A few months back, my wife and I saw an early release of the latest from director Matthew Vaughn w/ Kingsmen: The Secret Service. If the name escapes you, he directed X-Men: First Class, Kick-Ass, Layer Cake and produced some films w/ his friend Guy Ritchie like Snatch + Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels.
For those of you who may not be aware of it, this was adapted from a Mark Millar comic book: The Secret Service. This has a robust cast of notable high caliber actors w/ Michael Caine, Samuel L. Jackson, Colin Firth, and Mark Strong. Along w/ 2 newcomers w/ Taron Egerton and dancer Sofia Boutella. So how does all of these ingredients make for a movie? No spoilers lie below so feel free to dive + keep reading.
The Kingsman are an International Intelligence Agency who's saves the world from terrorism countless times who are named after Knights of the Roundtable. All while Richmond Valentine (think an evil Elon Musk w/ a speech impediment dressed like Russell Simmons) is plotting for diabolical scheme on a global scale.
The film's main journey is Eggsy's transformation into a kid w/ a chip on his shoulders to Kingsman material.
The film focuses on Eggsy (Egerton) + Harry Hart (Firth). Eggsy's journey from civilian to a Kingsman is Harry's redemption. For the most part but Valentine's sexy + lethal henchwoman (Boutella) is quite the scene-stealer w/ deadly leg blades.
Kingsman takes the best elements of the 007 films: the style, swagger, women, and gadgets/weapons. Along w/ that you get see what the training entails as well as how the spy organization works as a whole. All w/o have having a ridiculously long run time and decades of sequels. Don't get me wrong, I love the Bond films but this is a new spy for a new day and age.
