Movie review: ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’

FloridaGator80

Going into watching “Kingsman: The Secret Service,” I knew that it is an action flick and people (mostly bad guys) would get killed. However, I was totally surprised by the humongous body count – Colin Firth dispatches 50 or so by himself in just one scene – and I couldn’t have been more pleased with “Kingsman” as an action film or for its prolific body count. Here’s an outstanding action film of today: Its use of CGI in its action scenes is simply authoritative, but its backbone is actually solid acting … and that’s what makes this one a real treat to watch. Plus, you’ll find great manic energy from Samuel L. Jackson.

‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’
(2015; 129 minutes; rated R; directed by Matthew Vaughn and starring Colin Firth, Samuel L. Jackson, Taron Egerton and Michael Caine)

WITH ALL THE KILLING, TOUGH TO KEEP THESE GUYS SECRET

(NOTE: I expanded this review with additional trivia and updating links on Feb. 5, 2023.)

It’s become a new day in the world of superspies as we plow forward in a new millennium and the film “Kingsman: The Secret Service” is a great benchmark by which other such films can be measured. It has great action, wonderful CGI-driven special effects, a body count that would make Sam Peckinpah envious and, above all, a creative story told well by solid acting and near flawless direction.

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Whew! That’s a mouthful!

Briefly, “Kingsman” is the story of a super-secret organization that routinely saves the world from itself. In the film, “Kingsman” focuses early on the death of a “Kingsman” and the later recruitment of his son into the organization. The young man is mentored by the group leader who was in charge when the boy’s father was killed. Now, the young man is being tested to become the next “Kingsman,” which is the name of the organization. Oh, by the way, all the “Kingsmen” are named for knights of the legendary Round Table (in the modern case though, a rectangular table).

Along the way there are tests of strength, character and more. Each potential “Kingsman” even has to shoot a dog (don’t worry, it’s not what you think). The underlying story and where our hero-to-be shows his mettle is in stopped a worldwide plot to destroy the planet by none other than Samuel L. Jackson (as tech mogul “Richmond Valentine”). Again, whew! Well, like in the “James Bond” franchise, saving the world is all in a day’s work for this group. Of course, the “Kingsmen” are British through-and-through from their dress to their actions, but there is the crossing of class differences and the making of that point.

The young man has struggles at the end of testing but ultimately winds up on the team and, along with a female “Kingsman,” works separately but parallel in the climactic scenes.

The best thing about “Kingsman” is its cast.

From headliner Colin Firth as “Harry ‘Galahad’ Hart” right down to a supporting turn by the wonderful Michael Caine as “Chester ‘Arthur’ King,” you won’t be disappointed in any way by any of the actors’ performances. Newcomer Taron Egerton as “Gary ‘Eggsy’ Unwin” does a solid job as the most-watched actor in the film, but is up against tough competition to be named “best” here. Plus, don’t forget the breezy work by Jackson!

I have to say I became interested in the original “Kingsman” when the sequel came out on DVD. I grabbed the original’s disk first and watched it and then watched the sequel. I chose to review the original because it is completely superior to the sequel – which relies too much on CGI and action, while the original was much more actor and plot driven.

Here’s a look at some of the principal cast:

  • An Oscar winner and nominee (not for this one), Firth is usually in control of every situation after a big mistake at the beginning of the film. He’ll lose control (and kill 53 people – by my unofficial count) in a church, but Firth does this one with aplomb. A lot of English actors could have tried, but they wouldn’t have done it as well. Firth won his Oscar for “The King’s Speech” and nomination for “A Single Man.” I liked him in the “Bridget Jones” franchise, but haven’t seen him in much else.
  • At the film’s release he was a “relative newcomer,” but Egerton shoulders the bulk of screen time in this one and does a good job. It’s just that he has such competition that it was impossible for him to elevate his character to the top over Firth. He looks comfortable and handles all his scenes well. Egerton was the title character in “Eddie the Eagle” and was in “Legend” about notorious British gangsters the Kray brothers. He played Sir Elton John in the biopic “Rocketman” about the legenday singer’s life.
  • The unsung hero with the audience must be Mark Strong as “Merlin.” He’s the trainer-coordinator for the “Kingsmen” and does just a sensationally understated job so that the movie’s over, it’s only then that you realize how good he projected his character. Here’s the actor whose performance guaranteed the film’s success. Without Strong’s effort, “Kingsman” wouldn’t have been as good. He has had a prolific career with more than 100 acting credits to date, including “Sherlock Holmes” and “Zero Dark Thirty,” so I’ll have to go back and check out some more of his work (frankly I’m surprised I’m not more familiar with his work since his first credit was in 1989).
  • For the female leads of the good and bad guys, Sophie Cookson plays “Roxanne ‘Roxy’ Morton,” who becomes “Lancelot.” Cookson is solid, but she isn’t really given the chance to elevate her character – and this is a common failing of many motion pictures. They have to deal out a limited amount of time to characters who need more. Sigh. Cookson is another newcomer with only 11 credits through current filming of “Red Joan” with Judi Dench for release in 2018. “Kingsman” was her first movie credit after two TV series and a TV movie.
  • Two-time Oscar nominee and four-time nominee (not for this one) Michael Caine plays “Chester ‘Arthur’ King” and has a complicated character that has limited time possibly due to Caine’s age (82 at the time of the film’s release). However, Caine is almost never bad in any role and this is no exception. He emotes well and conveys his character perfectly. I certainly wasn’t pleased with the totality of the character, but it is an important layer of the film. Caine won his statues for “The Cider House Rules” and “Hannah and Her Sisters,” while being nominated for “The Quiet American,” “Educating Rita,” “Sleuth” and “Alfie.” I liked him in the spy thriller “The Fourth Protocol” (click here for my review). I’ve reviewed Caine in a number of reviews including “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” (click here for my review), “The Eagle Has Landed” (click here for my review) and most recently in the remake of “Going in Style” (click here for my review). If you’d like, turn the clock way back to 1978 for “California Suite” (click here for my review).
  • I’m showing my age, but I have to say I didn’t recognize Mr. Star Wars himself: Mark Hamill. He plays “Professor James Arnold” and is another actor doing a solid job. Hamill, who is 66 at the original writing of this review, doesn’t manage to excel, but his character wasn’t created to knock your socks off. Hamill has had an amazingly prolific career with 305 acting credits from his first in 1970. Of course, he is the most iconic of movie heroes as “Luke Skywalker” in the “Star Wars” franchise, but, sad to say, he’s had 75 bad films and TV roles for every good one. One of the worst is the summer flick that was his first after the initial “Star Wars” with “Corvette Summer” with Annie Potts (click here for my review). Currently, he has a TV movie and a motion picture in post-production.

One of the failed trainees resurfaces in “Kingsman” and also in the sequel. The character and actor aren’t worth the time it takes for me to review the work.

So, after the main villain and his sidekick (no pun intended if you’ve seen the film or when you do see it), there isn’t much in the way of bad guys worth mentioning. So here are your top villains:

  • Oscar nominee (not for this one) Jackson plows through his work as a super-bad guy with verve and style very few other actors could have managed. It is especially hilarious that he instigates such violence, but cannot stand to watch (he turns away from a monitor and has his sidekick give a commentary rather than watch one bloody melee). It looks as if Jackson is just having a ton of fun with this one and that helps make the film great. I thought he did his best work in Tarantino’s “Jackie Brown” (click here for my review and he got a Golden Globe nomination for it) and was in that director’s “Pulp Fiction,” where he got his Oscar nomination.
  • Sofia Boutella plays really bad girl “Gazelle,” who has two artificial legs below the knee and they are weapons that slice one good guy literally in half down from the crown of his head. I would have liked to see her get more lines as Boutella plays well to the camera, but doesn’t have the kind of lines to give her character true depth. “Gazelle” is just as interesting as “May Day” played by Grace Jones was in the 007 flick “A View to a Kill.” Jones was terrific in a non-traditional female role for a Bond film, but Boutella isn’t given that chance here. Just like other newcomers in this one, she has a limited resume of 18 acting credits. She’s been in “Atomic Blonde” with Charlize Theron and the remake of “The Mummy” with Tom Cruise.

A bunch of other supporting actors, from the older man who abuses “Eggy’s” mother to the other trainees, all do an admirable job in “Kingsman,” but I’m not going to expend the time to single them out for specific praise. Just know that you won’t find a failing mark by any cast member in this one, especially the young member of royalty who becomes enamored of Egerton at the end (no pun intended – you’ll see).

I won’t spoil the ending of “Kingsman” for you – but you’d be pretty deficient not to see it coming. After all, like “007,” the good guy wins in the end – and in this case, the end is literally what “Eggsy” gets (and you’ll see what I mean, literally, that he gets in the end … I’m now being ham-handed in my clues).

I’m not sure about any homage or correlation to other films, but I found it interesting that a church is used as a scene of exceptionally extreme violence, similar to Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill” effort. There are big differences, of course, with the church in “Kingsman” home to really nasty, bigoted evangelicals, while the Tarantino church was much more homey until the assault rifles were brought in to play. As for parallels, there are the usual ploys and some subplots that all superspy films manage to somehow offer audiences.

“Kingsman: The Secret Service” came in 25th at U.S. theaters in 2015 with $128.2 million, according to Box Office Mojo, and I was surprised and a bit dismayed by that total. After all, big-screen action films such as “Kingsman” should have easily been in the Top 10. It was made on a budget between $81 million and $94 million, according to Wiki, and brought in $414.4 million worldwide. In any case, the No. 1 film (gee, no freakin’ kidding) was “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” with nearly $1 billion at the domestic box – $936.6 million to be exact (that’s more than seven-times the “Kingsman” box). Here are the films from 2015 that I have reviewed:

Assorted cast and film notes (via IMDb.com):

  • Firth reportedly did nearly all his own stunts, according to the film’s stunt coordinato
  • Vaughn withdrew from directing an “X-Men” franchise film to do “Kingsman.” Thanks, Matthew! Good call!
  • Directly from IMDb.com: “Amy Purdy, the double amputee snowboarder in Sochi and runner up from Dancing with the Stars (2005) was originally cast as ‘Gazelle,’ but when filming was delayed, she dropped out, so she wouldn’t miss the Olympics.”
  • It was reported that Firth would not let his children see the movie at the time (they were 11 and 13).
  • Emma Watson was one of the actors considered for the part given to Cookson. Thank you, casting director. You made the correct choice. Emma doesn’t have what Cookson gave in the film.
  • Another great casting choice was Jackson over Tom Cruise and Leonardo DiCaprio.
  • Directly from IMDb.com: “Inspired by the 2012 Paralympics in London, Matthew Vaughn wanted to have a character with a prosthetic leg, similar to the ‘Flex-Foot Cheetah’ worn by paralympian sprinters. At one point, Oscar Pistorius was approached about playing the role of ‘Gazelle’, and his representatives were asked if Pistorius could play a convincing killer. He later declined to take the role to focus on practicing for future sporting events. In February 2013, Pistorius was put on trial, and later sentenced for shooting and killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. Also in the film, Gazelle shoots someone through a door. Pistorius had shot Steenkamp through a door.”
  • The store where Jackson buys his top hat – actually Lock & Co. Hatters – is a real shop on St. James Street in London.
  • The clothing line in the film was conceived for the movie, instead of being the usual product placement so common in Hollywood.
  • Finally and directly from IMDb.com: “The “Looking Good. Feeling Good” exchange is a reference to Trading Places (1983) which is a film about opposite ends of the class privilege scale and is referenced early in the movie.” By the way, click here for my review of “Trading Places.”

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