If You Like Bond....

Rating: 8/10 (13 February 2015)

I saw "Kingsman:The Secret Service", starring Colin Firth-The King's Speech, Mamma Mia!; Taron Egerton-Testament of Youth, The Smoke_tv; Sofia Boutella-Streetdance 2, Dance Challenge; Samuel L. Jackson-Nick Fury in almost all of the Marvel movies, Unbreakable and Michael Caine- Alfred in the Dark Knight movies, On Deadly Ground.
This is based on a comic book series called The Secret Service and is directed by Matthew Vaughn-X-Men:First Class, Kick-Ass, Layer Cake. If you like Bond, James Bond, then you should love this one-I know I do and I did. Colin plays a Kingsman, a secret agent that works for her majesty's secret service in London. They work out of a tailor shop- anyone remember The Man From U.N.C.L.E.? FYI: There is a new movie based on that old t.v. show that is coming out in August. Michael plays the leader of the Kingsman and starts up a recruitment drive after their ranks are seriously depleted. Colin sponsors Taron, and all the candidates have to go through some rigorous training and learn how to use all kinds of Bondian gadgets; exploding lighters, guns that shoot different types of ammunition, bullet-proof umbrellas and of course, the blade in the shoe gimmick that was used so well in From Russia With Love. And what would a good spy movie be without a good villain? Samuel plays that part and he has it covered, with a speech impediment-he talks with a lisp-and he also hates violence-he actually gets sick at the sight of blood. Samuel's master plan is to kill most of the population; he thinks thinning the herd will be better for the planet and the eco system. Sofia plays Samuel's enforcer that goes by the name of Gazelle- mainly because of the way she moves and she has prosthetic sharp blades for legs, which she uses quite often-evidently, she has no problem with the sight of blood. There is a lot of humor along with the tributes to everything that is Bond and the music is good, too-I remember hearing some Lynyrd Skynyrd during the church massacre scene. Oh yeah, see if you recognize Professor Arnold, one of the first people that is kidnapped by Samuel. It's rated "R" for violence, language and sexual content-including some nudity-and has a running time of 2 hours & 9 minutes. I am a big Bond fan and really enjoyed this one and I would buy it on Blu-Ray.