Kingsman: The Secret Service

Eggsy (Egerton) has had a rough upbringing after his father’s death at an early age, falling into a life of petty crime. After one crime too many, he’s bailed out of jail by an old friend of his father, Harry Hart (Firth), who sees potential in Eggsy and invites him to join the training scheme for the Kingsmen, an ultra-elite spy group who also happen to be perfect gentlemen. But soon the other trainees, Eggsy and Harry find themselves embroiled in a scheme by tech genius Richmond Valentine (Jackson), whom they must stop before he can unleash a disaster of worldwide proportions.

Kingsmen: The Secret Service plays out a lot like director Vaughn’s previous Mark Millar comic book adaptation, Kick-Ass: a sharp, witty movie never too afraid to poke fun at the classics that inspired it, even in the crudest way possible. But it’s ultimately elevated by its superb set-piece action sequences, including one phenomenal scene that’s edited to appear as one continual shot, cementing Vaughn’s rise from “quaint British film maker” to “in demand Hollywood director.”

The cast performances all help ensure the film’s impressiveness. Newcomer Egerton shines as the former criminal turning gentleman Eggsy, whilst Samuel L. Jackson has large amounts of fun chewing the scenery as the villain, Valentine. But by far the best comes from Firth as Harry Hart, essentially doing for himself what Liam Neeson did with Taken, although never in a way that overshadows the ensemble.

Overall, Kingsman: The Secret Service falls somewhere between an amazing action film and a homage/parody of the Bond and other spy films of the 60’s, somehow managing to excel at both. Whilst it may sometimes take the joke a bit too far, it’s still by far one of the year’s most jaw-dropping, outright hilarious films.

Tom Freeman