FILM REVIEW
Director: Matthew Vaughn.
Action, adventure, comedy.
Starring: Colin Firth, Taron Egerton,
Samuel. L. Jackson & Michael Caine.
“Manners maketh man”
Being a film fan, I was half expecting some sort of complete James Bond rip-off, however I was surprised for the better.
When I think of Colin Firth films, the first things that spring to mind are Pride and Prejudice and Bridget Jones’s Diary, however Kingsman is the complete opposite. Firth’s character, Harry Hart, is a vast contrast to any character he has played before. The suave action-man differs from Firth’s usual roles, however, like many he has played before, Hart is extremely funny to watch and several of his one-liners will stay ingrained in your mind for days to come.
“Manners maketh man. Do you know what that means? Then let me teach you a lesson.”
Seemingly a funnier version of Bond, the gadgets are certainly up to scratch. The scene with both Firth and Egerton, who plays Eggsy, seeing the gadgets is certainly funny, and harks back to the days of when Bond’s gadgets included an exploding pen. A personal favourite of mine is the umbrella-come-shield, which is hilariously ingenious and has the audience completely believing that a mere umbrella could stop bullets.
Egerton is somewha
t a newcomer to the film-scene, yet his chemistry and rapport with Firth is unquestionable. He brings warmth and humour to Eggsy and makes the character completely relatable, if not a bit rough around the edges. This film will certainly have helped Egerton make his mark on the movie industry.
“The suit is the modern gentleman’s armour. The Kingsmen are the new knights.”
With Samuel. L. Jackson at the helm of the villain, there seemed very little he could do wrong. Playing the tech-genius, Jackson is constantly believable, and like the rest of the cast, is extremely funny. His sidekick, Gazelle, a woman with knives instead of legs, becomes the stronger bad-guy, while Jackson’s Valentine becomes somewhat the ‘wimpy’ villain.
Michael Cain’s intriguing performance as Arthur is humour-filled in it’s own way. Having seen him as Alfred in the Batman films, it is strange seeing him a similar setting fighting crime but this time Cain is playing head-honcho Arthur.
Arthur: Pretty dog. What’s his name?
Eggsy: JB.
Arthur: As in James Bond?
Eggsy: No.
Arthur: Jason Bourne?
Eggsy: Jack Bauer.
Arthur: Oh.
Not only were my expectations for the film that of a Bond film, but the film harks back to it with more than one reference and characters mention the iconic spy. Parallels made between the movies however are not as clear-cut as you may first imagine, but it does seem that Hart and Eggsy have both inherited Bond’s humour.
Valentine: The old Bond movies. Oh, man. Ah, when I was a kid, that was my dream job: gentleman spy.
Harry Hart: I always felt that the old Bond films were as good as the villain. As a child, I rather fancied a futuristic colourful megalomaniac.
Valentine: What a shame we both had to grow up.
This is director, Matthew Vaughn’s, “love-letter” to spy movies, and I can’t think of a funnier spy-movie in years. Some of the humour is slightly needed to be taken with a pinch of salt, but completely encompasses the double entendres, which Bond himself uses so well.
[After eating McDonald’s food with Valentine] Thank you for such a ‘happy’ meal.
Three Headedragon 
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