Entertaining with great twists

Rating: 7/10 (31 January 2016)

Kingsman: The Secret Service with one call as Estate Eggsy (Taron Egerton) calls in a favor from Harry Hart (Colin Firth), an old associate of his father. Hart initiates Eggsy into the Kingsman, a privately operated secret service and, in the course of his training, they both run afoul of evil billionaire philanthropist Richmond Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson) who, of course, has a nefarious scheme that needs thwarting.
The film has one subtitle too many, and it takes that approach to everything: excess in moderation. Its attention to detail is impressive without being overly meta: only Hart and Valentine acknowledge their debt to classic Bond films, and nobody feels the need to comment on the overkill of an evil lair that seems like it could have been airlifted straight from You Only Live Twice.