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<\/a><\/p>\nWith more than a touch of irreverence that tweaks the British spy genre (let\u2019s face it, the Brits really are the classiest and best spies), KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE is adapted from the 2012 comic book series by Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons, with Vaughn and co-writer Jane Goldman creating a world that is ruled by elegance, taste and secrecy while embracing some tongue-in-cheek moments, toys to die for and hilarious villainy, pushing everything to the extreme outer limits with rousing success.<\/p>\n
Harry Hart is a suave, sophisticated gentleman.\u00a0 Working under guise as a bespoke tailor on Savile Row, Hart is in fact a spy known as \u201cGalahad\u201d and the top agent in the elite KINGSMAN.\u00a0 Headed by \u201cArthur\u201d, the KINGSMAN is a centuries old organization, free from the corruption of politics and monied influence.\u00a0 Premised on the Arthurian principles of Camelot and with agents named for the knights of the roundtable, each is equal, teamwork is key.\u00a0 The KINGSMAN do what others cannot.<\/p>\n
17 years ago, a recruit handpicked by Galahad, lost his life saving Galahad.\u00a0 Given the secrecy of the KINGSMAN, the man\u2019s widow and young son Gary \u201cEggsy\u201d Unwin were unaware of what Unwin\u2019s true job was, thus on his death, there was not much that could be done in terms of recognition or recompense.\u00a0 But, feeling the weight of his colleague\u2019s death, Galahad did the one thing he could do.\u00a0 He gave the young Eggsy a medal with a number on it together with a coded message with instructions that should he ever need anything, this was a one time \u201csave\u201d.<\/p>\n
Fast forward to the present and we see what has happened to Eggsy without a father in his life.\u00a0 His mother has gone to hell in a hand basket thanks to the drunks and louts she has taken company with over the years.\u00a0 Eggsy is a petty thief who picks pockets and fights with an elegant ease; an ease that finally lands him in jail.\u00a0 With nowhere to turn for help, he looks to the medal hanging around his neck.\u00a0 As promised all those years ago, Harry Hart appears and Eggsy is released from jail.<\/p>\n Seeing potential in Eggsy, and also wanting to repay Unwin\u2019s earlier sacrifice, Galahad takes him under his wing and brings him into the training program of KINGSMAN, which now has an opening thanks to the loss of the Kingsman\u2019s most recent \u201cLancelot\u201d who died while attempting to free kidnapped scientist, Professor Arnold, a man at the forefront of global warming research.\u00a0 Who was behind the kidnapping and why this scientist, is one of the mysteries of the film; especially when the Professor is seen walking about the streets of a university campus a few days later.\u00a0 Competing against upper crust recruits from the likes of Cambridge and Eton, Eggsy feels like a fish out of water, yet he has something that the others don\u2019t have, something that Galahad believes in.\u00a0 Going through the training program, Eggsy and the group are guided by \u201cMerlin\u201d, a tough drill sergeant of an instructor who makes sure that when the going gets tough, only the toughest survive.\u00a0 As tasks are executed, recruits are eliminated, ultimately leaving Eggsy and the lone female Roxy as the final candidates.<\/p>\n And while our young recruits are battling for this place at the KINGSMAN table, Galahad has been battling for his life following a face-to-face meeting with Professor Arnold during which Arnold dies and Galahad is severely injured.\u00a0 As Galahad recovers, Merlin has made some of his own discoveries about the man behind not only the Professor\u2019s kidnapping, but the disappearance of hundreds of politicians and dignitaries around the globe.\u00a0 That man is billionaire Richmond Valentine, a nut job if ever there was.\u00a0 Seems that Valentine has a plan to distribute free SIM cards to the world; cards programmed to tap into the feral survival instincts of the subconscious, sparking a worldwide killing frenzy that in his warped mind will solve global warming and essentially start the world anew.\u00a0 Oh, and for added fun, Valentine\u2019s sidekick is a girl named Gazelle who has two prosthetic legs a la Oscar Pistorius with one difference – her legs are tipped with samurai edged blades and her favorite resolution to any problem is slice and dice.\u00a0 (Told ya he was a nut job.)<\/p>\n With Galahad finally up and running and Eggsy right by his side privy to secret information about Valentine, it\u2019s a fight to an explosive finish on all fronts.\u00a0 And just what has Arthur been up to all this time?<\/p>\n Colin Firth is nothing short of perfection as Harry Hart aka Galahad.\u00a0 Already a master of the elegant, gentlemanly propriety of the character, Firth now adds action to his resume, subjecting himself to months of grueling training for more than 3 hours each day to master the stunt skills necessary to perfect the performance.\u00a0 The result is exhilarating and makes me more excited than ever to think Firth can now move into and hold his own in the action genre should he so choose.\u00a0 But it\u2019s the heart and paternal care and pride that Firth brings to the role that are not only especially touching in his scenes with the young Taron Egerton, but equally so in a reverse father-son dynamic in scenes between Firth and Michael Caine\u2019s Arthur.\u00a0 Firth is impeccable.<\/p>\n Who but Michael Caine could ever play Arthur?\u00a0 The answer is, no one. The elder statesman of authority and class but with that slight rough edge and twinkle in his eye, Caine adds a level of serious gravitas that balances some of the film\u2019s other antics.<\/p>\n And then there\u2019s Mark Strong.\u00a0 Teaming up with writer\/director Vaughn for the third time, Strong is ideal as Merlin.\u00a0\u00a0 Mentor, counselor and brilliant, Strong embodies the invincibility and magic of Merlin and shows something we don\u2019t normally see with Strong\u2019s characters – a warmth and a heart of gold.<\/p>\n When it comes to hilarity, however, Samuel L. Jackson rules as the lisping billionaire Valentine.\u00a0 Over-the-top and out there, Jackson goes for broke with a surreal saturation of personality and physical trappings.\u00a0 Over-exuberant enthusiasm is infectiously delicious.<\/p>\n Welsh actor Taron Egerton makes more than a splash as Eggsy, holding his own against not only Firth, but Jackson, Strong and Caine.\u00a0 His transformation both physically and in character demeanor is not only fun, but believable, while Egerton embodies the best of his mentors, pokes fun at the worst of his villains and keeps that street edge of practicality and cunning.\u00a0 A fine fine performance from this new \u201cprince\u201d in the Commonwealth crown of actors.<\/p>\n Written and directed by Matthew Vaughn and co-written by Vaughn and longtime collaborator Jane Goldman, the script is filled not only with witty repartee and tongue-in-cheek dialogue that is beyond delicious, but visual tongue-in-cheek double entendre as well.\u00a0 With everything from an unrecognizable Mark Hamill heavily made up as Professor Arnold (the beauty of \u201cLuke Skywalker\u201d needing rescuing is too fun) to a pithy exchange between Galahad and Valentine about 007 villains to Eggsy exquisitely commenting on the perfect martini, KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE is just one delight after another.\u00a0 Not to be missed are some laugh-out-loud funny scenes with Valentine pitching his global warming idea in the White House to a man obviously meant to be President Obama.\u00a0 Vaughn and Goldman also take hold of the class differences between Eggsy and the upper crust, playing to the obvious and not so obvious double entendres presented.\u00a0 And we\u2019re not even talking about the action yet!\u00a0 Church massacres with the biggest body count you\u2019ll ever see, rockets into the atmosphere, a great skydiving exhibition a la \u201cIron Man 3″ and a climactic ending to rock your world, KINGSMAN plays like everyday is the Fourth of July (for the Americans, that is).\u00a0 Vaughn and company leave no stone unturned when it comes to entertainment.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n