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It’s been a few days, but there’s no reason not to still do it.
So, I went to the cinema and watched “kingsman”.
Again, it had come well recommended, but I wasn’t really all that sure what to expect. Marvel-and-DC-type of movie – part unrealistic but fun action, part darkness, part comedy? Austin-Powers-type of movie – spy story that no one in their right minds can ever take serious? James-Bond-style – a little on the short side for humor, but good action and unrealistic scenarios?
I wasn’t sure.
Having watched the movie, I’m still not really.
Probably, it’s a little of both.
But let’s start in a more consistent manner.
The good
All things considered, the movie was really entertaining. Well paced, interesting, a good, funny ride with a lot of nice turns.
Jack Davenport in the beginning was a really nice surprise – I have a soft spot for him since watching the extra scenes in Pirates of the Caribbean and totally NOT writing a long fanfiction about him – although, of course, it was a sad thing to see him killed of so quickly.
Colin Firth was obviously born to play roles like these – no surprises there for me – and he unsurprisingly pulls it of convincingly – although I totally loved him freaking out in the church; now that was a pretty unusual moment. On the other side… it does remind one of him and Hugh Grant in Bridget Jones… of sorts.. but I digress.
I liked the classy scenes, and the clash between the upper class society and the young lower class boy. Interesting dynamics without drifting too much into the cliché. I like that Eggsy doesn’t lose his edge until the end.
Another thing I liked was that he didn’t end up with the other kingsman, Roxy. That would have been really cheesy, and they didn’t make it, which is something I totally appreciate.
It doesn’t always have to be romance. Roxy was cool in her own right. (Obviously, also Roxy belongs onto the list of things that I really liked)
A lot of the details were truly enjoyable – the Swedish princess was a fun twist, I laughed my head off when the swedish prime minister turned on her in a second saying “I’m a republican”. The razor-protheses-sidekick of the main villain made up for some really good and original fight scenes.
The pacing was great, the acting was on the whole on the good side (outstanding exceptions see above) and the setting of scenes was enjoyable.
Which leads me to the bad
I could point out this detail, or that, but let’s sum it up:
I’m still, after watching it, not sure what sort of movie “kingsman” wants to be. I’ve detected hints of “the avengers” (the old series, not the new movies) in the mixture of class and technical gimmicks; scenes one might rather find in Austin Powers – thinking of the ending with the swedish princess, as well as the exploding heads fireworks (in totally unrelated news – what the hell was that??!) and just about every superhero movie there is (the villain and his sidekick were absolutely Marvel/DC villain material…). In other areas (chiefly the training of the kingsmen, but also all interactions with Merlin), however, the movie was much more serious; closer to Mission Impossible or the (admittedly at times subtly self-deprecating) James Bond series.
All of these are amusing in their own right, but put together it feels a little too much and too inconsistent for a single movie. It made the story unpredictable, I’ll admit, but it was a little annoying in the way of how to respond and “feel the flow” of the movie.
A genre-mix is fine, but this was a little too much for me.
I could quote more, but this is probably what it boils down to.
All in all it was an enjoyable ride with some grating aspects, but don’t let that fool you.
All things considered, it’s still worth your while.