One of the Most Enthrawling Action Movies of Recent Years

Rating: 9/10 (23 April 2016)

Kingsman: The Secret Service is directed by Matthew Vaughn and stars Taron Egerton as young Eggsy, a teenage street kid that is recruited by a spy organization, and must compete with other recruits in his class in order to become the next Kingsman, a gentleman like spy. Upon being recruited, he befriends an older Kingsman named Galahad, played by Colin Firth, that teaches him the ways of being a Kingsman, and, more importantly, being a gentleman.
I actually didn't want to see this movie. I've never been too hot on espionage films, and wasn't looking forward to Kingsman. However, this movie proved me wrong in so many ways. I had an absolute blast watching Kingsman, and so regret not seeing it the theaters. Near everything about this film entertained me, and I was on the edge of my seat through every single action sequence. Kingsman was one of the few movies of recent years in which I had white knuckles through every single action scene, and even most of the talking scenes. Kingsman was an amazing movie, and had great aspects about it.
The best thing about Kingsman is the actors' portrayals of the characters. Prior to watching this movie, I doubted Colin Firth as an action hero, but he was fantastic as this gentleman spy. I read that he did 80% of his own stunts, and it really paid off. Taron Egerton was the highlight of this film. He displayed Eggsy's large character arc near perfectly, and delivered every single one of his lines believably. Samuel L. Jackson played a great villain, and was another great attribute that Kingsman had going for it. He pulled off the "evil plan" cliché, while also acknowledging that it was a cliché.
The direction by Matthew Vaughn was amazing as well. The way he manipulated the camera to film at varying speeds while weaving in between characters, mid fight, during the action sequences was excellent. He brought every scene to life so vibrantly that Kingsman sucks the audience in after watching it for only 5 minutes. All of the direction was great, and brought the film to new levels of expertise very quickly.
The score was the third thing that really pulled me into the scenes, particularly the suspenseful ones. Without going into too much detail, the parachute scene was one of the most suspenseful scenes I've seen in recent years, and the music had a great part in it. All of the music throughout the entirety of Kingsman was astounding, and sucked me into the film so easily that I felt like I was there, in the film, rather than watching it.
The only problem I had with Kingsman was the ending. Not particularly how the film ended, but some subplots that weren't wrapped up like I had hoped they would've been. This is most likely due to the presence of a looming sequel (Kingsman: The Golden Circle coming in 2017), but I still would've preferred some closure with certain characters and stories that the film presented. Besides that, however, I loved Kingsman.
Overall, Kingsman: The Secret Service was a great movie, and I'd recommend it to anyone that enjoys action, espionage, or just good movies all around.