Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014)

So new kinds of secret societies are apparently the way to go if you don't own the rights to any superheroes, nor James Bond. Most intriguing. I hope. To have a secret lair at a tailor's and all men being dapper accordingly is most pleasing. There's more to a film than scenography, though.

Generally, the Brits are very well cast here. There seems to be an abundance of actors able to pull off the archetypical British agent, with just a hint of overdone arrogance and cockiness. Colin Firth is particularly brilliant. And you can't go wrong with Michael Caine. Ever. As a result the interaction amongst the adult Brits is mostly fantastic. Old-fashioned, clever, and very, very dry.

The rest of the cast is a bit hit-and-miss. Egerton is fantastic as the rebellious Eggsy, pissing everyone off and generally not respecting much. As a student of the secret school, he's decent. As a Kingsman, not very good. Bar a couple of lines, mostly related to the Swedish royalty (a ludicrously entertaining and sensual Hanna Alström) he wants to nail. The bigger problem is Samuel L. Jackson. He was never the megalomaniac, and to cast him dressing like a slow 13 year old with a lisp, is such a stupid idea, it begs belief. And a movie like this with a useless villain, will never be good enough. Ironically a point made by Jackson in his scene with Firth

Furthermore, it's problematic that the film fails to find a defined note. At times it seems like a spoof, other areas are very serious, and some are light-hearted. In the latter category it works very well. Unlike, for instance, Demolition Man, it seems to forget what it is at times. Or it simply never knew. The director, Matthew Vaughn, is too busy being slick and cool in his scenes to bother with the film as a whole.

The new angle works wonders for the action though. Adding nice new ways of giving bad men bruises or much, much deadness. Violence with a smirk is a most welcome sight. The school and its tests adds little of interest though. And nothing new.

So all in all, it does have entertainment, you're rarely bored, but there are too many glaring errors to make it anything but a fringe instalment in the entertainment industry.

5/10