At a recent pre-screening in New York, I was able to finally get a look at Matthew Vaughn's new film "Kingsman: The Secret Service" in its entirety. I went into the theatre with little to no expectations. I am a huge Mark Millar fan and a massive Matthew Vaughn fan (with Kick-Ass being one of my top favorite comic book movies), but Millar's "The Secret Service" series is one of the only Millar books I hadn't read. I walked in, took my seat, and got ready for the ride...and holy s*** was it a ride.
The movie was fantastically fast paced, action packed, and strongly character driven. You become so enveloped into these characters aand get to see them develop and change throughout the film. Collin Firth plays Harry, a well worked agent for the secret group known as "The Kingsman" who have protected the world for centuries. Collin Firth is absolutely 100% full fledged bad-ass in this film and wait till you see his fight scenes.
The young actors in this film are actually not annoying at all! They're great! Newcommer Taron Egerton, who plays our main protagonist "Eggsy", does a superb job of delivering hilarious lines and executing perfect fight sequences.
The action in this movie isn't quick cut, shaky cammed, and overly used at all in this movie and each action sequence just shows how bad ass Matthew Vaughn can make anybody look. Speaking of action, make sure you strap your seatbelts on for the last third of this film...
The story was simple and fantastic and at times was rediculous. But that's good! The characters even make fun of how realistic everyone wants movies to be these days and this film just let's you have a little fun!
Are there any weak points? Well, there are just a couple. One thing you might notice is that the visual effects for some parts of the film aren't too up to date as you'd expect and some of the supporting actors a lower level characters can be very weak sometimes.
Overall this was an amazing watch; Collin Firth brings bad-assery to a whole new level, the action is rediculous and fun, the young actors are great, and the story is simple and light. I give this film a 4.5 out of 5.