Kingsman: The Secret Service movie poster
B
Our Rating
Kingsman: The Secret Service
Kingsman: The Secret Service movie poster

Kingsman: The Secret Service Review

Now available on Blu-ray and DVD (Buy on Amazon)

If it looks bad and sounds bad, it probably is bad. The awkwardly titled Kingsman: The Secret Service somehow defies this logic, however, offering up one of the more entertaining packages of the year, wrapped in ribbons of silliness.

Colin Firth stars as an unlikely badass super agent, very similar to James Bond only with more impressive skill. He recruits a rough-around-the-edges young man named Eggy (Taron Egerton) to join the Kingsmen, a super-secret spy agency, but while he and other recruits go through the grueling training routines, a maniacal villain (played by a lispy Samuel L. Jackson) unleashes a plan that could destroy the world.

Based on an allegedly acclaimed comic book that I’ve never heard of, Kingsman is directed by Matthew Vaughn, and the movie is exactly what you’d expect from the guy. A cheesy James Bond movie with the graphic violence of Kick-Ass and some well-executed action sequences a la X-Men: First Class, Kingsman has everything necessary for a good flick except for the polish.

Neither Kick-Ass nor First Class had polish (nor did Stardust, arguably Vaughn’s best movie), because Vaughn doesn’t seem to care about superb visual effects or seamless production. Kingsman is similar: the action is great, the humor is typically spot-on, and the story absurdly over the top, but it fails when it comes to visual sexiness.

More proof that looks don’t really matter.

Kingsman: The Secret Service isn’t perfect--it’s occasionally sloppy and a little too cheesy at times even though it intends to be--but it’s a bona fide action-comedy that should not be overlooked. It may look bad, and its title is certainly bad, but the movie itself is anything but.

Review by Erik Samdahl unless otherwise indicated.

B
Our Rating