‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’ [Review]
Kingsman: The Secret Service is a movie released by 20th Century Fox on January 29 in the UK and worldwide on February 13. Kingsman, which stars Colin Firth, Samuel L. Jackson, and Michael Caine, is based on the comic book The Secret Service created by Dave Gibbons and Mark Millar.
As reviewed by Forbes, the Kingsman movie will rely on reviews and word of mouth to draw in general audiences who would normally pass on a niche movie. As one who has seen the movie, it is worth the money to see in the theater.
Kingsman: The Secret Service tells the story of the recruitment of Gary “Eggsy” Unwin into the same secret spy organization that his father was a member of. The movie opens in a flashback scene where the Kingsmen, whose code names were all based on the Knights of the Round Table, were on a mission and Gary’s father sacrifices himself to save Harry Hart (Colin Firth), codename “Galahad,” from certain death. Hart, feeling responsible for the tragedy, gives a young “Eggsy” a medal with a number on the back and promises to assist him if “Eggsy” ever needs it.
Fast forward 17 years and Gary is shown living a street thug’s life – unemployed, at home with his mom and abusive stepfather. After being arrested for stealing a car, Gary calls the number on the back of the medal telling the operator what Galahad had told him so many years earlier.
“Oxfords, not Brogues”
In an instant, Gary is released from custody and his recruitment into the Kingsman has begun.
As the review in the Deseret News correctly states, there are aspects of Kingsman: The Secret Service that will not appeal to everyone. The violence in the movie will draw parallels for some to Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill movies as excessive and over-the-top. Personally, I found those scenes to be so over the top as a way to mock the gratuitous violence one would see in every Bond movie while actually making it an integral part of the story for Kingsman.
The dialogue in Kingsman: The Secret Service at times seemed to mock the spy movie genre with the characters never breaking stride. In one scene, Richmond Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson), the eco-terrorist billionaire villain, and Harry Hart (Firth) paid homage to the spy films of old quoting lines and describing classic plot elements you would see if you were to watch any one of those old spy films. Sitting in the audience watching that film, I found these breaks in the fourth wall to be comedic moments interspersed with all of the violence.
In the end, Kingsmen: The Secret Service is a hilarious spy movie that mocks all spy movies while still managing to be a classic spy movie – and a definite must see movie.
