A secret organization of dashing Englishmen in suits, or (in the eyes of everyone else besides Britain) a secret organization of spies, have taken a personal interest in everyday, super genius street thug Gary “Eggsy” Unwin.
The ever so elegantly spoken Colin Firth, who plays Harry Hart, wants to repay Eggsy’s late father for saving his life by introducing his son to the underground tailor shop, The Kingsman: the Secret Service. What Eggsy faces in the most dangerous job interview he’ll ever have can only be described as the heart pounding action that adrenaline junkies crave.
While on paper the film seems to be a remake of a James Bond film, Samuel L. Jackson as a caring, queasy-to-violence, hipster villain made this film top notch. It is rated with that big red ‘R’ that we were told to stay away from as young, innocent preteens, so “Kingsman” is not for the faint of heart. After watching the film, I couldn’t help but agree that it would make you squirm in your seat, shield your eyes with those makeshift finger guards, and then force you to cross your legs because of that 16-ounce ICEE you bought just to watch what was going to happen next.
When it came down to it, I thought that this comic book based film was able to compliment and offend everyone on the spectrum. From political choices and class status, “Kingsman” made a statement that ‘evil’ and ‘good’ can be anyone. In any classic action film, the ‘bad guys’ would always fall under a stereotype. The villains were German for Bruce Willis or Nazis for Harrison Ford, and Hydra happened to be German with a touch of Swedish for Chris Evans.
However, Kingsman managed to create the villain, Valentine (Jackson), who was extremely likeable and even somewhat more enjoyable that the normal British charm associated with Mark Strong, Colin Firth, and Michael Caine.
Valentine wanted to save the planet from destruction. He didn’t want money, he didn’t want to rule the world, and he didn’t want to watch it burn. Valentine was desperate to save the world. “The world is sick, and humanity is the virus.”
He took care of people, he liked people, but he also wanted people to die. I thought that this was screaming ‘God complex,’ and in a way it was; however, he didn’t have the usual narcissism that accompanied the ‘God complex’ of most super villains.
When he chose someone to protect from his master plan, it was based on how they would help the world and the innocence he thought they would bring to the new age.
I’m not stating that we should all find a mass executioner to install chips in our electronics that would turn us all into evil murderous dogs, but if I could listen to anyone before he killed me off, I would vote for Samuel L. Jackson.
5/5