A Spoiler-Free Review

Rating: 9/10 (13 February 2015)

At once a slick spy movie in the Sixties' James Bond mold, while also being a satire of those films, Kingsman: The Secret Service reminds me of films like Hot Fuzz in how it sends up the tropes of a genre by making a good movie in that genre at the same time. The Kingsmen are an independent spy organization modeled after the ideals of being a gentleman and protecting others. Director Matthew Vaughn delivers more of what he is known for here, slick visuals, kinetic action sequences, and a fair amount of blood spatter, and yet I found myself not only entertained but emotionally involved as well. A large part of the film's success in those regards is the relationship between Colin Firth's Kingsman named Galahad and his twenty-something protégé, Taron Egerton's Eggsy who goes from a street kid to Kingsman all in the course of a two hour movie. The bottom line is, you wind up liking all of the characters because Vaughn cast the right actors in each of the roles, I mean, Samuel L. Jackson is so charismatic as the Bondish bad guy Valentine that you almost want him to succeed. While had this film dialed down the blood and usage of the f-word it could have easily achieved a PG-13 rating, compared to a lot of other action movies in the modern era, this one is almost tame (key word, almost). Truth be told, none of the gratuity of this film bothered me as much as other movies made in a similar vein, and a large part of that is that the film never really lingers on anything gratuitous, it just kind of moves on with the story, focusing more so on the characters and what's happening with them. So at the end of the day, if you enjoy a good spy movie, or simply an action movie with likable characters and some clever laughs interspersed throughout, Kingsman: The Secret Service will more than satisfy.
I give Kingsman: The Secret Service a 9 out of 10!