A film with an identity crisis

Rating: 3/10 (4 March 2015)

There are times when Kingsman is almost a sophisticated The Saint-style thriller. Other times, it's a Bond-style tongue-in-cheek action film. Other times again, it's a Hot Fuzz-style comedy gore fest. And then there are bits when it's more like a comic book action film. By trying to be all of those things (often not very well), it's none of them, and the film fails to create its own distinctive "world" in the way that good films do. The result is a disjointed and strangely unsatisfying film that, to its credit, also has a few quite enjoyable bits along the way.
Matthew Vaughn said he wanted to inject a sense of humour back into spy films. If that's the case, he has the sense of humour of an adolescent.