Kingsman: the Secret Service (2014)

Directed by Matthew Vaughan; produced by Adam Bohlin, David Reid and Matthew Vaughan

‘Eggsy’ Unwin (Taron Egerton), while a decent young man, is nonetheless headed down the road to crime and ruin. Instead, after being arrested for car-theft, he is recruited - as his father had been before him - by the mysterious Harry Hart (Colin Firth), to join a secret intelligence organisation dedicated to maintaining peace and security around the globe. Finding his place in the new service is tough, and he’ll need everything he knows to help defeat a megalomaniac (Samuel L Jackson) intent on re-making the world.

Kingsman: the Secret Service is a comic-book version of a spy movie; not surprising, as it is adapted from a comic-book. More incredible than James Bond in the Roger Moore era, it is an entertaining adventure flick, despite some flaws that viewers might find off-putting.

First and foremost, Kingsman: the Secret Service is an action movie, and in this, it delivers. There is plenty of fast-paced fight-scenes, not entirely realistic but convincing enough. There are plenty of computer graphics, but also what appears to be some solid stunt-work. This is in part a credit to the direction, which provides excitement without quite over-doing it, except in two disappointing scenes.

The screenplay provides an intriguing origin for the premise. Though not owing allegiance to any government, the Kingsman organisation is apparently staffed entirely by Britons, their progenitors being of the same nationality.

The story turns on its head the long-held fashion of portraying aristocracy as little better than villains. Much is made of gentlemanly behaviour - though Harry appreciates that a gentleman can come from any source, and Eggsy is the product of a working-class housing estate - and elected officials receive short shrift from the script. The result is that Harry Hart comes across as one of the more interesting characters in adventure movies, rather like an older more physical version of Firth’s Mr Darcy from Pride and Prejudice (1995), after his outlook had been broadened.

The dialogue provides some good lines and a clever, if somewhat self-conscious exchange between Firth’s and Jackson’s characters about spy movies and how they like them far-fetched. Despite this, the actors play the movie straight; a farcical approach would have sunk the film.

The acting is very good, as it should be with the cast. Aside from Firth and Jackson, veterans include Mark Strong - I’ve lost count of the number of films he and Firth have been in together, from the very serious (eg. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy) to the comedic (eg. Fever Pitch) - and Michael Caine. Relative newcomers Egerton and Sophie Cookson handle themselves well.

The disadvantage to Kingsman: the Secret Service is the amount and intensity of the violence. Such a feature is in itself not a detriment to certain films, but in what is essentially a light-hearted adventure picture, it is jarring. This is especially the case in a massacre scene which goes on too long, about two thirds through the movie.

Aside from the blood and guts, and the spilling thereof, Kingsman: the Secret Service is a fun, sometimes funny, sometimes even satirical, look at spy flicks, given a touch of class by Firth’s performance.