Fun spy story, but aimed at 14 year old boys

Rating: 6/10 (6 April 2015)

Actor Colin Firth brings a measure of class to all the movies he appears in, and this film is no exception. Colin Firth plays Harry, code name Galahad in the Kingsman Agency, a sort of secret service that is reminiscent of the old classy style James bond films, but with fun set pieces of almost cartoon violence. It is all a bit tongue in cheek, quietly making fun of itself, or so I felt. Others may disagree. The movie looks to be the launching pad for a movie series starring the young recruit Eggsy (Alex Nikolov)a bad boy with a heart of gold, surely meant to appeal to boys as a clever tough guy, and to girls as a diamond in the rough. Sadly the story kills off Harry about half way through, and with his departure goes the class and better humour. As such, sadly, the first half is much better than the second half.
These movies rely heavily on the quality of the bad guy. After all, how can we display the excitement and daring do of the good guy, without a decent bad guy to battle against? The film planned well, employing Samuel L Jackson to be Richmond Valentine, an evil tech billionaire. Unfortunately this is Samuel Jackson's possibly worst performance of all time. It may not be entirely his fault. His is dressed like a 12 year old from the 1940's, talks with an unbelievable and quite annoying lisp, and his actions are not intelligent, despite the fact that he is supposed to be brilliant. The more his character is on the screen, the worse the film gets.
If there is a sequel, which one would expect was the whole point of this movie, the absence of Colin Firth, and the bad writing that gave us the Richmond Valentine character, should ensure that it is, sadly, terrible.