Film Review: ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’ is Fun, Very Odd

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CHICAGO – Part James Bond, part absurdist adventure, “Kingsman: The Secret Service” is nonetheless a romp, with Colin Firth handling the Brit spy role with a natural aplomb. If the notion of a super secret rogue spy agency under a London tailor shop is something that sounds intriguing, that doesn’t even begin to tell the tale.

Rating: 3.5/5.0

This is an origin story adapted from a comic book, so the recruits have to be gathered, and the roots of the Kingsmen must be extrapolated, but that is as interesting as the main case. Colin Firth gets to kick some ass, which is appropriate because the director adapting the film is Matthew Vaughn, who directed the first “Kick-Ass” movie. As in the previous film there is graphic, cartoony violence and sharp cinematic work, and Vaughn revels in keeping the characters under his care a bit on edge. Even the old veteran Michael Caine – as the senior Kingsman, naturally – gets to be gloriously weird. The whole thing adds up to a special night at the movies, with the spies-who-freak-you-out.

Harry Hart (Colin Firth) is a Kingsman, part of a private British spy agency that is called in once an impossible world evil must be foiled. They are all code named after the Knights of the Round Table of King Arthur, and once one of their own is killed in the line of duty, his code name must be replaced. This happens to “Lancelot,” killed in action when he encounters Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson), a billionaire software mogul who has his own ideas on how to solve global warming.

Hart decides to bring in his own recruit, the son of a man that once saved his life. “Eggy” (Taron Egerton) is a juvenile delinquent with military skills, but the rest of the recruits are upper crust snobs. Only one will survive to become the new Lancelot, and the weeding out process is to get the right person. Meanwhile, Valentine is making a software offer the world can’t refuse, with the intent of controlling a new destiny.

Continue reading for Patrick McDonald’s full review of “Kingsman: The Secret Service”

Harry Hart (Colin Firth) in Front of Headquarters in ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’
Photo credit: 20th Century Fox

Continue reading for Patrick McDonald’s full review of “Kingsman: The Secret Service”