An odd risk taken by Hollywood because R-rated movies tend to fail financially but I guess the bean counters took a chance due to this being handled by the guy behind Kick Ass, Layer Cake and some other hyper-violent flicks. I liked it since it felt more along the lines of a modernized Our Man Flint or the Matt Helm movies; you could even stretch it to being a more violent, more English version of Austin Powers.
Colin Firth gets to have fun playing a bad-ass operative for a non-affiliated secret agency (aka, not part of MI-6) that has saved the world numerous times. Samuel L. Jackson finally gets the villain role which doesn’t suck, we’d all like to forget The Spirit, oh wait, we did alongside Frank Miller’s right-wing rubbish. It was also cool to see Mark Strong as a good guy (he’s often villains) and Michael Caine (a nod to his Harry Palmer trilogy).
The parts I find funny are what a “thug” in the UK allegedly looks like today. It’s reminiscent of the old Bill Hicks’ jokes. In America no one who’s dangerous buttons their shirt up to the collar unless they’re wearing a tie. We’d also die laughing if we were threatened by a guy called Poodle.
Anyway, I enjoyed Kingsman over many other films in its genre for several reasons. The hero’s journey isn’t a rushed montage, “Eggsy” trains over weeks and we see the various stages. The female rival trainee Roxy doesn’t become his love interest, she’s an equally competent candidate who pulls through in the clutch. Lastly, it was great to see Mark Hamill get a guest spot in a big movie, I see him more on TV or cartoons.
Due to the violence and dark humor, I don’t recommend this for the prudish or politically correct. Kingsman is a very “English” movie in its worldview.
Alamo Extras: We were under the wire so we only caught an Action Jackson commercial, Mego’s first attempt to take on Hasbro’s GI Joe; a hilarious Funny or Die bit blaming Samuel L Jackson for bad behavior.