Kingsmen, The Secret Service
No, I didn’t see 50 Shades of Gray. Way too much hype.
Instead, it was Kingsmen, The Secret Service.
Surprisingly, on this Valentine’s Day, lots of other people were in the theatre for this one too—or they were just too cheap to spring for a really nice dinner and some flowers—but in any case, here we all were.
Directed by Mathew Vaughn, with a cast that includes Colin Firth (Harry Hart), Samuel L. Jackson (the evil Valentine), Michael Caine (Aurther), Sofia Boutella (Gazelle) and Taron Egerton (“Eggsy”), Kingsmen is an uber secret service which recruits promising candidates to what is called the world’s most dangerous job interview.
So we enter the film as the world is on the brink of a disaster at the hands of a diabolical villain. If that sounds a bit like a James Bond film, it is very Bond-like, complete with gadgets, cars that drive themselves, evil deeds, chases, and of course girls—fun stuff.
I enjoyed this one. It’s certainly bloody, but it has a charming lightness amongst the crazy world of killing and mayhem, and unlike some other films, we know this is just a fantasy story like the Kinsgmen headquarters, which is fronted as a bespoke tailor shop with the same name.
DiCaprio and Cruise were both considered for the role of Valentine, but Samuel L. Jackson is a perfect choice and plays the part so well.
There are some incredible scenes in the show and it’s an entertaining couple of hours that anyone who enjoys Bond, Bourne or the spy genre will find fun.
I give Kingsmen, The Secret Service four reels.
