Review of Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015) by Wheelhorse01 — 17 Feb 2015

At first it is a fun twist and update to the Bond brand of spy genre. But when the unexpected violent Tarantino church scene happens, the movie takes a sudden lurch into a completely different area altogether. It tries to regain its light and fast paced momentum when the good guys decide a genocide of their own is the only option. Suddenly we are in an Austin Powers movie with heads exploding into colorful fireworks and pretty clouds and musical anthems playing in the background. The movie did not seem to know what genre it was in or how sensitive to be to death and gore. This non commitment to a theme left the movie feeling somewhat schizophrenic.

The saving grace of the Kingsmen were its actors. Firth is always on point and delivers an outstanding character. Jackson, however, was the real surprise here. Stepping out of his box for this role and giving us a goofy guy we could love to hate. Boutella's character was worthy of any Bond villain/ henchmen in the history of the genre. She made the film exciting!

The story was decent, it just could have done without the violent mass murder church and Austin Powers genocide tangents. They had a fun old school plot, that was well executed in a modern high tech way. But in the end I'd say I've waved off more folks than I've encouraged to go see it.