Yes!

Rating: 9/10 (21 February 2015)

Kingsman deserves better than listing comparisons of it to other films. So let me get it out of the way: Imagine a cartoonier Bond film, influenced by Edgar Wright's brainy editing, with Wanted's unabashed silliness, Kill Bill's oddly gorgeous violence, and Guardians of the Galaxy-style comic book humor and you begin to get the picture. Above all, it's an absolute blast of pure movie fun. Boasting a great cast of perfectly matched characters and actors, kinetic scifi action choreography, and tons of slyly intentional silliness, Kingsman is funny, ultra-violent, and bursting with vibrant color. The Kingsman is a secret British organization that combats against the biggest of Earth's threats currently looking to replace one of its most recent lost members. Its structure has the skin of the ubiquitous YA-novel-turned-film genre, only much rougher. With director Vaughn at the helm, my fear was that Kingsman would be similar to many of his recent efforts: an interesting but ultimately sad miss. Blatant product placement and a couple too-clever-for-its- own-good jokes aside, this is happily not the case. Led by the classy and surprisingly action-inclined Firth as the elder statesmen of the group, the movie chugs along with inspired verve. It's also really smart. Themes like the presumptuous danger of playing God and personal honor vs. public persona bring just enough moral complexity to put it above films of its type. However, the boldly big goofiness that propels the film is never far from sight. Kingsman is a super smart action thriller that won't disappoint anyone wise enough to skip 50 Shades of Grey.