Kingsman: The Secret Service movie review

Here's what you need to know; Eggsy hasn't lived the easiest of lives since his father was killed in action on a top secret mission, but soon he will see the cause his father died for, as he is swept up in the dangerous and exciting world of Kingsman, a secret order of the greatest spies on the planet, with the goal of keeping the world safe. But a new threat is emerging, as the Billionaire Richmond Valentine has put together a plan to 'save the world,' a plan that will kill millions, and that only Kingsman can stop.
Yep, mushy me, far from simply being a fun movie, I guess you could say this film saved my sanity, and hardened my love of films in an effort to fill a fresh hole in my heart, though that's somewhat hyperbolic, I think. In all seriousness though, when I made my list of my favourite films of 2015, Kingsman: The Secret Service was on that list, and I made a joke about it fighting off 50 Shades of Grey like a plucky Brit, yet despite really liking it, I never reviewed it, but it's got a sequel now, and I've reviewed that, so it's time now to finish the job.

Kingman: The Secret Service had me hooked from the very beginning, with some stupidly stylish intro credits and Dire Straits - Money For Nothing, not only a great music choice, but a brilliant way of establishing the various undertones of the film, as we see in just a few minutes a great combination of grit and emotional weight, and absurd super spy action.  We see even more coolness immediately after the prologue, with a badass rescue mission that shows off the skills of the Kingsman agents, and introduces the film's antagonists, Valentine and his henchman Gazelle. That crazy cool classic Bond movie henchman has blades for feet, and that's as awesome as that sounds, and it's Sofia  Boutella, and thank you Atomic Blonde for proving that she is fucking hot. Back to the point though, this introduction shows off  how fascinating the Kingsman organisation is, not only in their crazy skills and sci fi gadgets, but in their philosophy, which is really intriguing, and one of the driving forces of the film's coolness to me; the explanation of Kingsman's founding is surprisingly grounded, and it gives real weight to this otherwise badass league of super spies. The strengths and values of Kingsman are no better demonstrated than in Harry, played by Colin Firth, who is not the most developed character in the film, but is, first of all a gentleman, and second of all a badass, he has a few throw downs in this film that just leave you in awe, it's some really entertaining shit. Were he our main hero, he'd be fine, but the movie would be a bit shallow, enter Eggsy, who is in fact our hero. Eggsy is a really interesting character right from the outset, and again the film does a great job of setting up what he's all about, showing a character who's life is in the toilet, but who still wants to do the right thing and care for the people around him, while at the same time being a usual, fun loving kid, Eggsy is perfect for this film, because he's so well established and so relatable to the audience, he's funny, caring, honest, and good at what he does even before Kingsman. The friendship between him and Harry is well done, as is his relationship with a fellow Kingsman applicant; Roxy, a character I was really disappointed by the lack of in the sequel, because she's really good here; the friendship she develops with Eggsy is really sweet. The film is also filled to the brim with fantastic actors; Michael Caine, Mark Strong, Mark Hamill, but none leave an impression quite like Samuel L. Jackson as Valentine, the unassuming, quirky, lispy billionaire who secretly plans to end the world, and in a fashion you'd expect, he's completely over the top, has really straight forward and blatantly sinister motivations, and even has a secret lair inside a mountain, so if this film wasn't already classic Bond enough for you, that should seal the deal. But in the unlikely event it doesn't, how about a really crazy story, one that pits heroes against villains, and is set against the backdrop of the world ending scheme of a supervillain, it's actually surprising how restrained this film can be at times given how liberal it is in its stupidity, it's all brilliantly satirical, and the film actually has a few really well done twists, which keeps you on your toes.

But this film's success as a spy spoof really comes down to the spy stuff itself, so how is it. Again, the film has gadgets that are straight up sci fi, ranging from a bullet proof umbrella that's also a rifle with lethal and none lethal modes, to cigarette lighter hand grenades, to remote control poison, it all brings back fond memories of exploding pens, and it's a lot of fun. When you get to see these toys being played is usually when you see Kingsman kicking arse, the opening rescue mission is an entertaining enough little slaughter, but things don't get really good until a fight in a pub, that has some really satisfying build up, and is completely insane, being solidly comedic throughout. But by a mile the most memorable fight in the film is the Church scene, it's frightening how effectively the implication of Valentine's plan sinks in following this fight, but the fight itself is kind of like every other action scene in the film on steroids. The cinematography of the fight is stunning, and the sequence has a striking visual style to it, one that's noticeable in the rest of the film, and very prevalent in the sequel, but never as in your face or as brilliant as in this sequence. The cinematography is incredible, the music is fantastic, Free Bird has never been so awesome, and the choreography is excellent, the fight is brutal and intense, yet cartoonishly violent, just how creatively a bunch of crazy people in a Church can kill each other is something that's never not going to be a lot of fun to watch, and it shows off the immense skill of the Kingsman agents better than any other scene in the film does, as Harry becomes a one man army and starts seriously fucking people up. It's kind of sad actually that this sequence is actually much exciting than the film's climax, where we see the assault on Valentine's mountain hide out, granted Eggsy is popping a lot of heads, both metaphorically and literally, and this film has an awesome one on one fight at the end, so it's far, far from a bad finale, in fact it's excellent, and actually has a good amount of tension to it, given how insane it is, as well as one really funny gag that's somehow made even funnier in the sequel, so well done writers. Something else to congratulate them on is that the film doesn't need to be explosive or violent to be entertaining, pretty much every scene with Eggsy in is a joy to watch, with my favourites actually being his first scenes where we are introduced to him, but his Kingsman training is very good, even if the nemesis character they give him doesn't really go anywhere (until the sequel,) of course though then you have his really sweet friendship with Roxy, which I would have liked to see expanded in the sequel, which it kind of is, I guess. The film even has it's more emotionally weighted moments, though they tend to be less heart warming and more intense, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, and these more emotional moments work surprisingly well with the light hearted scenes with Eggsy, and the badass fights.

So if you couldn't already tell, I really like Kingsman: The Secret Service, and that's because there isn't really anything to dislike. The film has fantastic characters, some really funny bits as well as some more emotional moments, interspersed between some really crazy action scenes that are all beautiful to look at, complete with the crazy gadgets and cool music, as well as a fantastic supervillain and an even more fantastic henchman. I'm very glad Kingsman is a franchise now, because just like the sequel, The Secret Service is a fun, amazing to look at movie with some superb and awesome action scenes, the only difference is that this one is better. Kingsman: The Secret Service is definitely worth watching.