Kingsman Secret Service: Could Have Been So Much Better -Lack of Diversity in Casting Regarding Certain Roles Seems Almost Racist

Rating: 7/10 (3 April 2015)

For me, the movie was somewhat entertaining but not great. You could see that the producers tried really hard to create a good product and they succeeded to some extent. I would give this movie a rating of 7 out of 10, no higher.
In my opinion the major problems could have been easily fixed and instead of being an OK movie, it could have been a great movie. (It's the difference between getting a C+ or B- on your report card versus getting an A- or an 'A'.
A 'C+' represents the low grade mediocrity and a 'B-' the high grade mediocrity. These producers tried really hard and it showed, so I would give them a 'B-'.
The major problems with the movie were as follows: (1) The casting undermined one of the major themes; (2) insufficient dramatic elements or scenes to counterbalance the comedy; (3) the movie had no soul.
THE CASTING UNDERMINED THE THEME One of the major themes in the movie is the privileged vs the unprivileged or the high class vs those with no class or those who are given special opportunities in life vs those who are not. This being the case, the casting should have included at least a few young attractive visible minorities who were given the opportunity to compete for the position of the new Kingsman. But no, in the movie all of those given the opportunity to become Kingsmen are white and all of the existing Kingsmen are white. So in spite of the privileged vs unprivileged theme, what the movie ends up teaching us is that there is a privileged class and the privileged class remains today and that in order to be part of that privileged class, one has to be white. I don't think that this is the message that the producers intended to send to the audience, yet nevertheless this is the message that they sent. (When producers dabble in tokenism, when they fail to even attempt to reflect the diversity of the world around them, the unintended consequences can include sending such messages to the audience.)
It would have been so easy to introduce a few visible minority Kingsmen both at the older level and at the new recruit/ candidate level.
INSUFFICIENT DRAMA TO BALANCE THE COMEDY The movie has a light feel to it. It is heavy on comedy, yet there is very little drama. The movie does not take itself seriously. So the audience will not take it seriously. Without some dramatic elements, the movie seems unbalanced. Unlike the movie RED, which was a pure farce of the spy movie genre and quite funny, this movie Kingsman is not a pure farce, so it requires the audience to buy in at some point. The movie fails to anchor itself with even one or two dramatic moments, which would help to change a C+/B- movie to an A-/A movie.
THE MOVIE HAD NO SOUL For me a movie has a soul when I actually really care what happens to the main characters and I have made an emotional investment in the movie. If a movie has a soul I will be anxious to see the sequel.
This movie had no soul. It undermined one of its most important themes -the privileged vs the unprivileged- by showing no diversity in either the existing Kingsmen or the candidates/ new recruits. When a movie so blatantly undermines such an important theme, it's hard for me to care what happens to the main characters. Like I said above, one of the messages that this movie sent to the audience was: if your are white you can be part of some of the most privileged clubs in society; if you are not white you are not permitted to apply.
The movie never anchored itself with even one or two dramatic moments that would make me care one way or the other about the main characters.