By Pat Tintle
Sports Editor
After giving “Kick-Ass” fan-boy approval, and after giving the “X-Men” franchise a well-needed shot in the arm, director Matthew Vaughn has yet another comic book franchise to add to his résumé.
“Kingsman: The Secret Service” is Vaughn’s latest adaptation of a cult comic book series. Unlike “Kick-Ass” and “X-Men: First Class,” this time Vaughn is able to capture both the pride of setting the ground to a new brand as well as capturing the box office.
“Kingsman” opened in theaters with a solid $35.6 million last weekend, placing second to “Fifty Shades of Grey” (which, by the way, only brought in $81.7 million) But “Kingman’s haul is still a bit surprising, seeing that the film emphasizes violence, government corruption and classist extermination.
So what’s so good about it? It’s one of the most well-crafted, entertaining and, above all, funniest films to hit theaters in this calendar year.
The relatively unknown Taron Egerton stars as Eggsy, a fowl-mouthed London boy who would rather get arrested than rat out his friends to authorities. And he does just that, until Harry Hart, played by Oscar-winner Colin Firth, recruits him to join a mysterious spy organization called the Kingsman.
Once recruited, Eggsy is thrown into competition between a group of chosen youngsters all fighting for the same job. All go in; only one will come out a Kingsman.
But an even bigger plot device develops. Samuel L. Jackson plays Internet billionaire Richmond Valentine, who, in short, is Steve Jobs plus Andy Warhol divided by Kanye West –insanity squared. Valentine threatens the world with mind-control, and the Kingsman must step in to protect it.
“Kingsman” is a comic-book movie in its finest form. It sets up the characters with a worthy, but not too specific, backstory. The action scenes are intense, brutal and flawless in editing; an extremely difficult task when considering the film’s lead actor, Firth, is 54. As seen with Nicolas Cage in “Kick-Ass,” Vaughn seems to have a knack for manipulating the audience into believing old actors can take down men half their age and twice their size.
But while “Kingsman” has all these great qualities, the film is not for everyone. One scene in particular – you’ll know it when you see it – could very well have as many deaths in it as Martin Scorsese’s “The Wolf of Wall Street” has f-bombs. It’s hard to tell whether it’s a shame or a blessing that “Kingsman” is so gory.
“Kingsman” knows it has its own audience, and the movie plays to it. It’s a film that builds physical tension for minutes, and then tears down that tension with a witty one-liner or a Shakespearian use of pathos.
“Kingsman” is a smart movie, but if you are like Valentine – where just the site of blood will make you projectile vomit – then perhaps it’s best to stay away from this production. But if you love a good action spy movie, with numerous nods to “James Bond,” then “Kingsman” will surely entertain.
