Stylish, slick and immense fun

Rating: 9/10 (2 March 2015)

In a time when celebrities mysteriously started to disappear and environmental damage caused by human overpopulation became the top agenda for a tech tycoon, a small gentlemen's tailor shop in London stood as the last defender against rising evil. For decades, the Kingsman secret service operated as an independent international intelligence agency in the guise of the tailor shop. Its meticulously dressed agent Galahad proudly defines the agency to a recruit, "The suit is a modern gentleman's armour. And the Kingsman agents are the new knights". Matthew Vaughn ('Kick-Ass', 'X-Men: First Class') provides the campy seriousness of a James Bond villain's threat but also has slick, bloody action that shocks they way 'Kick-Ass' did. This spy thriller is a patiche of several franchises but with Vaughn's bold, ruthless and stylized action sequences, it creates a genre on its own. The more ridiculous it gets, the more fun it is.
Having the guilt of losing an agent during an unfortunate mission, Harry Hart (Colin Firth) aka Galahad offers aid to his family. Years later, the son Eggsy (Taron Egerton) grows up in the East end with a middle class upbringing and when his immature acts led to his arrest, he used his wild card and contacted the Kingsman. Harry bails him from prison and offers to recruit him as an agent. Any doubt in Eggsy's mind is laid to rest when he witnesses Harry taking down some rogues in a fast reflexive, stylishly canny brawl at a pub. The recruitment for the one agent who will become a Kingsman will see six youngsters in Hunger Games or X-Men type tests to determine their worthiness. From a flood in their dorm room, to keeping a dog constantly by their side and to dive from the skies to land on target while avoiding radars. Meanwhile, Richmond Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson), the lisping tech tycoon who dresses up like a rap artist is the opposite of the suave secret agents. His evil plan for saving the planet from degradation is to cull the population of the dominant virus. With an app that triggers a micro SIM card installed in each subscriber, he can force aggressive behaviors in humans anywhere on the planet with the help of a satellite. The Kingsman must attack his stronghold and disengage him and also destroy the satellite that would transmit global ruin.
The action is stupendous in parts. The pub brawl is only an introduction to Vaughn's style of slick, fast paced action but it is the precursor to the final mission, that is Harry's solo rage war in a church that stands out as one of the most brilliantly choreographed action sequences in recent memory. This one can be more astounding than what was witnessed in Kick-Ass. Throughout the movie, Vaughn pushes the clichés to new, darker levels that are crazily entertaining. "This ain't that kind of a movie".
Algerian babe Sofia Boutella is the stunning steel prosthetic leg bearing human cleaver who dances her way through some shocking action scenes. As Gazelle, she is a threatening supporting villain who aids Valentine by doing all the dirty work. Samuel L. Jackson is a wickedly cool villain. After playing Nick Fury for so long, it is great to see him in a role where he can really open up and be at his expressive best. Michael Caine also gets to step out of his norm of being the gentle elder in the story and his stubbornness as the head of the Kingsman instigates suspicion and despise at the same time. Quite an unusual way to feel about Alfred. Mark Strong is excellent as Merlin, the resourceful Kingsman agent who sees the recruits through their testing stages and plays a critical role in the climax. Mark Hamill is unrecognizable as Prof. Arnold who witnesses the bold rescue attempt in the beginning of the movie by an unlucky Kingsman agent. Taron Egerton is impressive. He plays an East-ender with the same natural ability as he plays a Kingsman with a suit on. Among his best scenes is certainly the one where he hesitates while pointing a gun at his pup 'JB'. Egerton remarkably holds his act well in the midst of such powerful actors. If Daniel Craig can be the hard faced serious agent, Egerton will be the earnestly entertaining one who can still kick-ass.
Colin Firth is a veteran of a different genre of films. Therefore, to see him play such a lead role in a movie that mocks a spy genre and involves action that makes even 'Kick-Ass' look amateurish, is just difficult to grasp. Yet, he does so with such ease and finesse. The double-breasted suit was just tailored to perfection for him and he pretty much defines what a Kingsman agent is all about. Kind in his words, gentle in his behaviour but occasionally, needs to let off some steam in a crazy manner. He delivers an equally serious performance as he did in 'The King's Speech' in a movie that is overall just funny and crazy. That, precisely, is his strength as an actor.
Michael Vaughn drew inspiration from Mark Millar's comic book series titled 'The secret service' but quickly altered many aspects of it to add his story-telling style that occasionally goes from stylish to outlandish but it never stops being immense fun. Vaughn pays tribute to the entertaining spy genre but uncannily, forms an alternate one where slicing victims with prosthetic leg blades, exploding heads and stylish gadgets will be common dealings for the Gentlemen who will save the day. Even James Bond would smirk at this job offer.

9.15 on a scale of 1-10.