Kingsman: The Secret Service was a bit of an enigma for a while. I remember seeing trailers for this thing AGES ago and not really being sure of what to make of it. At long last, after a bunch of delays and date changes, I've finally gotten around to seeing it in the theaters. This was the first film of 2015 I've been able to check out and I must say, it's a fantastic way to start the year off.
The film is a loose adaptation of The Secret Service, a comic book from Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons; I haven't read the source material, but judging from the synopses I've glanced at, the movie does deviate pretty substantially, so any diehard fans of the comics should temper their expectations. The plot revolves around Gary "Eggsy" Unwin (Taron Egerton), a talented young man who lives with his mother, baby sister, and abusive stepfather in a dingy London tenement. After getting arrested, Eggsy finds himself sprung by Harry "Galahad" Hart (Colin Firth), a member of the secret spy society known as Kingsman. It turns out that Eggsy's birth father was an agent for Kingsman alongside Galahad, but unfortunately died on a mission while his son was still young. Now that he's grown, Galahad intends to help the young man turn his life around by giving him the chance to join the ranks of this new-age order of knights. Things are complicated by the workings of the eccentric billionaire, Richmond Valentine (played by Samuel L. Jackson, lisping up a storm). I won't go into the details of his evil plan, but just know that it's a cheesy bit of megalomaniacal gold dug right out of a classic-era Bond film. Really, that description sums up this entire film.
This may be a bit of a lazy comparison, but Kingsman is to classic spy movies as Attack the Block is to classic alien-invasion movies. Not just because they both feature young British hoodrats as their protagonists, but because they fully embrace and celebrate all the trappings of the films of old while at the same time bringing them forward into the modern age. That said, Kingsman is a breath of fresh air in today's wealth of gunmetal gray espionage action thrillers. The agents wear suits and carry gadgets disguised as ordinary objects while the villain hosts lavish parties in his secret mountain lair. This isn't a full-on parody like the Austin Powers films, but the movie's tongue is planted firmly in its cheek. That's not to say that this is a movie completely devoid of substance, however. A film can be both fun and well-made at the same time, and Kingsman is proof of that. The characters' actions all carry a good amount of weight; as goofy as Valentine's plan is, you feel the tension mounting as Eggsy and company attempt to thwart him.
"Fun" is a word that will certainly show up a lot in this review, and that's because it's possibly the best way to describe this movie. The action scenes are a joy to look at, featuring an absurd amount of frenetic violence shot in an off-kilter, kinetic fashion. That said, you can always tell what's going on. The cinematography (especially during the fights) is brilliant; leagues above the nausea-inducing shaky-cam one would find in a movie like Batman Begins. Vaughn is a director who understands how to shoot his action; it's a spectacle. It's something that the audience is meant to watch and gape over, so the best way to achieve that effect is to just show it to the audience and let them gape over it. The soundtrack is pretty great too; I can appreciate when a film opens with an assault on the Middle East set to "Money For Nothing".
Kudos must be given to the supporting cast as well. Mark Hamill (who I love to see in anything) plays Professor James Arnold, a stuffy academic who studies climate change. Mark Strong does a great job as the Kingsman's equivalent of Q (yes, his name is Merlin); he also teaches the trainees and leads them through their various trials and tests. Michael Caine shows up as Arthur, the head of Kingsman and Sophie Cookson plays Roxy, one of Eggsy's fellow agents-in-training. Special consideration must be given to Sophia Boutella, who portrays Gazelle, Valentine's amputee bodyguard. The idea of a nimble acrobat flipping around stabbing and slicing people with prosthetic sword legs is such a stupidly cool concept and it ends up looking fantastic on screen. The film really builds her up as a physical threat, and when it comes time for her to throw down, she doesn't disappoint.
Kingsman: The Secret Service is a really excellent bit of fun, celebrating all the gadgets and secret lairs and other assorted trappings that everyone remembers fondly about the old James Bond films. As fun as it gets, it never feels embarrassing or too self-referential; it balances just the right amount of homage and cheese with just the right amount of actual story and character to make something that's just a well-made joy to watch. I eagerly await a sequel and implore anyone who's ever pretended their umbrella was a bulletproof-shield to go give it a watch.
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