A bit dirty, but way better than the original comic.

Rating: 7/10 (30 March 2018)

Ah, The Secret Service... Yet another overrated comic by Mark Millar. Like many of his other works, this one wasn't even fresh enough. It was bunch of the old ideas mixed together with the poor writing. Artwork wasn't that bad, but nah, I never really liked The Secret Service. It was dumb and boring story about how young kid with no future met his uncle, who was a James Bond of sorts. Uncle introduces him to the world of secret service and kid's doing great just because he played enough Call of Duty. Yep, it was that bad. So, when they've announced the movie adaptation, I thought it'll be yet another failure. Like, you know. Like Kick-Ass. But guess what? It was totally different story.
The thing is - movie makers took the best part from the original comic and fixed everything that was wrong with it. The best thing about The Secret Service was that Cinderella concept. The idea of how poor guy with no future can become both secret agent and gentleman. It wasn't really a fresh idea, so, it wasn't enough to save the comic, but this movie sure makes it shine. Really good design and costumes, everybody's favorite gentleman Colin Firth, fantastic soundtrack by Henry Jackman & Matthew Margeson (one of those that'll stay with you forever, like Terminator, or Tim Burton's Batman themes)... The movie just nailed. As for what was fixed... well, the story. The story was fixed. Because there's no way to become good with guns while playing Call of Duty. Obviously. So, now we have proper training and other special agent stuff.
Can't say that the story is very good, though. It's actually pretty generic. Thankfully, small details and memorable quotes help a lot. Movie makers also understood that it was bad idea to make it to much like James Bond. So, they came with the idea to make it a little bit... dirty. Well, more than a bit, actually. While being old school, I totally hated some scenes here, while the others were way too controversial (like the one in a church). But dirty jokes and controversial stuff is pretty much what makes this movie different from typical spy movies, so... like it, or not, it can't be different.
So... yeah. It's dirty, it's totally controversial, but... it's better than the original comic. Way, WAY better. The story may still be a bit generic, but at least it isn't as poor as in the comic and music, costumes, actors and other things sure help a lot. If dirty jokes are your thing, then it's your movie. But the best thing about Kingsman is that it can provide a lot of things aside from those. Unlike the comic, you won't forget this one after you'll finish with it. And that's more than you can actually ask from most of the modern movies.