Kingsman: The Secret Service

I love Matthew Vaughn movies – Layer Cake, Stardust, Kick Ass, X Men – First Class and now Kingsman Secret Service.  I have seen them all and I have realy loved watching each and every one of them.  And therefore this review may just be a tad biased towards one of my favourite directors from Hollywood.

Matthew Vaughn is the typical Bollywood masala kind of director.  But there is a certain panache and style with which he executes his movies.  There is a sense of believability that he gets into the narrative.  It is all very over the top but you would still love it because of the consistency with which it is executed and the attention to detail that Vaughn doesn’t scrimp on.

Harry Hart aka Galahad (Colin Firth) is on a mission somewhere in the Middle East.  He is saved by his colleague Unwin and a disaster is averted.  Hart returns and hands over his medal to Michelle Unwin (Samantha Womack) and her son Gary “Eggsy” Unwin (Taron Egerton).  He asks them to call the number on the back side of the medal in case of any emergency whatsoever.

Seventeen years later a group of stiff upper lip British men gather into a room to mourn the loss of their colleague Lancelot (Jack Davenport).  Lancelot died in what can only be termed a suicide mission.  He wanted to save a certain Professor Arnold (Mark Hamill) but is instead split into two by Gazelle (Sofia Boutella).  Gazelle is the right hand woman of billionaire Valentine (Samuel L Jackson) who is upto something sinister.

The group of British Men form Kingsman – a private secret service committed to saving mankind from a variety of disasters.  Headed by Arthur (Michael Caine) today, Kingsman was formed way back in 1849 by a bunch of extremely well to do individuals.  Today it runs under the cover of a tailoring shop on Saville Row.  It needs a replacement for Lancelot and the search begins.

Everything about Kingsman is over the top.  The characters like Gazelle with steel legs ala Oscar Pistorius, the story of human beings turning against each other due to a random signal from a cell phone, the existence of a secret self-funded agency – everything is over the top and yet so fascinatingly executed.  Vaughn takes creative liberties like I have never seen him take before especially with the exploding heads as part of the climax.

Colin Firth as a secret service agent is a first time and he is fabulous especially when he teaches a bunch of local kids that, “Manners maketh man”.  The dialogue is peppered with dry British humour and also with current day slangs galore.  Kingsman is a wonderful watch and you can easily make it part of your weekend. 7 on 10.

Watch the trailer on http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1901244185/?ref_=tt_ov_vi