First Take Classics: Kingsman: The Secret Service- manners maketh man

SYNOPSIS- A spy organization recruits an unrefined, but promising street kid into the agency’s ultra-competitive training program, just as a global threat emerges from a twisted tech genius.

Since the trailer was played before Fox’s Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, many people thought that this clear parody of the Bond films would be treated with as much grace and dignity as the Austin Powers films. But boy, were they wrong. Matthew Vaughn and his team have made what can only be described as the most insane, bonkers and enjoyable film of the last few years.

What we have here is 2 hours 10 minutes of perfectly paced action, blended with the character development that Jane Goldman and Vaughn (part of the team who brought Kick-Ass to the big screen) simply excel at. Vaughn does an incredible job directing it too, making sure everything from the huge action setpieces to the backstories behind the Kingsman shop itself. It is shot incredibly by George Richmond, and with Henry Jackman and Matthew Margeson providing a great score (alongside one of the best uses of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Free Bird ever seen on film), this one had me drooling in the middle of the old VIP seats.

Vaughn puts emphasis on the new talent with this film, with Taron Egerton taking his debut feature role and making it look easy- and when he’s paired with Colin Firth, there is simply no words to describe how perfect the combination is. Samuel L Jackson is a rather unique villain in this film to say the least, and the supporting cast (which includes fellow newcomer Sophie Cookson as well as the legendary Michael Caine and my local cinema’s resident ‘etiquette message voiceover man’ Mark Strong) are just as good.

THE VERDICT

With the sequel on the way, Kingsman has already become Hollywood’s newest mega franchise- but with a film so unique and daring to open up a world of possibilities, can future films match the beautiful chaos of the original?

RATING: 5/5