Monday, August 03, 2015

Movie review - "Kingsman: The Secret Service" (2014) ****

A nice surprise: sure, it pretty much just regurgitates other movies but so did Star Wars and like that, this is full of energy and panache and some surprisingly genuine emotion. Matthew Vaughan, Jane Goldman and co have munched up a whole bunch of movies - James Bond, of course, but also the Harry Ipcress and Flint series, Star Wars, zombie flicks and others - and turned it into an English lads mag wet dream, very well done.

Taron Egerton is surprisingly non annoying as the working class spiv, complete with up turned cap and tracksuit, who is turned into a secret agent; Colin Firth has the time of his life as a posh but deadly secret agent, having two spectacular fight scenes (although sometimes these feel overly computer generated - they may not be, they just feel that way); Michael Caine and Samuel L Jackson add gravitas and pop culture fun; Sophie Cookson is a spunky heroine though I wish she'd been given more to do in the final battle; Mark Strong is an excellent red herring for the third act traitor; Sofia Boutella's henchwoman is superior to many in the Bond series.

There is a very funny My Fair Lady gag, a not so great one about anal sex (is it that hard to persuade people to do it?), a lot of subversion and plenty of style. A lot of fun.

No comments: