Action driven and fun. Slightly disappointing story.

Rating: 8/10 (25 April 2015)

The one word I would use to sum up this movie is: cool. The main intent of the filmmakers was to make an adrenaline fueled action film with awesome fight scenes and gadgets that, while they may be sort of cheap, are great fun to use and see used. The story is nothing special, though you could argue that it makes up for this by parodying other spy movies and world-saving plots.
I'll get the plot out of the way first. Personally, I was disappointed in it because the trailers and ratings it was getting made it seem like it would have a mildly interesting story. I must admit that the way Valentine tries to self destruct humans is different and fairly interesting. I've heard that one of the things that is supposed to drive a film is a ticking clock, but I feel like this and many other recent films (e.g. Winter Soldier, MI 2 and 4, 2012, Avengers, Dark Knight Rises) take this a little too literally and make the entire climax scene based on how fast a certain computer file or whatever can upload. The driving force behind the entire plot is action. Basically every plot element is used to spoof other spy movies or as an excuse to add in a fight scene, though most of the excuses are pretty good and plausible. However, there is a little bit too much seriousness for it to officially be a spoof.
The characters could have been better. Eggsy isn't an award winningly written hero, though you can sympathize with and root for him to an extent. Harry Hart is probably the main character and undeniably has the most depth and he's generally cool besides. Arthur is written with okay proficiency, though he isn't on the upper side of Michael Caine characters. Merlin, while he has little depth, is a very prominent face with an agreeable personality. Roxy I think could have been written better since she got a lot of screen time and was a mentor of sorts to Eggsy but was never really treated seriously as a character. Valentine isn't really an interesting villain since he has little or no motive for his villainous actions, but he is different in that he sees the problem with keeping his adversaries alive when he has a chance to eliminate the danger they pose. His Noah's ark speech bumps him up a level as a villain since it makes him persuasive and charismatic. I really wish the original Lancelot (Jack Davenport) hadn't been killed off in the first few minutes because I loved his character right away.
Of course the biggest element is the action. Most of it involves the use of ultra-cool spy gear like Harry's umbrella. The scene where all of the government bureaucrats' heads explode is a little ridiculous (though if you're a Republican you might enjoy seeing Obama's lid combust into blue smoke in that scene). The fight scenes get a little over the top, but not excessively bloody. Of the movies I've seen, only Desolation of Smaug and The Amazing Spiderman 2 parallel the action choreography of Kingsmen. The church brawl is probably the most incredible raw fight scene in all of cinema (by the way, the people may have fought each other by Valentine's wishes, but something must be said for the fact that they all brought guns and knives to church with them). The training scenes were pretty good, but it seemed like there was a step that got missed in the transition from pretty good martial arts skills to one man wrecking machine level. The way the bullet proof suits are utilized is pretty good, though you might say that they reduce the quality of the heroes.
In terms of overall quality, I guess it gets a B-. The acting isn't exceptional, but it's slightly above average. Visual effects of course gets very high scores. The script isn't great, and goes a bit overboard with it's language. Sometimes that works out fine like in Good Will Hunting where the language feels natural and fits the overall setting, but here I felt like they just threw a few curses in without any real reason behind them. The camera work in the skydiving scene was pretty good, and it wasn't all GoPro cameras. The ominous red used in Valentine's cave added to the serious and spoof atmosphere. Henry Jackman's score was incredible with his intense horns. Lastly, I felt that they used slow-mo pretty well.
My overall rating for this is 8.5/10, but I've decided to round down because I don't think it deserves to be on the Top 250 and is about to move off anyways. If you like action and can sit through a weaker plot for two hours, definitely put it on your list. The satirical feel is present though not overpoweringly prominent. Think more Ocean's Eleven than Mel Brooks comedy. So for all action fans, definitely consider renting or impulse buying.