[Movie Review] Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Writers: Jane Goldman (screenplay), Matthew Vaughn (screenplay),
Runtime: 129 min
Main Cast:
- Colin Firth as Harry Hart / Galahad
- Mark Strong as Merlin
- Taron Egerton as Gary "Eggsy" Unwin
- Samuel L. Jackson as Valentine
- Michael Caine as Arthur
Review: By Erika T
Gary “Eggsy” Unwin (played by Taron Egerton) is an at-risk youth headed down the wrong path. With no father figure due to his dad’s death while secretly working for a spy organization, trouble has a way of finding him. However, agent Harry Hart (played by Colin Firth) reaches out to him after discovering his potential, recruiting him to be a trainee for the secret service. He will need to train him fast in order to thwart the plans of Richmond Valentine (played by Samuel L. Jackson) who seeks to launch a worldwide killing spree in hopes of solving global warming.
What I Liked:
I like James Bond and I like Kick-Ass. Kingsman is like a perfect blend of the two. It’s very self aware of the spy movie clichés which is a plus. It’s a lot of fun and very colorful too. It reminded me of films directed by McG like Charlie’s Angels 1 and 2, This Means War, etc. I liked the tones and it was shot well. All the nifty gadgets were cool and they kept getting bigger and better up until the end. A lot of attention was paid to the action scenes to make the movements really snap. Colin Firth as Harry is AWESOME in this. He is obviously a very well respected serious actor, but he is one of the main reasons why this film is as good as it is. I loved seeing him kick butt and I thought he was a good mentor Eggsy. His storyline is the most compelling of the cast to me so I would have liked more exploration there.
Samuel L. Jackson as Valentine is okay. It’s not signature role for him like Nick Fury, but he seemed to be having fun with it.
What I Didn’t Like:
The action is fun, but the CGI is noticeable so it takes some of the realism out of the moment. It’s as if they were considering making it PG-13 but then decided on R and then added more blood and gore to accommodate for it.
Sofia Boutella really stands out as Gazelle, the evil but charming sidekick to Valentine. She’s not your everyday villain that’s for sure. It’s not easy to forget a character with blades for prosthetic legs. While she does do some pretty gnarly things with those blades, I actually think they could have done a little bit more. What we get is certainly adequate though. As a trained dancer she handled the fight choreography well. I certainly would have been waiving my white flag! I’d like to see her in more projects.
Summary
It’s fearless, bold, and very entertaining. A sequel would be quite a bit different from the first one, but I would like to see it anyway.
User Review
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Images Courtesy of IMDB
