In 2010, director Mathew Vaughn released his adaptation of a
comic book by Mark Millar, a simultaneous mockery and deification of superhero
tropes expressed through ultraviolence of near-cartoonish extremity. That little film was called Kick Ass, and it has since become a cult
classic. Kingsman: The Secret Service feels a lot like that film, probably
because it is another Vaughn film adapted from another Millar comic. So, the short version of this review is that
if you liked Kick Ass, you’ll likely
enjoy Kingsman for a lot of the same
reasons. The major difference is that
where Kick Ass was a send-up of the
superhero pastiche, Kingsman is
likewise a take on classic espionage flicks a la classic James Bond, and this
carries some baggage with it that makes the film problematic in certain
respects.
The film has two concurrent plotlines that eventually
intersect, one introducing us to the world of the English secret agent society
known as the Kingsman through the eyes of potential recruit Eggsy, the other
revolving around the investigation of a mounting plot by megalomanical tech
genius billionaire Richmond Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson). Eggsy’s story will be familiar to anyone who
has seen the Harry Potter films, as
his underprivileged background places him in stark contrast with his
aristocratic competitors, yet that outside perspective is what enables him to
succeed where others fail. It hits its
required beats with admirable efficiency, not lingering too long on what the
audience realizes are inevitabilities and instead focusing on getting to the
action.
And boy does this film lean heavy on the action, and it
delivers in astoundingly choreographed ways.
The camera zips around and slows down in order to provide close-ups of
bloody executions framed with comic book sensibilities, often not breaking a
shot as it moves from fast-paced execution to extreme explosion. There is one scene in particular wherein an
agent engages in a hundred-person brawl inside a hate group church that will
likely be the scene this film is most remembered for, despite how obviously
contrived its presence in the film is just to provide the guilt-free spectacle
of watching anonymously evil people rip each other to shreds.
But despite its ultraviolent spectacle, Kingsman attempts something that Kick Ass did not; it attempts to have a political agenda and comes
off as more than a little… well, stupid.
Without spoiling the film’s third act, it involves a plot so reliant on
a cynicism about the true intentions of the rich, famous, and powerful as to be
childish in its lack of nuance. Samuel
L. Jackson plays a comically overblown American villain, who drinks his wine
with a Big Mac and speaks with an affected lisp to hammer home is foppishness. This paints the conflict as between American
capitalist imperialism versus (a supposedly superior) proper English
imperialism, which feels less than thought out to the extent that the film
blatantly spouts its philosophies.
Furthermore, the film paints working class men as Neanderthals who
universally beat women, and Eggsy’s personal journey revolves around him rising
above that influence to become a true gentlemen, completely ignoring inherently classist implications.
And yet, these implications don’t detract from what is
simply a really fun film. The action is
heavy, the characters are memorable, there are a handful of very unique
setpieces, and, most important, the movie is just a blast. Just don’t try to think too hard about the
implications of a bourgeois society with no oversight fighting against foreign
bourgeois through a mandate of moral supremacy.
Unraveling that thread can only serve to demonstrate how stupid the film
truly is, but stupid fun in just fine when taken as such.
What films do you need to turn your brain off for in order
to enjoy? Does that make them lesser
films? Leave your thoughts in the
comments below.
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