When 007 Meets Kick-Ass

Having already made the films of X-Men: First Class, Kick-Ass, Stardust and Layer Cake, Writer/Director and Producer Michael Vaughn in recent years has established himself as one of the most exciting film-makers in the industry. With turning down the chance to direct X-Men: Days of Future Past, Vaughn instead opted to direct Kingsman: The Secret Service; a film that not only marks to be the third film in a row that Vaughn has adapted from a comic book background, but merges the James Bond espionage construct with the outlandish fighting ilk that Kick-Ass specifically branded to create something that is original, comedic and entertaining.

Loosely based on the comic by Mark Miller (who also created Kick-Ass), the film centres around a young ruffian named Gary ‘Eggsy’ Unwin (Taron Egerton) who is taken under the wing of Harry Hart/Galahad (Colin Firth), a Kingsman spy for an unknown British Secret Service. With the aid of Arthur (Michael Caine) and Merlin (Mark Strong) they soon investigate the dubious plans of the villainous Richmond Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson); an ego-centric tech billionaire and radical environmentalist who wants to use free SIM cards to control people, so he can bring about a solution to global climate change in a genocidal fashion.

Licensed to thrill, Kingsman without question, borrows a lot of ideas from a different array of films and meshes them together. The central film that associates well with Kingsman is of course Kick-Ass in that they both have the same type of humour, over the top characters like we have with Richmond Valentine and the stylised violence which for some viewers, can be quite jarring to watch especially with the sequence in the church where it doesn’t hesitate to show brutal fatalities and body parts flying all over the place. What grounds the hyper-energetic cinematic aspects however is Vaughn’s way of cleverly integrated ideas from different array of films. One good example of this is the obvious James Bond espionage construct that is implemented as we have the unknown British secret service in the Kingsman initiative and how the films climax plays out as a stereotypical scene that we would normally associate with James Bond film or Spy/Action film. On some level, it kind of relates towards the likes of Austin Powers or MIB in the sense that we see these spies/ action wannabe’s be heroic through the medium of comedy. There’s even an instance when Colin Firth’s character mocks these comedy and espionage ideas by saying “give me a far-fetched, theatrical plot any day”.

Portraying the lead character of Eggsy, Taron Egerton (also in this month’s Testament of Youth), doesn’t shy away from his performance as he brings his character to life with an energising vibe especially when we see his hoodlum lifestyle and attitude contrast with the gentleman’s class. One of the aspects that works really well in Kingsman is the range of actors and performances. The combination of having older, more well known film stars like Michael Caine and Samuel L. Jackson and the younger generation with Taron Egerton and Sophie Cookson who plays Roxy, is something that gel’s up relatively well within the entirety of the film. Seeing this combination is certainly fresh and a good thing to see. It’s highly arguable that Vaughn could of just gone with A-List starlets to star in this film. However, when looking into Vaughn as an auteur, he is someone that in the past with films like Kick-Ass and X-Men: First Class, he is someone that cleverly integrates well known figures with people who film audiences don’t know about, and that’s one of the good things about Vaughn’s cinema. What I found funny was the performances of Mark Hamill and Mark Strong. Especially Strong since he’s an actor that profoundly prefers to play roles that are quite dark and mysterious similar to his role in Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes (2009).  

Squeezing in with a 15 rating (somehow), Kingsman is never short of violence and its guts and guns galore, when kneecapping; slicing off body parts and explosions become all too familiar. With a couple of jarring misogynistic moments mixed in, it’s certainly not for the easily offended, but is great fun for everyone else watching. Vaughn’s clever use of merging the James Bond espionage construct with the outlandish fighting ilk that Kick-Ass trademarked, overall creates something that is original, comedic and entertaining.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ – Alex Rabbitte