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Double Oh No!
Industry scuttlebutt is that after director Matthew Vaughn was turned down for doing a Bond film by the family that controls the rights, he vowed to do a Bond spoof. The result of that vow is the new movie “Kingsman: The Secret Service,” and in the effort he’s managed to hit a mark not achieved by many Bond films since the Connery days, or the many Bond imitators, with the perfect combination an evil genius, creative weaponry, elaborate bunkers, and plain old style, including instructions for the perfect Martini. All that’s missing is the politically incorrect sex, and they get to that at the end.
Two intertwined plots make the film: Harry Hart, code name Galahad –Colin Firth’s character- retrieves the delinquent teenage son of a fellow agent, who died years earlier in action alongside Harry , to train him to become a Kingsman, who are an independent crime-fighting organization working out of a Saville Row tailor shop. Then there’s the main plot, which is stopping billionaire telecom magnate Richmond Valentine from putting his bizarre and apocalyptic plan to prevent global warming into effect. Valentine is played by Samuel L. Jackson in a way which will go down as a career highlight. If you’ve longed to see him in a Yankees cap, with a serious lisp, google glass, and henchwoman with the Oscar Pistorious legs –which double as weapons by the way- then this picture is for you!
“Kingsman: The Secret Service” is a little lower on the “spoof-o-meter” than, say, “Austin Powers,” but it has a more substantial plot. While some of the choreographed violence has been done better, and the first thirty minutes could been twelve,“Kingsman…” is a rollicking ride, with some twists and turns…and makes it to the “don’t miss” category for the performance by Jackson.