Kingsman: The Secret Service - Review
:: Warning - Spoilers - Read at your own Risk ::
During a mission in the Middle East, a secret agent, Harry Hart, a.k.a. "Galahad," is unable to prevent the death of one of his fellow agents. Feeling guilty, he personally delivers a bravery medal to the man's widow and his young son, Gary "Eggsy" Unwin, saying that if they ever need help, they should call the phone number on the back of the medal and deliver a coded message.
Seventeen years later, the climate scientist James Arnold is kidnapped by unknown assailants, led by Gazelle, an assassin with bladed prosthetic legs, and her employer, the internet billionaire Richmond Valentine. One of Hart's compatriots, "Lancelot," attempts to stage a rescue, but fails. Valentine, known for his philanthropy, continues to meet with various heads of state and VIPs, some of whom go missing afterwards. He also announces a giveaway of SIM cards, granting free cellular and Internet access.
In London, Eggsy is now an unemployed young adult living with his mother, infant half-sister and an abusive stepfather. Despite being intelligent and capable, he left training for the Royal Marines and lives an aimless life. After being arrested for stealing a car and taking it for a joyride, Eggsy calls the number on the back of the medal. Hart arranges for his release and tells Eggsy about the existence of the Kingsmen, a secret intelligence agency for which both he and Eggsy's late father worked. In the wake of Lancelot's death, the Kingsmen have a vacancy for a new agent, and Eggsy agrees to apply. He joins a group of other candidates, including a woman named Roxy. Training is overseen by "Merlin," a senior Kingsman. The candidates are eliminated one by one until Eggsy and Roxy emerge as the final two. However, Eggsy fails his final test, and Roxy becomes the new Lancelot.
During this time, the Kingsmen have been investigating Valentine in connection with the VIP disappearances. Hart tracks down Arnold and confronts him about Valentine's whereabouts. A chip implanted in Arnold's head explodes, killing him and injuring Hart. Undeterred, Hart poses as a billionaire and dines with Valentine, who explains his views: humanity is akin to a virus, global warming is the Earth's equivalent of a fever, and Valentine intends to do something about the problem before the virus kills the host.
Hart tracks Valentine to an obscure hate group church in Kentucky where Valentine and Gazelle are conducting a test. They broadcast a signal to his SIM cards, causing everyone in the church, including Hart, to become uncontrollably violent. A mass brawl breaks out, with Hart the sole survivor, while Eggsy, Merlin and Arthur—the Kingsmen's leader—watch via video link. Valentine approaches him, and they discuss his plan: to broadcast the signal worldwide, using his satellite network to cause a massive culling of the human race, saving the Earth from further damage. Only a select few that Valentine has deemed worthy of living—those who have sided with him, and thus received the protective microchips in their head—will be spared. Having revealed his plan, Valentine kills Hart.
Eggsy returns to the Kingsmen headquarters, where he discovers that Arthur is one of Valentine’s converts. After avoiding Arthur’s attempt to kill him—killing the group leader as he does so—Eggsy teams up with Roxy and Merlin. Roxy pilots a high-altitude balloon vehicle into the stratosphere, to disrupt Valentine's satellite network with a missile, while Eggsy and Merlin directly assault Valentine’s mountain bunker. Roxy knocks out the satellite, and Eggsy fights his way through Valentine’s security forces, while Merlin detonates the security chips, killing all who were part of Valentine's plan. Eggsy then fights and defeats Gazelle before killing Valentine and saving the world.
Based on a comic book called "The Secret Service", this movie tells the story of The Kingsmen, a secret service (duh!) who doesn't follow any orders from the government or other agencies. This movie tells the story of what it could be happening (possibly) right now in our world; an organization trying to create a massive massacre in order to cure the planet from the virus that's killing it and that virus are humans.
A nice and interesting plot mixing some sarcastic comedy, very violent fight scenes (with blood and some unexpected gore), nice visual effects never seen before in a movie (like the fast camera during fights) and the non-sense of spy movies that remembers to the old James Bond films, they even make this same joke on the movie... we've seen many action movies that take themselves too seriously, this one is a nice and unexpected change.
As I said, the movie contains very violent scenes in some sort of comical way with a high-speed camera you won't be able to watch every detail but it makes a great visual experience. Some of those have very intense moments like the church scene and the other riots during the movie when everybody's trying to kill each other.
The entire cast does an impressive good job starting with Colin Firth who, surprisingly, makes a unexpected bad-ass spy no one can beat. Mark Strong shines also as Merlin (character who reminds to Q from the James Bond movies) and Samuel L. Jackson kicks ass acting as a believable villian with good purposes (by killing everyone from the planet). I wanted to see more of Mark Hamill, I was surprised to see him once again but it's a real shame he's killed off that fast...
The main actor, Taron Egerton, hasn't done a lot of movies but he sure looks like he's going to have a long career, his acting is quite good and promising.
An entertaining movie about spies that mixes comedy and action in a new and surprising way with a great casting of actors from the hero Colin Firth to the great Samuel L. Jackson as the main villian. It doesn't try to be too serious but if you don't like violent and bloody scenes you may not enjoy it...
· What I liked : Interesting movie mixing comedy and violence in an unexpected new way. The entire cast is amazing and do a great job.
· What I didn't like : I loved everything from it except the violence in this film, they take it too lightly...
8.0
1. The Imitation Game (8.5)
During a mission in the Middle East, a secret agent, Harry Hart, a.k.a. "Galahad," is unable to prevent the death of one of his fellow agents. Feeling guilty, he personally delivers a bravery medal to the man's widow and his young son, Gary "Eggsy" Unwin, saying that if they ever need help, they should call the phone number on the back of the medal and deliver a coded message.
Seventeen years later, the climate scientist James Arnold is kidnapped by unknown assailants, led by Gazelle, an assassin with bladed prosthetic legs, and her employer, the internet billionaire Richmond Valentine. One of Hart's compatriots, "Lancelot," attempts to stage a rescue, but fails. Valentine, known for his philanthropy, continues to meet with various heads of state and VIPs, some of whom go missing afterwards. He also announces a giveaway of SIM cards, granting free cellular and Internet access.
In London, Eggsy is now an unemployed young adult living with his mother, infant half-sister and an abusive stepfather. Despite being intelligent and capable, he left training for the Royal Marines and lives an aimless life. After being arrested for stealing a car and taking it for a joyride, Eggsy calls the number on the back of the medal. Hart arranges for his release and tells Eggsy about the existence of the Kingsmen, a secret intelligence agency for which both he and Eggsy's late father worked. In the wake of Lancelot's death, the Kingsmen have a vacancy for a new agent, and Eggsy agrees to apply. He joins a group of other candidates, including a woman named Roxy. Training is overseen by "Merlin," a senior Kingsman. The candidates are eliminated one by one until Eggsy and Roxy emerge as the final two. However, Eggsy fails his final test, and Roxy becomes the new Lancelot.
During this time, the Kingsmen have been investigating Valentine in connection with the VIP disappearances. Hart tracks down Arnold and confronts him about Valentine's whereabouts. A chip implanted in Arnold's head explodes, killing him and injuring Hart. Undeterred, Hart poses as a billionaire and dines with Valentine, who explains his views: humanity is akin to a virus, global warming is the Earth's equivalent of a fever, and Valentine intends to do something about the problem before the virus kills the host.
Hart tracks Valentine to an obscure hate group church in Kentucky where Valentine and Gazelle are conducting a test. They broadcast a signal to his SIM cards, causing everyone in the church, including Hart, to become uncontrollably violent. A mass brawl breaks out, with Hart the sole survivor, while Eggsy, Merlin and Arthur—the Kingsmen's leader—watch via video link. Valentine approaches him, and they discuss his plan: to broadcast the signal worldwide, using his satellite network to cause a massive culling of the human race, saving the Earth from further damage. Only a select few that Valentine has deemed worthy of living—those who have sided with him, and thus received the protective microchips in their head—will be spared. Having revealed his plan, Valentine kills Hart.
 |
| I want that umbrella so badly! |
Eggsy returns to the Kingsmen headquarters, where he discovers that Arthur is one of Valentine’s converts. After avoiding Arthur’s attempt to kill him—killing the group leader as he does so—Eggsy teams up with Roxy and Merlin. Roxy pilots a high-altitude balloon vehicle into the stratosphere, to disrupt Valentine's satellite network with a missile, while Eggsy and Merlin directly assault Valentine’s mountain bunker. Roxy knocks out the satellite, and Eggsy fights his way through Valentine’s security forces, while Merlin detonates the security chips, killing all who were part of Valentine's plan. Eggsy then fights and defeats Gazelle before killing Valentine and saving the world.
Based on a comic book called "The Secret Service", this movie tells the story of The Kingsmen, a secret service (duh!) who doesn't follow any orders from the government or other agencies. This movie tells the story of what it could be happening (possibly) right now in our world; an organization trying to create a massive massacre in order to cure the planet from the virus that's killing it and that virus are humans.
A nice and interesting plot mixing some sarcastic comedy, very violent fight scenes (with blood and some unexpected gore), nice visual effects never seen before in a movie (like the fast camera during fights) and the non-sense of spy movies that remembers to the old James Bond films, they even make this same joke on the movie... we've seen many action movies that take themselves too seriously, this one is a nice and unexpected change.
As I said, the movie contains very violent scenes in some sort of comical way with a high-speed camera you won't be able to watch every detail but it makes a great visual experience. Some of those have very intense moments like the church scene and the other riots during the movie when everybody's trying to kill each other.
The entire cast does an impressive good job starting with Colin Firth who, surprisingly, makes a unexpected bad-ass spy no one can beat. Mark Strong shines also as Merlin (character who reminds to Q from the James Bond movies) and Samuel L. Jackson kicks ass acting as a believable villian with good purposes (by killing everyone from the planet). I wanted to see more of Mark Hamill, I was surprised to see him once again but it's a real shame he's killed off that fast...
The main actor, Taron Egerton, hasn't done a lot of movies but he sure looks like he's going to have a long career, his acting is quite good and promising.
An entertaining movie about spies that mixes comedy and action in a new and surprising way with a great casting of actors from the hero Colin Firth to the great Samuel L. Jackson as the main villian. It doesn't try to be too serious but if you don't like violent and bloody scenes you may not enjoy it...
· What I liked : Interesting movie mixing comedy and violence in an unexpected new way. The entire cast is amazing and do a great job.
· What I didn't like : I loved everything from it except the violence in this film, they take it too lightly...
8.0
:: Top Movies 2015 ::
1. The Imitation Game (8.5)
2. Kingsman: The Secret Service (8.0)
3. Paddington (7.5)
