It's good to be King! Kingsman: The Secret Service is over the top, fun.

Rating: 8/10 (31 March 2015)

This movie is a love letter to the old school bizarre campy spy films, while also reenergize the genre to the mature audience, by keeping it modern and smart. Without spoiling it, the movie is full of movie references. Too many to list, here. The movie is also full with satire comedy wit, reverence melodrama, and hyper-violence action. Kingman has the right amount of realistic, and camp value to be entertaining for the most part. Directed by Matthew Vaughn, and loosely based on the comic book The Secret Service by Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons. The movie tells the story of Gary "Eggsy" Unwin (Taron Egerton), a young trouble man, who might end up for a life behind bars. However, he is saved by an old friend of his late father, Harry Hart (Colin Firth), whom recognizes potential in the youth and recruits him to be a trainee in the secret service organization call the Kings Men. Meanwhile, villainous Richmond Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson) launches a diabolical plan to solve the problem of over-population by worldwide killing spree. Can Harry and Eggsy stop the madman or will Valentine's plan come to light. Watch the movie to find out! Without spoiling the movie, too much, every character, every frame, and nearly every line of dialogue is delivered with a hilarity tongue in cheek, brash motion. Newcomer Taron Egerton was pretty good as Eggsy. The trailer of this film, make it seem like his character was an unlikeable thug, but I'm pretty glad, that they didn't go that way. Eggsy is coarse and prone to fights, and at first glance appears to be a typical Lower-Class Lout, but he's also protective of his mother and sister, has a deep well of kindness and loyalty to animals, and wants to do right by others. Colin Firth works great as the mentor, Harry. Firth is the veteran actor, with a smooth, proper British charm, but also a deadly operator. His ability as an action hero is amazing. The church scene with him, alone, is worth the price of admission. I love Samuel L. Jackson's character. Valentine is a very friendly, cheerful, and charismatic man who cares about the world so much that he's willing to kill most of humanity to save it. He's also appalled by the violence and afraid of blood. I love how Valentine discusses various tropes of Tuxedo and Martini Spy Fiction: like the James Bond series with various characters over the course of the film, showing how dangerously, he can be. I haven't saw, many of those types as villains, before. One thing, I didn't like about the character is the lisp. It was kinda annoying. It kept coming in and out. His henchwoman, Gazelle (Sofia Boutella) is very intense. She really look like she could take down the hero. The fight toward the end in the dance floor, was good. I love how they adapt dance moves to the fighting style. The movie has this stylized action and design that people will clearly love or hate. I think the endless parade of so-over-the-top-that-it's-almost-cartoonish violence; is pretty cool, but kinda jarring. Don't get me wrong, I love how the action sequence are shot: very clear, without shaking cam, and quick cuts, but the violence and its choice of using blood is a bit confusing. It's a bit odd, that anything worse than a gunshot wound is remarkably clean. Most notably, when person is cut in half or head explode, it does not result in a single drop of blood. It's gruesome, no matter what. The movie language is also harsh, and the movie's odd sexual ending, might offend some. Still, it makes me wonder, why the movie didn't try to go for a hard Rated R. It seem that the movie was trying to go PG-13, but change its mind, half-way, through filming. Another fault of the movie might, to be how loose the adaptation is, compare to the comic book. They took a lot of artistic license on this story. A lot of things have change, big time. Gary London becomes Gary "Eggsy" Unwin. Gary's Uncle Jack is no longer his uncle, and is renamed Harry Hart. The Secret Agents become referred to by codenames derived from Arthurian legend, so they might retain their names if they aren't ever called by their real ones. Characters like Sir Giles and Rupert Greaves in the comic are no more. They form Merlin (Mark Strong) and Arthur (Michael Caine), respectively. The villains change, also. Gazelle was a man in the comic. The character of Mark Hamill is combined with the character of James Arnold played by Mark Hamill. Much of James Arnold remains in the form of a new character, Richmond Valentine. Another thing, annoying from the film is the product placement. McDonald's being eaten by the villain. Come on! The movie has a great movie score by Henry Jackman & Matthew Margeson. It was easy listening. The movie made good use of establish songs such as Dire Straits' "Money for Nothing" in the intro, and Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Freebird" during the church massacre. KC and the Sunshine Band's "Give It Up" was also rocking! Director Matthew Vaughn expressed interest in a sequel if the film did well at the box office - as the film exceeded all box office expectations it is a definite possibility. I hope, they do. Overall: Despite, the large amount of violence. The movie does have an enduring message with the quote, 'Manners maketh man' meaning, class and money aren't what define you -- your character does. Loyalty and hard work are rewarded. This movie is a must-watch. I do recommended.