Firth: manners maketh the spy...

Samuel L Jackson (Valentine), Taron Eggerton (Eggsy), Sophie Cookson (Roxy) and Colin Firth in Kingsman: The Secret Service.

Samuel L Jackson (Valentine), Taron Eggerton (Eggsy), Sophie Cookson (Roxy) and Colin Firth in Kingsman: The Secret Service.

Published Feb 13, 2015

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Kingsman: The Secret Service

DIRECTOR: Matthew Vaughn

CAST: Colin Firth, Michael Caine, Mark Strong, Taron Egerton, Mark Hamill, Sophie Cookson, Sofia Boutella

CLASSIFICATION: 16 LV

RUNNING TIME: 129 minutes

RATING: ****

 

 

SMART, funny and above all stylish, Kingsman: The Secret Service is both spy movie spoof as well as homage to the genre that gave us James Bond, Jason Bourne and Jack Bauer.

Director Matthew Vaughn draws on all the skills he displayed in works ranging from the crime thriller Layer Cake to the superhero comedy Kick-Ass (which itself poked fun at superhero movies) to turn his own comic book into an entertaining OTT yet coherent and subversion confection of crazy explosions, nifty high-tech gadgets, nefarious villains and dastardly deeds. All that is missing is the white cat.

A host of British talent with their tongues firmly in cheek both buy into and run roughshod over the conventions of spy movies, down to discussing what makes a good spy movie. We are talking more Roger Moore’s 007 than Matt Damon’s Jason Bourne, serious about entertaining you, but not really all that serious.

The movie title refers to a tailor shop on Savile Row, which is the front for a top secret independent intelligence agency using the same name.

The look, and by extension behaviour, of the characters is a huge part of the appeal – and these guys carry off a series of beautiful bespoke suits and costumes – while the art design is also a nod to long-time James Bond art director and production designer, Ken Adam’s work.

Colin Firth completely confounds his stereotype as the actor who is the epitome of British upper class sophistication by playing Harry Hart, a gentleman’s gentleman who is also a super spy and totally lethal with a brolly. Firth plays it cool and suave so when he hauls out the moves you do a delighted double take. In his biggest fight scene it is still his command of words that sets him apart, and not because he cracks a joke, but because he explains his emotional state.

Hart is the ultimate gentleman spy who takes under his wing a working-class kid from the street, Eggsy (Egerton), with the aim to turn him into an uber-spy. Determined to prove that where you come from doesn’t determine who you are, Harry has his reasons for upsetting the status quo.

As Eggsy undergoes spy training Hart is trying to figure out who is kidnapping celebrities and politicians, with the support of the organisation’s head Arthur (Caine ) and the tech-savvy Merlin (Strong). Caine brings a touch of old-school spy movie vibes with him thanks to roles like Harry Palmer (The Ipcress File) and Strong and Firth were both in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.

There is also a subplot involving Eggsy’s mother who is living in council housing hell with a boyfriend straight out of a B-grade British gangster movie.

A spy movie is only as good as its villain, and here we have Samuel L Jackson as bad guy Richmond Valentine who has a plan for world domination. Of course, James Bond villains always have some physical deformity, and Jackson does the most awful lisp.

Valentine’s chief henchman is Gazelle (Boutella), a killer gymnast with a lethal pair of prosthetic legs and his super-secret lair is, wait for it… icebound. What? No volcano?

In a way, by so superbly sending up the spy movie genre, Kingsman becomes a good spy movie because it uses all the tropes and beats at the correct time. It zips along at a fast pace, thumbs its nose at our expectations by giving us a chav who just might save the world and a pretty girl spy who doesn’t wait for him to save her.

What it also is, is super violent. It doesn’t quite glorify violence Tarantino-style, but it skirts close and what saves it from just being a gore-fest is the crackling chemistry between mentor Hart and his chav of a mentee, Eggsy, most evident when they actually talk to each other.

 

If you liked Layer Cake and want to watch Mortdecai, you will like this.

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