It's James effin Bond, innit?

Rating: 9/10 (30 January 2015)

Eggsy gets to train as a secret agent for the same ultra-top secret organisation which his father once worked for.
This is James Bond at boot camp, featuring Colin Firth as Eggsy's mentor, Samuel L Jackson as the villain, Mark Strong as the training sergeant, Michael Caine as head of the organisation, and newcomer Taron Egerton plays Eggsy. Now let's take on board that it is directed by Matthew Vaughan, co-written with Jane Goldman, and based on a comic by Mark Millar, and we should be prepared for it to be original, full of (often outrageous) action, stupefyingly violent, overflowing with profanity, very funny, and vastly entertaining. Think Roger Moore-era Bond crossed with Kick-Ass and Wanted.
Millar doesn't come across as likable when I see him interviewed but, by heavens, the films based on his stuff are entertaining. For me, everything in this film works – the performances are all terrific, the action is great and often laugh out loud (it manages to be both funny and credibly visceral – think the birdman at the start of Kick-Ass or the computer keyboard in Wanted). I could have done without quite so many F-words, but oh well.
Recommended if you enjoyed Wanted or Kick-Ass.