Pop quiz time again. Did you like Wanted? (The Bollywoodish Hollywood mindless action bonanza) Did you like Hot Fuzz (The senseless parody of many films). If the answer to the above two questions is yes – then rest assured you will like Kingsman..even though I am about to tear it apart in the rest of this review
Matthew Vaughn – I have a lot of respect for this director since he made X-Men First Class. While I had gone with low expectations, he had dazzled me with his grasp of the content, the strong emotional bond he was able to build and the exhilarating action in a thrilling climax made for repeat viewings. I knew Kingsman..would be quite different. The trailers scared me quite a bit – giving away much of what to expect and I didn’t like what I saw. Yet, I gave Vaughn the benefit of the doubt and still went for it..I shouldn’t have
The only way I can make sense of what happened in the 2 hours 10 minutes that this movie swung like a pendulum from the crackling and witty to the insanely cheesy and inane, time and again, is that Mr. Vaughn or his scriptwriter – more specifically, was writing two scripts – one that was serious, had a lot of depth, built connect with its audience and emotionally drew them and the other, which would just be weird, cheesy, irreverent fun and parody/ pay homage (take your pick) to James Bond, Star Wars, Quentin Tarantino’s blood lust and a host of others. Finally, he decided to just merge the two and hoped that the audience could make any sense of it
Kingsman starts off promising. Despite the hugely familiar premise, with some good dialogues, well-edited action sequences and well-aimed potshots at popular action franchises, Kingsman assures that its not gonna be ‘just another movie’. For the most part, that turns out to be true but unfortunately, not in a good way.
There are moments in Kingsman..that take your breath away. Moments..where you get flashbacks of First Class and its quality..certain sequences wonderfully executed, others that bring out some emotion..but as soon as you begin to hope…it all comes crashing down in another medley of inane action or childish dialogue. Another issue is that the movie rushes through too much, too intent to show all that it wants to, at the expense of building any connect with its protagonists. I think editing could’ve made a key difference in this one.
If you must watch this movie, and I’d push you hard not to, but if you must- watch it for Colin Firth. The man is a revelation in his unique avatar and takes to it with an ease that showcases his versatility as an actor. Samuel L Jacksons lisps to near perfection, but given the kind of role he has, he needed a much stronger character. The other kid on the block, Taron Egerton has an accent that’s hard to follow, but otherwise does a good job.
As the movie built up, I was wondering if a Kingsman 2 ought to be in the offing. Once it concluded though, even the post credits scene made me impatient. Matthew Vaughn has shown us he can do much better. Let’s hope the next one picks up from First Class rather than Kingsman
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