Stunningly UNDERWHELMING Stinkeroo

Rating: 2/10 (13 February 2015)

I really really wanted to like this movie. And, while it does have a few positive points, on the whole it was stunningly underwhelming. Don't waste your money on this stinkeroo.
Parents note: This is NOT the movie you want to take your children to see. It is one of the most graphically violent movies I can ever remember seeing. "Comic decapitations" are still decapitations. There is also a scene where a mother tries to murder her innocent toddler with a large ax. One of the characters is literally cut in half from top to bottom, and then shown in graphic detail awkwardly stapled back together.
A large part of these problems can be directly related to inept direction. Director Matthew Vaughn has no ability to reign in the more "Hammish" actors. Samuel L. Jackson pulls out all the stops - and basically ruins every scene he is in. Jackson's performance has to be the worst of his long career. It may well be one of the worst performances of the decade. His character was just stupid and incredibly offensive to so many people on so many different levels. He chose to speak with a cartoonish lisp which might suggest he is effeminate, or perhaps that he has a speech impediment - motivation is not an issue here - don't look for logic or rationality anywhere in this awkward movie.
Fans of Colin Firth, Jack Davenport, Mark Hamill, and Michael Caine will be very very disturbed by how these characters are treated.
On a positive note, Taron Egerton is a delight. He has enough skills to overcome the horrible direction and ham handed performances.