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It is that time again kiddies, time for your friend Gunslinger to hit the cinema again as a treat to get away from the weekly grind of the Academy. Last week we delved into uninspired cinematic fan fiction with Fifty Shades of Grey. Unoriginal story, dull characters, a crap love story, and pitifully short on the sleaze and trashiness that was advertised. This week my film was Kingsman: Secret Service. And I can’t say this was very original either. The whole British secret agent angle was done first and arguably best with James Bond, and the whole “commoner becomes a super spy/ agent in a secret agency to save the world” plot has been done to death as well. This ranges from great movies like Men In Black to plenty of crap films like I Spy and Vin Diesel’s xXx. It was because of this unoriginality that made me initially not wish to see the movie. But having entered into this little trip to the cinema once a week deal, I decided to drop my standards and pony up to see this movie. Then again my other options included Jupiter Ascending, The SpongeBob movie, and Seventh Son. So clearly my options were limited. The film was directed by Matthew Vaughn, the man who directed Kick-Ass and X-Men: First Class. And much like First Class, I was really surprised in how much I liked this movie. With X-Men: First Class I was surprised in how much I still enjoyed the film despite the many flaws of the flick, but with Kingsmen, I was surprised in how legitimately good this film was.
The movie opens on an action sequence in the Middle East where 4 English agents are infiltrating a stronghold and then attempting to interrogate a prisoner. Due to unforeseen circumstances, one of the agents in killed is the line of duty. One of the revealed agents Galahad (played by Colin Firth) must then inform the deceased family of his passing. Leaving little Eggsby a trinket that he says will help him out of a jam. Fast forward 17 years, and Eggsby has grown into quite the juvenile delinquent. But give the kid credit; he is nowhere near the level of wankery as some of the other twats he knows. Eggsby gets into a pinch, calls the number on the back of the trinket he has been carrying around for years, and gets bailed out by Galahad. Eggsby is then recruited by Galahad to join the ranks of the Kingsmen. An independent intelligence agency funded by exceptionally rich families who wished to provide a service for good, but without the messy politics of dealing with government’s and the gits in charge. Think MI6 funded by the private sector. But what is a good spy movie without a good villain, and we get that from Samuel L Jackson. Jackson plays Valentine, a billionaire philanthropist and media mogul. And unlike Christian Grey, he does not get off on violence. In fact he abhors it. But that will not stop him from killing of the world’s population. And he wants to do so because he thinks there are too many people, they all contribute to global warming and people won’t do anything about it so everyone has to die. So yeah this guy is completely bonkers. I can imagine this guy beginning his plans at genocide after watching And Inconvenient Truth. Proving my position that crazy people should have no access to media! To top it off he dresses like Spike Lee, talks like Mike Tyson, and has a hot female Asian bodyguard with blades in her prosthetic legs. His plan includes recruiting various rich people and political leaders ranging from Swedish (Republican?) Prime Ministers, The British Royal Family, to the White House to go along with his plan. Leave it to the Democrats to sell out the nation.
It is now up to the Kingsmen, as well as their newest and youngest recruits to try stopping Jackson from annihilating the human race. All the while dealing with cute little dogs, satirical references (and one action scene) dealing with a fictional representation of the Westboro Baptist Church, and Swedish Princesses who are totally down with giving up the rear bobsled entrance if ya know what I mean.
The first characteristic I noticed for the film was that this movie is very VERY… English. I mean gentlemen spies in classy suits whose codes names include Galahad, Lancelot, and Merlin working for a boss names Arthur; the various pub scenes, the British Mansion countryside, the gadgets built around posh items like fountain pens, classy looking lighters, and even turning umbrellas into weapons! Which I admit does make this film just a little classier. The only way this flick gets anymore English is if they get Helen Mirren to cameo as the Queen of England, John Cleese as the English Prime Minister, and Brian Blessed as a House Lord announcing “GORDON IS ALIVE” during tea time surrounded by Welsh Corgis!
In addition to the overwhelming British feel of the film, the movie does something you do not see a lot of these days. It goes for an R rating. A lot of previous generic spy flicks like xXx go for the easy and safe PG-13 so they can get as many butts in seats as possible. I give credit Vaughn for having the sac to stick to his guns on the matter. Vaughn directed Kick-Ass before this movie, so you know he has no issue with violence and profanity, which is good for me as there are plenty of curse words and bloody gunfights in this movie. Now the violence is all CGI, and it does come off as a bit cartoony. Which sometimes is distracting, while other times actually works rather well of the movie, especially during this one bit towards the end. I will let you see this to find out.
As I said this is not the most original film. In addition to the stuff I pointed out earlier, the
"mass murder to the save the environment" plot was done in the John Clancy Rainbow Six novel, evil corporate bad guys and Asian henchmen with unique weaponry was done in James Bond, and the various gadgets have been done by just about every spy movie ever. But that is not a bad thing. Heck I have enjoyed lots of films that explored old territory. What makes a movie that is not using a fresh idea good, all comes down to execution. And this was done very well, starting off with a very strong cast. Colin Firth is an excellent casting choice, as was Michael Caine, and Samuel L Jackson. Additional great performances were done by Taron Egerton, Mark Strong, and an unrecognizable Mark Hamill. In addition the writing for the film was overall very good. Sure there were a lot of clichés in the beginning about how Eggby would get to the Kingsmen, as well as a few parts of his training, but the characters and the actor performances helped make the film feel new enough for me to not care. And with a healthy dose of humor, this helped the movie to stand out amongst some of the crappy generic spy films that came before it. And this film sure as hell is not boring!
The overall feeling I had leaving the theater was a positive one. I sat down and watched a pretty good movie in the theater in the season where good movies are at a premium. And after suffering through 50 Shades of Dull, this was a serious palate cleanse. You have to wade through a lot of crap to get a good movie in January and February, and this is one of the good ones. I don’t think it will make My Top Ten at the end of the year, but it is worth your time to see. Give it a watch; I doubt you will be disappointed.
It is that time again kiddies, time for your friend Gunslinger to hit the cinema again as a treat to get away from the weekly grind of the Academy. Last week we delved into uninspired cinematic fan fiction with Fifty Shades of Grey. Unoriginal story, dull characters, a crap love story, and pitifully short on the sleaze and trashiness that was advertised. This week my film was Kingsman: Secret Service. And I can’t say this was very original either. The whole British secret agent angle was done first and arguably best with James Bond, and the whole “commoner becomes a super spy/ agent in a secret agency to save the world” plot has been done to death as well. This ranges from great movies like Men In Black to plenty of crap films like I Spy and Vin Diesel’s xXx. It was because of this unoriginality that made me initially not wish to see the movie. But having entered into this little trip to the cinema once a week deal, I decided to drop my standards and pony up to see this movie. Then again my other options included Jupiter Ascending, The SpongeBob movie, and Seventh Son. So clearly my options were limited. The film was directed by Matthew Vaughn, the man who directed Kick-Ass and X-Men: First Class. And much like First Class, I was really surprised in how much I liked this movie. With X-Men: First Class I was surprised in how much I still enjoyed the film despite the many flaws of the flick, but with Kingsmen, I was surprised in how legitimately good this film was.
The movie opens on an action sequence in the Middle East where 4 English agents are infiltrating a stronghold and then attempting to interrogate a prisoner. Due to unforeseen circumstances, one of the agents in killed is the line of duty. One of the revealed agents Galahad (played by Colin Firth) must then inform the deceased family of his passing. Leaving little Eggsby a trinket that he says will help him out of a jam. Fast forward 17 years, and Eggsby has grown into quite the juvenile delinquent. But give the kid credit; he is nowhere near the level of wankery as some of the other twats he knows. Eggsby gets into a pinch, calls the number on the back of the trinket he has been carrying around for years, and gets bailed out by Galahad. Eggsby is then recruited by Galahad to join the ranks of the Kingsmen. An independent intelligence agency funded by exceptionally rich families who wished to provide a service for good, but without the messy politics of dealing with government’s and the gits in charge. Think MI6 funded by the private sector. But what is a good spy movie without a good villain, and we get that from Samuel L Jackson. Jackson plays Valentine, a billionaire philanthropist and media mogul. And unlike Christian Grey, he does not get off on violence. In fact he abhors it. But that will not stop him from killing of the world’s population. And he wants to do so because he thinks there are too many people, they all contribute to global warming and people won’t do anything about it so everyone has to die. So yeah this guy is completely bonkers. I can imagine this guy beginning his plans at genocide after watching And Inconvenient Truth. Proving my position that crazy people should have no access to media! To top it off he dresses like Spike Lee, talks like Mike Tyson, and has a hot female Asian bodyguard with blades in her prosthetic legs. His plan includes recruiting various rich people and political leaders ranging from Swedish (Republican?) Prime Ministers, The British Royal Family, to the White House to go along with his plan. Leave it to the Democrats to sell out the nation.
It is now up to the Kingsmen, as well as their newest and youngest recruits to try stopping Jackson from annihilating the human race. All the while dealing with cute little dogs, satirical references (and one action scene) dealing with a fictional representation of the Westboro Baptist Church, and Swedish Princesses who are totally down with giving up the rear bobsled entrance if ya know what I mean. The first characteristic I noticed for the film was that this movie is very VERY… English. I mean gentlemen spies in classy suits whose codes names include Galahad, Lancelot, and Merlin working for a boss names Arthur; the various pub scenes, the British Mansion countryside, the gadgets built around posh items like fountain pens, classy looking lighters, and even turning umbrellas into weapons! Which I admit does make this film just a little classier. The only way this flick gets anymore English is if they get Helen Mirren to cameo as the Queen of England, John Cleese as the English Prime Minister, and Brian Blessed as a House Lord announcing “GORDON IS ALIVE” during tea time surrounded by Welsh Corgis!
In addition to the overwhelming British feel of the film, the movie does something you do not see a lot of these days. It goes for an R rating. A lot of previous generic spy flicks like xXx go for the easy and safe PG-13 so they can get as many butts in seats as possible. I give credit Vaughn for having the sac to stick to his guns on the matter. Vaughn directed Kick-Ass before this movie, so you know he has no issue with violence and profanity, which is good for me as there are plenty of curse words and bloody gunfights in this movie. Now the violence is all CGI, and it does come off as a bit cartoony. Which sometimes is distracting, while other times actually works rather well of the movie, especially during this one bit towards the end. I will let you see this to find out.
As I said this is not the most original film. In addition to the stuff I pointed out earlier, the
"mass murder to the save the environment" plot was done in the John Clancy Rainbow Six novel, evil corporate bad guys and Asian henchmen with unique weaponry was done in James Bond, and the various gadgets have been done by just about every spy movie ever. But that is not a bad thing. Heck I have enjoyed lots of films that explored old territory. What makes a movie that is not using a fresh idea good, all comes down to execution. And this was done very well, starting off with a very strong cast. Colin Firth is an excellent casting choice, as was Michael Caine, and Samuel L Jackson. Additional great performances were done by Taron Egerton, Mark Strong, and an unrecognizable Mark Hamill. In addition the writing for the film was overall very good. Sure there were a lot of clichés in the beginning about how Eggby would get to the Kingsmen, as well as a few parts of his training, but the characters and the actor performances helped make the film feel new enough for me to not care. And with a healthy dose of humor, this helped the movie to stand out amongst some of the crappy generic spy films that came before it. And this film sure as hell is not boring!
The overall feeling I had leaving the theater was a positive one. I sat down and watched a pretty good movie in the theater in the season where good movies are at a premium. And after suffering through 50 Shades of Dull, this was a serious palate cleanse. You have to wade through a lot of crap to get a good movie in January and February, and this is one of the good ones. I don’t think it will make My Top Ten at the end of the year, but it is worth your time to see. Give it a watch; I doubt you will be disappointed.