a secret organization called the Kingsmen has been operating outside of the government to protect the world and they need a new recruit. Harry Hart (Colin Firth) recruits Eggsy, (Taron Egerton) the son of an operative who died saving Harry’s life to join the Kingsmen if he can beat the other recruits in a series of tests. During his training however, a threat is growing from a tech genius named Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson) that will tear apart the world.
Playing upon the James Bond films and old spy shows like The Avengers, this film knows what to borrow and what to poke fun at. The biggest trick up its sleeve though is that it knows when to be its own film and how to turn the clichés the genre is famous for on its head. The movie does have a few moments of unevenness with one plot point progressing quickly and another lagging behind a bit, but it’s not without reason and is pretty easily overlooked with such hilarious and cool performances.
Kingsman is an R rated Bond with lots of great action, laughs and slickness that outdoes the typical
February film slump. If nothing else, any film that has Colin Firth fight an entire church is worth checking out
