Premise

• Well, it’s official ladies and gentlemen: we have our first great movie of 2015.

Premise

• (I decided to start adding in this section just because there are people who don’t know what some movies will be about, which is completely fine, not everyone is a huge movie fan all the time. This is for you all!)
• So Kingsman: The Secret Service is about a secret spy organization–you guessed it, The Kingsman–and it’s more specifically about an agent of the Kingsman who is recruiting a new kid to join them following the death of their former member.
• And I purposely annotated one of the later trailers above because initially, I didn’t think it looked that good!
  • It looked like that Alex Rider piece-of-crap from my childhood.
  • Anybody else remember that??
• Luckily, it wasn’t. And this movie could be reviewed in just one word: awesome.

 Cast and Characters

• So Colin Firth, Michael Caine, and Samuel L. Jackson have been promoted the most in this movie but the story is actually about this rebellious kid called Eggsy played by newcomer Taron Egerton.
  • See, one of the reasons I’m glad I don’t do YouTube reviews is so I don’t have to mispronounce that poor guy’s name.
• And yeah, Egerton is really good in the movie!
  • I haven’t seen him in anything before, at least nothing that I can remember off-hand, but ultimately this kid was really good and I want to see him in more stuff now!
  • He was extremely likable, super witty and sarcastic, and was a really cool hero.
• And Colin Firth is in the movie as his kinda mentor.
  • The beginning of the movie reminded me of Men In Black a little bit, with Colin Firth being the Tommy Lee Jones character who’s a bit older and withered, and he’s bringing on this new guy.
  • But then in the next few parts of the movie you see Colin Firth just be an absurdly awesome action hero.
    • This is not King George VI anymore folks!
  • Samuel L. Jackson was really good in the movie too.
    • Much like Michael Caine, Sam Jackson is the guy who appears in every movie nowadays.
    • And when I initially saw the trailer, I’m like, “is he gonna phone it in on this one?”
    • But he didn’t, he was actually a pretty intimidating villain.
  • Michael Caine kinda was being ‘stereotype Michael Caine character’ in this one.
    • I’m pretty sure it’s the third character in 3 years where he’s played a smart guy named Arthur.
    • But that being said, you can’t argue he’s bad at it.
    • Because he did have a sense of intimidation in this movie and (him being the head of the Kingsman) it’s really great that he had that.
      • Alfred is not in this movie, friends.
    • As for supporting characters being awesome, let’s talk about the ladies in this movie: Roxy played by Sophie Cookson, and Gazelle played by Sofia Boutella.
      • Roxy was really cool in this movie.
        • She was one of the other kids training to be a Kingsman and she kinda has a thing with Eggsy, but we aren’t sure exactly what will happen.
        • It’s not in a cheesy way though, like the ‘will they, won’t they’ isn’t a big part of the movie, it’s just a fun side thing.
        • In recent movies (like Jupiter Ascending) you see these totally lacking female leads who just need the dude to swoop in and save them, but not in this movie.
        • Roxy was kinda like 20 year-old Emily Blunt from Edge of Tomorrow.
          • And I really hope movies like Edge of Tomorrow and Kingsman promote more awesome female action stars in Hollywood, if done right (like here).
        • And Gazelle was Samuel L. Jackson’s character’s henchman. Or henchwoman?
          • She was a total throwback to old-school Bond villains that have their weird physical deformities.
          • She has blades as feet and it’s AWESOME.
          • Like, the second scene of the movie she…
            • I won’t say what she does cuz I’d hate to ruin that awesome moment for you good people but it’s awesome!

Writing

• In a movie like the Kingsman, you need good writing to make it work.
• When I saw the trailer, I thought it looked like it was gonna be a try-too-hard action movie that was just a place-holder against 50 Shades of Grey.
  • But, there was no dialogue shown in the trailer, so I totally misjudged it.
• The writing did for this movie what The Fault in Our Stars’ script did for that movie: it was really smart.
  • For a movie like Kingsman or Fault in Our Stars to avoid being cliché and crappy, you need to have really on-beat, witty writing.
• And this movie proved to be witty the entire time.
  • I won’t say that this script reminded me of the Pulp Fiction script, but I will say it had the flow and wit that Pulp Fiction had.
    • Which is funny since Pulp Fiction didn’t really have a definitive flow?
  • But point is, the writing was a really positive part of the movie and set it on the next level for me.
  • If I had to do one small nitpick, there were a few character interactions I would liked to have seen, or at least seen more of, but that isn’t really a negative since those potential meet-ups are substituted for even better sequences.

Direction

• Matthew Vaughn directed this movie, and if he hadn’t it probably wouldn’t have even been good, never mind great.
• Matthew Vaughn brought in the scope of X-Men: First Class, and combined it with that really bold and cartoony comic-book violence that a LOT of his other movies had.
• I loved Vaughn’s style in this movie and a lot of people have been saying, “he needs to do the next Avengers! He needs to do the next spin-off Star Wars! He needs to do the next Justice League!”
  • I agree the dude needs more work, but let me correct a few things from where I see them.
  • I think he should and will (mark this prediction) direct Star Wars: Episode IX (9).
    • Abrams is the sci-fi director to launch us into the world like Lucas was.
    • Rian Johnson will make VIII darker through his slick, exploratory style, like Empire Strikes Back.
    • Vaughn will make the lighter, more action-filled, Return of the Jedi like conclusion to the next trilogy.
  • OR he should direct the stand-alone Marvel Spider-Man.
    • Him or the Russo’s, cuz he would make it a lot of fun, AS IT NEEDS TO BE.
  • Point is, the guy completely nailed it with Kingsman, and made this property so fantastic.

In Conclusion

• In Conclusion, the acting was awesome in this movie, I love all the new actors that are gonna start popping up a lot more in Hollywood now.
• I loved the action this movie had, it was all so bananas, so high-fueled, so awesome.
• The script was witty, the dialogue was smart, everything just went on the way it needed to (despite maybe one or two missed opportunities).
• The direction completely sold the film and Matthew Vaughn needs to get a lot more films in the future.
• I honestly want a sequel as soon as possible and I can’t wait to see this movie again.
• Like I said, we have our first GREAT movie of 2015 folks.
• Because Kingsman: The Secret Service is…

A 5/5

• In February? I did not expect the first 5/5 to hit until May at the earliest, but this was well-deserved to say the least.

***

So guys, those are my thoughts on Kingsman: The Secret Service! Did your girlfriend drag you to 50 Shades of Grey or were you one of the lucky ones that got to see this awesome piece instead? If you did see it, let me know your thoughts down below, and let me know what movie or franchise Matthew Vaughn should helm next! And as always, thanks for reading guys.