Kingsman : The Secret Service

 KINGSMAN : THE SECRET SERVICE

Director : Matthew Vaughn
Year : 2015
Genre : Spy comedy
Rating : ***1/2

 

Replicating the same exuberant energy they brought to their hugely successful big screen adaptation of 'Kick Ass', director Matthew Vaughn and screenwriter Jane Goldman once again turn their sights on Mark Millars comic strip work for 'Kingsman : The Secret Service', a boisterous, sometimes uneven but nevertheless highly enjoyable Bond-esque spy caper. Starring Colin Firth, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Caine, Mark Strong and newcomer Taron Egerton, 'Kingsman : The Secret Service' is, on the face of it, a very prototypical stiff-upper lip English spy thriller but it is also combined with the conflicting laddish brashness and subversive sensibilities of a multi-million dollar R rated comedy. 

The film focuses on Taron Egerton's 'Eggsy', an unrefined but propitious youth who, after being saved by the suave but lethal agent Harry Hart (Firth) from a violent gang of thugs, is offered the chance to join the highly secretive and highly dangerous organisation of super-spies known as The Kingsman. Training with the brilliant Merlin (Mark Strong) and with the guidance of his now-mentor Hart, Eggsy quickly becomes an exceedingly skilled and equally lethal agent and is chosen to bring down the charming but villainous Richmond Valentine (a lisping Samuel L. Jackson); a billionaire philanthropist who threatens the unity of the planet with the simplest of technologies - a free SIM card. 

Full of espionage, intrigue and mystery, 'Kingsman : The Secret Service' contains many of the tropes and conventions one would associate with the British spy movie. The majority of its characters are tea sipping, umbrella toting, poetry spouting English archetypes who use their wit and charisma to outsmart their enemies while the antagonist is a speech-impaired megalomaniac whose main goal is simply world domination. Every actor easily falls into his/her respective character types; with Colin Firth completely owning the role of the dapper but deadly Harry and Samuel L. Jackson seemingly relishing the role as the appealing but crazy Valentine. However, those expecting a more classically toned thriller in the vein of 'The Avengers' or 'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy' may be surprised and somewhat taken aback by the rambunctious tone 'Kingsman : The Secret Service' quickly adopts. 

As was the case with their cartoonish adaptation of 'Kick Ass', Vaughn and Goldman aren't afraid to throw an endless tirade of expletives at us or expose us to a gratuitous amount of quite graphic bloodshed to illicit laughter and thrills - an element that is sure to put off older viewers. Not to mention a rather dour and obscene finale that ends the movie of something of a bum note (joke courtesy of Mark Kermode). There is no doubt that 'Kingsman : The Secret Service' is a movie made for the young adult audience rather than the seasoned cinema goer and proves to be yet another example of the continuous vulgarisation of modern comedy.

However, while I do acknowledge that there are those who are going to be completely turned away by the language and violence, 'Kingsman : The Secret Service' never offended or disgusted me and instead turned out to be an admittedly rowdy but nevertheless highly enjoyable picture that wonderfully manages to pay homage to the great British crime thrillers of the 50's while still maintaining the special-effects laden aesthetics of an archetypal 21st century Hollywood blockbuster.