Film Review: When Upper Class Twits Kick Arse
Kingsman: The Secret Service, written by Jane Goldman & Matthew Vaughn (based on the comic The Secret Service by Mark Millar & Dave Gibbons); directed by Matthew Vaughn. Produced by 20th Century FOX. Copyright 2014. (Seen March 10, 2015.)
I’ll admit: 80% of the reason I wanted to watch this film was because it was Colin Firth kicking ass (or arse, as in this case). I’ve been a casual fan of Firth ever since he graced the screen as Mr. Darcy (both in Pride & Prejudice and Bridget Jones’s Diary), and when I saw the trailer above, the sheer dichotomy of that concept had me sold.
Once watched, I was not disappointed. Oh, I could go into the plot if you want: it’s pretty much your standard hero’s journey / spy thriller origin story, though, and when all is said and done, the plot is the least part of why I enjoyed this movie so thoroughly.
No: it was the sheer fun of the whole production. From Colin Firth to Mark Hamill in a weird role where he’s doing a British version of his Joker voice to Samuel L. Jackson being the geekiest he’s ever been while still maintaining his Samuel L. Jackson-ness (with a LISP) to the best use of “Pomp & Circumstance” bar none, this movie was so enjoyable, I almost didn’t mind that it barely passes the Bechtel test. Mainly because Firth and Jackson seem to be having such a blast in their respective roles. Jackson is almost sending up his characters in Unbreakable and Pulp Fiction (him in a tux with a baseball cap needs to be seen to be believed), while Firth is just doing his best Sean Connery impression he can — without the accent. In fact, there are So. Many. Bond. References/Tropes/Jokes/Homages in this thing that were you to play a drinking game, you’d be dead of alcohol poisoning before the first act is done. And don’t get me started on the so-blatant-it’s-actually-awesome product placement for McDonald’s.
Kingsman is hilarious, fun, and awesome filled with awesome sauce, and I look forward to adding it to my DVD collection. If you like fun spy movies that have wit, good looking men looking good in suits, and enough action to shake a stick at (or an umbrella, in this case), you have to check it out.