Clubbed to death

Rating: 6/10 (16 May 2015)

A private club of assassins locks horns with an effete billionaire bent on world depopulation, so the club turns to an underdog recruit to see off the beastly chap.
Good acting and pace. Humour is a bit patchy - there's a flash of porn ass at the very end, so clearly Carry On humour just ... carries on. But the final third is a complete riot, from the scene in the church onward - I guess thanks to the director's worship of Hong Kong action films. Colin Firth did his own stunts. LOL. The fights are a bit repetitive in style, although amazing to behold, and it goes full 007 parody in the end.
Overall, though, it lacks the satire of the equally ambitious Iron Sky.
The problem I have is with the politics. This is a real London film - loads of money to deliver a stylish, full-on neoliberal message that Big Men Rule, democracy and liberty are sideshows. The members of the club might as well be sitting round the cabinet table in Downing Street.
At one point the hero says saving Thatcher from assassination was a pity, but Thatcherism runs right through this story. All that east-end stuff? It's a fantasy - a great chunk of London's population has been deported from The Great Wen tax haven in the last 10 years because of neoliberal policies.
At least there are clubbable heroes to save us from ... the corporate club.
Samantha Janus is still a babe. And did I spot Paloma Faith?