After a Life of Crime, a British Youth Turns to Stopping Crime

Colin Firth (left) as Harry Hart and Taron Egerton (right) as Gary
"Eggsy" Unwin in "Kingsman: The Secret Service"

The spy sub-genre in film has enjoyed decades of popularity with movies, such as those of James Bond, Jason Bourne, and Austin Powers.  Given how long this type of film has been succeeding in cinema, there isn’t any wonder as to why this sub-genre keeps on going.  Director Matthew Vaughn, having two superhero movies as his previous films, now gives us his own spy adventure with the outrageously fun “Kingsman: The Secret Service.”

Gary “Eggsy” Unwin (Taron Egerton) is a rebellious English teenager who spends his time committing petty crime.  When he’s arrested for stealing a car, he gets off the hook with the help of Harry Hart (Colin Firth), a member of the Kingsman secret service organization.  Having known Eggsy’s father and feeling responsible for his death during a mission years prior, he offers Eggsy the chance to be a candidate for the organization, in order to fill a spot for an agent who has been recently killed on the job.  Once in the training program, Eggsy will have to go up against a group of other candidates who are vying for the same position.

Meanwhile, billionaire Richmond Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson) wants to stop global warming, but means to do so with dastardly and deadly methods.  It will soon be up to the Kingsman organization to foil Valentine before he can achieve his plans. 

I was pleasantly surprised with the character of Eggsy because I thought at first that he was going to be a purely comedic character.  Although he does have some humorous moments, his character also has some surprising dramatic depth, and Taron Egerton handles both sides of his character wonderfully.

One of the film's most entertaining aspects is Colin Firth's performance.  I never thought I would see him in a film such as this, especially after watching him in dramatically heavier films, like “The King's Speech” and “A Single Man.”  Seeing Firth involved in some of the film’s big action scenes puts him in a very fun and different light.

The screenplay by Jane Goldman and Vaughn, who both collaborated as writers for the latter's last two films, comes to us from the pages of Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons' comic-book series, "The Secret Service."  We get to know the characters and see the training of the Kingsman candidates during the first two thirds of the film, and then we have the mission to stop Valentine taking place during the final third.  The film doesn’t rush us into seeing Eggsy saving the world, but rather takes its time to develop his character as we watch him change his life around.  The training portion allows us to see the growth of Eggsy’s character as he goes from a street thug to a respectful agent.  Having most of the film focus on Eggsy’s training and how he becomes an agent has us see a full transformation of his character, and we’re then able to become more invested in his journey when he finally sets out to bring down Valentine.

Director Vaughn has experience with comic-book movies, having directed “X-Men: First Class” and “Kick-Ass.”  He equips his latest movie with many intricately and dazzlingly choreographed action scenes, similar to what we saw in “Kick-Ass,” and these sequences also call to mind the frenetic action in the films of Edgar Wright, such as his “Three Flavours Cornetto" trilogy and his 2010 film, “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.”  Regarding the action scenes, there are some standouts, particularly a massive brawl at a Kentucky hate-group church and an exhilarating and tense skydiving scene during the training portion.  All of these are filmed with George Richmond’s energetic cinematography, which adds true visual vigor to these scenes.  

Although the film’s running time could have been cut down a little bit, the amount of liveliness that Vaughn injects into the film is so high that this minor flaw is easily forgivable.  

In what is shaping up to be an uncontrollably entertaining year at the movies, 2015 is already fulfilling that goal with “Kingsman: The Secret Service.”  This could be the most fun you have at the cinema until the summer movie season arrives, so do yourself a service and go on this wildly enjoyable mission.

Final grade: A-