A 2 hour commercial for Levi's, McDonald's, The Sun, Guinness, etc

Rating: 6/10 (14 June 2015)

This is a fun action movie in the 'Bond on speed' style. Acting is good, story is OK for the genre and the fight scenes are top shelf. But we aren't even 30 seconds in before the first thug pulls out a gun from his pants, with the resulting zoom on a Levi's pocket for a good 3 seconds. The bar is set for the rest of the movie, where the main characters make sure to announce they are enjoying their Guinness at the pub and have front pages from The Sun plastered all over their office (despite playing an intellectual liberal who likely doesn't share a single perspective on anything with that newspaper). Product placement is fine when it is suble, but The Kingsman it is a constant barrage of in-your-face product references. It feels like its one giant viral video campaign since there is a reference to a product every minute or so. It got so distracting after 30 minutes that it ruined an otherwise enjoyable movie for me.