Released : February 13, 2015
Runtime: 129 Minutes
Rated R
Directed by Matthew Vaughn (Kick Ass, X-men: First Class, Kingsman: The Golden Circle)
Written by Jane Goldman (Woman in Black, X-men: Days of Future Past), Matthew Vaughn
Cinematography George Richmond (Children of Men, Snow White and the Huntsmen)
Music by Henry Jackman (Kong: Skull Island, Captain America: Winter Soldier), Matthew Margeson (Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Gangster Squad)
Produced by Matthew Vaughn, David Reid, Adam Bohling
Starring Colin Firth (The King’s Speech, Bridget Jones Diary), Mark Strong (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Sherlock Holmes), Jonno Davies (Spotless, Hollyoaks), Jack Davenport (Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl), Mark Hamill (Star Wars IV, V, VI), Velibor Topic (Kingdom of Heaven, The Saint), Sofia Boutella (Star Trek: Beyond, The Mummy), Samuel L. Jackson (Star Wars prequel trilogy, Marvel Cinematic Universe), Taron Egerton (Eddie the Eagle, Kingsman: The Golden Circle)

Purchase Kingsman: The Secret Service (Blu-ray + Digital Copy) via Amazon.

Manners maketh man…

If Bond had a few too many dry martinis and met Austin Powers, this would be their doing. Kingsman re-defines the world of espionage giving in to a tri-genre of action, adventure, and comedy. I’ll always have a deep respect for the classic James Bond, but I must say Kingsman is shooting for the top. It can be hard to create a humorous spy movie without throwing in too much action or too much comedy, but Kingsman finds a good middle ground between the two.

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The very first scene is exactly what everyone wants from a classic action movie, choppers, rustic buildings scoring full of terrorists clad with their AK-47’s. A group of British spec-ops comes storming in the fortress neutralizing all in sight. The group proceeds to interrogate the last of the terrorists, yet he decides to pull a coward move and go suicide bomber with a grenade hidden under his robes. One of the soldiers (Eggsy’s Father) sacrifices himself to save his fellow soldiers and lies on top of it dying instantly. After his father’s death, all Eggsy has is a Kingsman pendant with a phone number to call in case he ever needs a favor.

Seventeen years later we find Eggsy, who’s lived the majority of the past years with a washed up British thug for a stepfather. Tired of putting up with his stepfather’s crew, Eggsy takes one of the gang member’s cars for a joy ride, of course ending in him wearing a pair of handcuffs in jail. This is when that special, super secret, spy favor kicks in and Eggsy meets his father’s spy mentor Galahad who brings him under his wing and has him taken in to an independent spy agency, known as Kingsman, for the initial spy selection process. It’s during this time of the movie I think we really see who Eggsy’s character is, and who he’s to become. He’s slightly groomed by the training, but in the end he comes out a highly trained spy and gentleman. Although I enjoyed his character development, I do feel that showing a tad more of his younger years would’ve proven to be beneficial to showing the true struggle of him becoming who he is.

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Throughout the movie, a lurking antagonist by the name of Valentine dips in and out of the shadows, flaunting his diabolical plot to us the viewers. Although he’s a bad guy, it actually grosses him out when he sees violence, and so ironically he claims to be a pacifist. Which is why he plans to take over the world by forcing people everywhere to just kill each other doing all the dirty work for him. In-between all of this, Eggsy, and his friend he’s made during his spy training, are the only Kingsman left capable of stopping the destruction of our world as we know it. I won’t spoil the rest, but the next time you decide to stay in and watch a movie from home, be sure put Kingsman at the top of your list of movies to see.

Enjoy lads and lassie’s!

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I’m going to give Kingsman: The Secret Service an 85%