Movie Review: Kingsman: The Secret Service

I'm hardly the kind of person with the patience to sit down for a long enough time to watch a movie, much less a movie that's just over two hours in length. Nowadays it seems as if movies are growing progressively longer, and not necessarily in order to properly portray the themes or improve the storyline but more for the purpose of cramming in more witty deliverances or gore, or whatever the director decides will crank up more viewers (thus, revenue). This, along with my inability to hold still for more than a few minutes at a time, and my general indifference towards art is mostly the reason why I hardly watch movies. My ideal form of entertainment is portable, allows me to enjoy it at my own pace (much like - gasp - a book), or can be summarised into a concise YouTube video, or, even better, a six-second Vine.

Nonetheless there are occasional movies which catch my attention enough to make me actively prepare for a two-hour sit-down. Often, they're animations (Big Hero 6 is rivalling my old favourite, Wreck-It Ralph), something to do with food, or any film which has enough of something to linger in my mind for days but in this case, it's the recently-released Kingsman : The Secret Service. Less of a thought-provoking psychological thriller than a comedic, somewhat satirical action film, I've always enjoyed watching movies with spy gadgets or intricate gimmicks (Now You See Me comes to mind). With the addition of Colin Firth, a good trailer, and Samuel L. Jackson with a lisp, it seemed a pretty good watch to me.

I admit that I would never normally spend the money to watch a film in cinemas unless there's a coupon or someone's forking up. Today's incentive for cheap old me is an almost-expired double pass for any movie at a local cinema, so naturally, with some time and snacks hidden in my bag, I went with my sister for the film.

Despite watching the trailers, it gave me no insight to the film itself; there's an exaggeration in the way that the blood and gore are presented in the film - like the miniature explosions and very specific injuries - that removes it from being too believable, yet oppositely, the everyday feeling of being the underdog and surrounded by advantaged people born into wealth is done well through Taron Egerton's character "Eggsy". Like in most action films nowadays there's also an aspect of humour, though part of what shines through more in Kingsman is the more typical British style of joking which relates strongly to British pop culture. Again, a lot of the entertainment of the movie is exaggerated, yet the vulgarity is overlooked by the mere ridiculousness of it. That, paired with the satirical pitting of the two opposite worlds of English classes (the upperclass and the chavs), makes for much of the fun, and has us rooting for the underdog.

Though a vaguely touchy subject, it's time to discuss the representation within the movie. Avoiding revealing spoilers as best as possible, it's nice to see that among the cast is Gazelle (played by Sofia Boutella), a woman with prosthetic legs weaponised to her advantage. Based off a comic book, Gazelle is originally a man, but what makes a nice twist is to see she's not purely there for the allure of boobs and ass. Another pleasant surprise is that the film passes the Bechdel test (even if the men still far outnumber the women, even if the military guards are not included, and even if the interaction between women were very, very minimal - a few words, at most). Partially disappointing is the disproportionate number of old white males in the film; granted, I recognise that there is some satire in it, and though the Kingsman Secret Service only allows those of the highest education, status, and ability in its group, there's still some question surrounding why the entire Service, supposedly an international agency, is comprised solely of (relatively old) white males.

Despite that, it was still a movie I thoroughly enjoyed - more so than I expected. The ratings were shown to be lower than the Imitation Game, which made it a bit of a toss-up, but the decision to stick with this film was a good one. A nice combination of fight scenes, gadgets, muscle, and plot, it's a good film for anyone who enjoys action and comedy in one (so long as it's understood that the humour is predominantly British).

Rating: 17/23