Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014)

Absolutely Fantastic

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

I'm surprised that this film was trying to be a fun & cheeky brit comedy considering the level of intentionally visceral bloodbath violence that's bombastically spread throughout the film's seemingly never ending runtime. How can anyone consider a film to be a comedy when there's terrorism-style bloodshed in every other scene? Do people find this entertaining? I find it confusing and intellectually dishonest. The headache I had after watching this horrorshow required more than a few Aleve.

Positives: Cast is really great and sells the Bond movie vibe (especially Firth and Egerton), action scenes are very well choreographed, not a whole lot of humor but really funny moments. Negatives: Very convoluted plot, ending is too campy and has really fake-looking CGI, follows the spy movie formula religiously.This is a very fun spy movie, but the end and the obvious formula leave you thinking, "What was the point?"

Kingsman is an entertaining and fun movie. The pace of the film is upbeat and exciting, while the action scenes are an extravaganza of over-the-top, but very enjoyable, choreography. Kingsman: The Secret Service follows a young man, nicknamed Eggsy, who begins the story as a delinquent. Invited into a society of spies, Eggsy undergoes intense training and begins to develop discipline and confidence. Under the tutelage of Hart, his spy mentor, Eggsy becomes a formidable agent and is eventually faced with a Bond-style supervillain.The Eggsy character undergoes a transformative journey that most movie-goers have seen in endless iterations in many different stories. The story begins with a less-than-ideal hero and this hero eventually undergoes a journey that addresses inner turmoil and emerges as a better person. How the film tells this story, however, is what makes the film enjoyable.While the action scenes are the best part of the movie, they can also be downright goofy at times, with people getting cut clean in half or flipping through the air like a rag doll after getting hit. There are also far too many McDonald product placements in the film. The movie also suffers from somewhat generic features, such as; generic premise, plot, and character motivations.Despite these flaws, Kingsman is still an entertaining film. The casting and acting are great, the writing is good, and the pacing is fine. This movie is worth watching based on the spectacular action scenes alone.

A true surprise with laugh out loud moments and the best villian ever to see the silver screen along with the single best gory fight sequence. Loved it!!