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When I saw the trailers for this, it looked a little bit over the top for me, but I had heard good things and wanted to watch a fun action movie, so I gave it a try.

The movie begins with Colin Firth on a mission in the Middle East that goes bad, and he loses one of his comrades. He then visits the wife and son of the fallen comrade and gives the son a medallion of the “Kingsman” and tells him that as gratitude for his fathers service, there is a number on the back that the family can call if there ever is an emergency.

Fast forward, the son is now a young man who goes by “Eggsy”. He is charming with a good heart but has a knack for finding trouble, and the mother is dating a local mob type figure whom Eggsy doesn’t like. After stealing a car, and running from the cops, Eggsy lets his friends get away and is taken in. He uses his phone call to call the number on the back of his Medallion. He is sprung from jail and reunited with Colin Firth’s character who tells him all about the Kingsman. In short they are a secret organization working outside the bureaucracy of the government to help mankind. He tells Eggsy that he has read up on him and that he has a lot of unrealized potential. He then offers him a chance to try out to replace a Kingsman who has been lost recently on a solo mission. We are also introduced to “Valentine” played by Samuel L. Jackson. He is a tech mogul with a lot of money and a plan to “save” the world by purging it of all but the best and brightest. Eggsy has a full plate in this movie, trying out against other recruits to become a Kingsman, helping save the world, and trying save his mother who has been a mess since her husband died.

The movie is a little bizarre in that sometimes it plays like a fun young spy action adventure movie, but it is mixed with some adult themes and the ultra violence of a “Kill Bill” type movie. However, this strange combination still works to a degree. The plot was a little more developed than I expected and all of the main characters are fun and the actors do a good job. I know you can’t lump everything involving British spy’s under the umbrella of a Bond movie, but it seemed to be intentionally playing off of it with the movie score and the over the top somewhat comical bad guys (of course the head henchman/henchwoman had metal legs which could be used like swords).

Overall, “Kingsman: The Secret Service” was pretty well done and surpassed my original expectations. It was a little uneven in it’s tone, but was a pretty fun popcorn flick if your okay with a high level of violence.

Reviewed by: Phillip Lane on July 24, 2015