Please don't take the Kids!

Rating: 8/10 (15 February 2015)

Loved it! A super secret spy organization, not affiliated with any government, works behind the scenes to keep evil at bay. Headed by "Arthur," and guided by "Merlin," each of the agents who also have Arthurian codenames, conduct their own investigations into the seedy side of evil all over the globe. There are only so many seats at the round table, and so when agent Lancelot is killed, the first active agent in 17 years to die, the Kingsman begin recruiting his replacement from a group of young men and women. Our main character is Eggsy, who is sponsored by Galahad (Colin Firth), a young man who lacks many of the others social graces, coming across as a bit rough on the edges. The young men and women begin a very long job interview that is very rough and potentially fatal to weed out the lesser candidates and find the next agent worthy to sit at the round table. At the same time, Colin Firth's character, Harry Hart, codename Galahad, is tasked with finding out who, and why, Lancelot was killed.
Even thought it was R rated, I did take my two boys (7 and 9) and truly regret that decision. I know it was R...but I thought it was because of the violence and the language. For the most part, I was right. There was only one scene, in the last few minutes of this otherwise awesome flick, that ruined that expectation. I won't go into graphic depiction, but when Eggsy asks the female hostage if he can have a kiss if he frees her, she replies (in the trailer) "I'll give you more than that," and he states, "I'll be right back." It's very funny in the trailer...but in the movie, she actually states exactly what she'll do to repay him...and that's where it got awkward with my children. So...if they weren't there, I would have a great time. If that scene wasn't in there, or cut short, it would have been a great time.
I find it hard to figure out if the movie works for an adult crowd, because the action scenes are cartoonish (mostly). There is a bit of blood and gore, but on one occasion, the blood and gore was replaced by pyrotechnics. If you've seen "My Name is Nobody," and remember the scene with Henry Fonda shooting at the Wild Bunch, you'll understand what I mean. There are many references to spy movies and TV shows--James Bond, Bourne Identity, "24" and even "Get Smart." It's fun, almost a parody...and then it throws out the R-rated stuff. It could have been a much more accessible movie without that one scene...so I don't know why they are trying to limit their audience...weird.