I'd just like to let all my readers know that normalcy is near for this blog. I hope to get caught up with all my Throwback Thursday Reviews as soon as possible, starting with that infamously delayed Inception review (it's now been nearly two and a half months)... Following up that review will be a Triple-R over Interstellar and Throwback Thursday Reviews for Stand By Me, The World's End, The Shining, the 1990 It miniseries, Batman (1989), Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, and Risky Business (1983). I'll be watching each before writing the review (as per usual) so it may take a while for me to get completely caught up, but I intend on doing so in the next few weeks. Most of these movies tied in to a recent release in some way, shape, or form, but I'll explain that in each respective review. Anyways, I'm looking back at Kingsman: The Secret Service to see how it's held-up since the sequel comes out this weekend and I can't currently release my thoughts on Kingsman: The Golden Circle (For an explanation, see Fall 2017 Important Update).
'Kingsman: The Secret Service' Review
Reflection- I can recall not having the highest of expectations for Kingsman: The Secret Service when it was released and being blown away upon leaving the theater. I went in hoping for an entertaining spy flick, and was surprised to see a rapturing R-rated spy flick worth the buzz that also happened to be one of the best action movies released that year. It's really rare for an action movie to unexpectedly knock your socks clean off (the most recent example I can even think of would have to be John Wick). I'll get into the nitty-gritty in a moment, but I genuinely think I find more to love about Kingsman: The Secret Service every time I sit down to watch it! I'm revisiting the film, because my first go at reviewing Kingsman: The Secret Service only skimmed the surface of my opinion. This review will include slight spoilers by the way, so you've now been warned and may now read at your own risk.
Review- Kingsman: The Secret Service accompanies Eggsy, a bright but troublesome delinquent, as he's selected to train alongside a host of expert youth competing for an available slot in an international intelligence agency known as the "Kingsman." The Kingsman are unlike most spy organizations because they don't tie themselves to any particular government or bureaucracy. They remain anonymous due to their public position as tailors and draw inspiration from the Knights of the Round Table, bequeathing each member with a designation matching one of the knights (ie. Lancelot, Galahad, Merlin). Meanwhile, a maniacal mastermind's sick schemes put the planet in peril.
Kingsman: The Secret Service is directed by Matthew Vaughn, who adapted Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons' comic book series into a feature length screenplay with the aid of Jane Goldman. If you follow my blog relatively regularly, you may be familiar with the phrase "style-over-substance" when I've discussed films like Atomic Blonde, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, or just about any live-action Transformers movie. Well oddly enough, Kingsman: The Secret Service is actually the ideal union of the two. Vaughn's stylized action sequences service the story, and vice-versa. This is a franchise that's unapologetically out-there as being a racy, outlandish take on Bond and it's bloody brilliant.
One of the things I love about Kingsman: The Secret Service is that it's a film with no boundaries. Vaughn's never afraid to push the envelope with something too risqué, and the film never feel quartered to mandate a specific MPAA rating. The celebrated "Free Bird" church massacre sequence is the perfect representation of this. That set piece is absolutely nuts and dared to leap far beyond any preconceived ethical notions, where other filmmakers would have just walked as far away from that line as possible. As the film progresses,Vaughn ratchets up the insanity somehow manages to make the most perverse plot-points enjoyable to watch.
Kingsman: The Secret Service literally blew people's minds. The film dared to detonate the actual head of America's head of state at the time of release for goodness sakes! The only other place you'd find something that bold and committal would be in some political propaganda piece! I still laugh out loud watching this sequence because of it's paired perfectly with Edgar Elgar's "Pomp and Circumstance."
On top of all that, the script is sharp with an audacious edge. Vaughn and Goldman's screenplay verges on a sense of self-awareness when the spy and villain are in a room together discussing their situation's similarity to the classic spy movies. At its heart, Kingsman: The Secret Service is a love letter of-sorts to the Bond films of the past. Vaughn and Goldman pay respect to tropes of the genre with a wink and a nod, while also providing a fresh spin on it all. Kingsman: The Secret Service doesn't simply relish in the past, but manages to pave a way forward that keeps with the times.
As for the cast, Taron Egerton still astounds me to this day with his take on Eggsy. Egerton exhibits all the makings of a modern movie star with charisma aplenty and a rugged exterior to match, enabling him to share scenes with the more experienced actors and match them line-for-line. Sophie Cookson also makes an impressionable breakout as Roxy, accentuating a resourcefulness and determination that allows her to come across as a convincing friend/rival to Eggsy. Meanwhile, classically trained actors including Colin Firth, Mark Strong, and Michael Caine weigh in on the fun and each have their own time to shine as Harry Hart, Merlin, and Arthur. Firth, in particular, goes above-and-beyond as another aged action hero that steals the limelight whenever he engages in fisticuffs.
Elsewhere, Samuel L. Jackson was clearly having the time of his life playing such an eccentric, unconventional antagonist. Jackson wrings out ample personalty from Valentine's minor character traits and projects an egotistic charisma that's larger-than-life and totally befitting of the character. Sofia Boutella also manages to stand out among the stacked cast as Gazelle, Valentine's lethal hench-woman with weaponized powerbocks for legs. Boutella imbues Gazelle with enough menace to make the character more memorable than most hench-man have any right to be.
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