Just as a disclaimer I have to say that I never read the comic by Mark Millar but at this point I don't think I need to. This movie was so good I'm willing to bet it has surpassed its comic counterpart. And the beauty of the movie is that going in the viewer knows what he is about to see, a fun and over the top action film.
This movie has a lot going for it I think. First of all Kingsman is one of Mark Millar's lesser known works so not many people would have any background knowledge about it. So it has a relatively clean slate to make this movie on. Second this movie has some strong actors at its disposal, Colin Firth is a great actor and even though these type of action movies are not quite his cup of tea I think Firth looks great running and fighting in all of his scenes.
Taron Egerton was a great find for this part, in movies with a young adult protagonist they run the risk of becoming insufferably annoying. Fortunately Egerton started with a nice cockney charm and ended with classic Kingsman suave. And you can't forget the great performance from Samuel L. Jackson and his role as the movie's main villain. I thought Jackson nailed this part as a sort of ridiculous villain but he realizes how ridiculous this whole deal is.
The action scenes look great in every aspect they are fluid and fast paced that keep the movie moving. But I do think the church fight scene with Colin Firth's character could have been a little shorter. Either way the fighting and stunts were a huge help to this movie overall without these good action scenes I don't think this movie would have been nearly the success that it is.
All in all I think that this movie sold itself in the trailers as exactly what we received, a fun action movie and not much else, and I appreciate that fact. I also love a good training scene in a movie and since a large portion of this film is training I was pleased but if that isn't your thing I could understand someone getting bored with this film. So while I don't think this movie is required viewing I think that this is a great movie to see with some friends (defiantly not on a first date though, if you've seen it you'll know what I'm talking about).
I'd give this movie a Should See rating.
Thanks for taking the time to consider my thoughts,
Grant