Kingsman: The Secret Service

Director: Matthew Vaughn

Year: 2015

Check your expectations and deep-seeking logic at the door and you’ll likely find Kingsman: The Secret Service is a fantastic, ultraviolent, homage-heavy ride through the well-worn space of spy films. For what it is, it works very well. Director Matthew Vaughn (Producer on Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, as well as Director of X-Men: First Class and Kick-Ass) has played in this space successfully before, so this shouldn’t be a surprise. 

“First and foremost,” Harry Hart/Galahad (Colin Firth) says, “we are gentlemen.”

That line of dialogue in the trailers, however, might have you looking another direction, which is what Vaughn wants. Because, this ain’t that kind of movie, bro. The brutal violence and occasionally deep blue language wouldn’t have the same impact if it ran throughout.  

It opens with a fairly standard spy scene generically subtitled “1997 in the Middle East”  (you know, where all those terrorists are). A heroic helicopter shreds a few terrorist patsies (they’re always hanging out in the mountains) then drops in on a castle in the sandstone. Galahad and his merry men in black hoods hold a terrorist hostage, demanding information. And if he doesn’t give it up he’ll die in 10, 9, 8 – whoops! The terrorist has pulled the pin on a grenade he has strapped to his body. A man in black dives on the terrorist, effectively killing himself and saving his team. A debt is earned and Galahad delivers to his brethren’s son, Gary ‘Eggsy’ Unwin, in the form of a “get out of trouble free” amulet with a phone number and secret code.

While the build up from this point continues along a fairly standard and predictable trek, Vaughn begins to delight with his touches in relatively fresh action and fight sequences. One thing he does is keep the lesser sequences relatively brief to allow for the bigger bloodshed as well as moments of a small child and a pug pup in mortal danger, which, be warned, do come, to play out in all their intended lustful glory.

Samuel L. Jackson is a lot of fun as Valentine, the sadistic/save the world Steve Jobs tech mogul. Sofia Boutella nails the gorgeous and terrifying femme fatale sidekick role – with incredibly sharp blades on those kicks. Michael Caine is Arthur…again…though this is Arthur of the Knighthood rather than as servant to Gotham City’s Dark Knight. If you’re at all into fashion, the men’s suits, straight off of London’s legendary Savile Row, are beautiful. 

Overall, it’s too messy to be a great film (hence the lower score on the Resonance Rating), but I don’t think Vaughn has any illusions here. If you like the genres it taps into, pop culture, sexiness, style and action it’s a fun film that should do very well in the relatively open release date. It’s certainly different fare than what 50 Shades is offering. And it should be noted it has one of the more beautiful endings I’ve ever seen on the big screen.

Resonance Rating: 3 out of 5