A bemused, confident R-rated semi-spoof of James Bond, "Kingsman: The Secret Service" is adept at tartly twisting convention even as it follows an outline that plays like a 007 origin movie. Writer-director Matthew Vaughn (2011's "X-Men: First Class") and co-writer Jane Goldman (2012's "The Woman in Black") give their picture a winking, absurdist style right from the start, the beginning strains of Dire Straits' purely awesome '80s anthem "Money for Nothing" playing over the studio logos and opening credits. While the film tends to fall into the trap of being a training manual during the long middle act and the silliness doesn't always comfortably mesh with its bleak subject matter, there is an ingenuity and imagination to much of the script that gives it a newfound freshness. Learning that it is based on a comic book by Mark Millar ("Kick-Ass" and "Wanted") and Dave Gibbons ("Watchmen") comes as no surprise.
Seventeen years ago, a widowed mother (Samantha Womack) and her young son, Eggsy (Alex Nikolov), were given a bravery medal when their husband and father perished while on a mission in the Middle East. His partner, special agent Harry Hart (Colin Firth), told them to call the number on the back if ever they were in need. For the wayward, now-grown Eggsy (Taron Egerton), who has just been arrested for jacking a car, that time is now. Recently out another agent, Harry enlists this troubled young man for an unorthodox training program with the top-secret Kingsman organization in hopes of finding someone suitable to take his fallen colleague's place. As Eggsy, the sharp-witted Roxy (Sophie Cookson), and the rest of their competitors are faced with a series of perilous exercises meant to test their aptitude as potential recruits, the agency is faced with their latest adversary: tech tycoon Richmond Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson), who is planning to turn free SIM cards into cataclysmic mind-control weaponry.
See Dustin Putman, TheFilmFile.com. for full review
