20151129: Comedy Review--Kingsman

Name: Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)
IMDb: link to IMDb

Genres: Comedy, Action, Parody    Country of Origin: UK.

Cast: Colin Firth as Harry Hart/Galahad, Michael Caine as Arthur, Mark Strong as Merlin, Samuel L. Jackson as Valentine, Sofia Boutella as Gazelle, Taron Egerton as Gary 'Eggsy' Unwin, Sophie Cookson as Roxy, Mark Hamill as Prof James Arnold, Hanna Alstrom as Princess Tilde, Samantha Womack as Michelle Unwin, Jack Davenport as Lancelot.

Directed by:  Matthew Vaughn.  Written by: Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughn (screenplay); Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons (underlying comic book series, The Secret Service).

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux: In 1997, the Secret Service is running an operation in the Middle East.  During interrogation, the target manages to trigger a grenade. Lancelot yells a warning and covers the problem.  Galahad is touched with gratitude, and gives Eggsy (Lancelot's son) means to identify himself to the Secret Service.

In the present, the Secret Service needs new recruits to replace lost personnel.  Eggsy, discouraged by Michelle's choice of second husband, decides to take up Galahad's offer.  Valentine, a sociopathic billionaire, reaches out to scientists and world leaders who are willing to further his demented plans.

Delineation of conflicts: Valentine (and Professor Arnold and others) believe that Earth is the body, and humans are harmful viruses; the viruses need to be scourged or eliminated.  Some of the elite leaders around the globe side with his cause.  The Secret Service, once they have a full idea of what's going on, wish to stop Valentine.  Eggsy wants to join the Secret Service and help their cause, but his hoodlum step-father and his gang are not helping his efforts in life.  The Secret Service has high standards, and Eggsy has to compete against other elite young adults while training for the job.  The recruits versus the training (conducted by Merlin) is a substantial sub-arc.

Resolution: Who will succeed at the training?  Will the understaffed Secret Service be sufficient against Valentine's well-funded and far-reaching efforts?  Will Eggsy rectify his homelife situation?

One line summary: Action packed self-aware spy parody with laughs.

Statistics:
  a. Cinematography: 10/10 No problems.  Professional workmanship.

  b. Sound: 10/10 No problems.  Professional workmanship.

  c. Acting: 5/10 I liked Michael Caine as always.  I expected to dislike Colin Firth as a fish out of water, but no.  He's good at tongue in cheek comedy as well as doing a better job than most at action performance.  The church scene was very engaging, largely because of Firth.  Mark Strong as Merlin was great.  I had not seen the work of Taron Egerton or Sofia Boutella before, and thought they both excelled.  The bit players (the step-father, his hoodlum friends, the upper crust Secret Service candidates) did well.

Samuel L. Jackson's performance was excruciatingly jarring.  I'm still not sure what the director was after, but I longed for scenes without SLJ, and enjoyed all of those.  Without Jackson, I would have rated the acting as 8/10.

d. Screenplay: 6/10 I do not like parodies.  I do not like the use of meta language in film.  I do not like breaking the fourth wall.

Consider the scene where Arthur asks Eggsy what JB stands for.  James Bond?  No.  Jason Bourne? No.  What then?  The guy in 24 (Jack Bauer).  Ah, good choice.

More egregiously, when Valentine and Galahad have a confrontation, Valentine terminates it with "this is not that kind of movie."  I'm sure a number of viewers find this use of meta construct to be amusing.  To me it is just plain bullshit.

Having said that, the script handled motivations, weaving of threads, and viewer engagement rather well.  That is why I gave it a 6/10 instead of the 0/10 I would give to such nonsense as any of the Austin Powers films.

Final rating: 7/10