Review of Kingsman the Secret Service

Believe it or not, until my sister reminded me, I had entirely forgotten that it was Spring Break this week!  With my Tuesday evening suddenly free, I decided to go to to the theater and see Kingsman: The Secret Service since I'd heard how fun it was.

Please note that this post will contain spoilers.

If you have not yet seen the film, you may want to skip this post.

From the opening scene, Kingsman is a fun movie to watch.  It isn't afraid to be a little silly (bouncing rocks become the introduction credits and heads explode into fireworks) while earning its well-deserved R rating with lots of up close and personal killing.  The close combat fight scenes were absolutely mesmerizing to watch.

Although there could have been more effort put into character development, I enjoyed all of the characters.  After Harry Hart (aka Galahad) my favorite character is Gazelle, who should not be referred to as "sidekick" because without her I don't believe that Valentine would have been successful.  He doesn't have the stomach for it.

(gif credit goes to allthekingsman on tumblr)

A double amputee, Gazelle wields her killer prosthetic legs with perfect precision.  Her disability isn't discussed or explained, but it doesn't disable the character and Gazelle is a deadly adversary throughout the film, unafraid of getting her hands (or feet) dirty in support of Valentine's plan.  None of Gazelle's duties involve demeaning or objectifying the character; in fact, Valentine treats her as an equal throughout the film!  She is an intriguing character and I was sad to see her die.

I appreciate that Gazelle was not turned into a sex symbol in the film.  However, as many other films have done, promotional posters for Kingsman have male characters posed between her spread legs.  All you can see of Gazelle is her butt and legs and I think that this type of poster is both overdone and annoying.  I would have preferred hot/sexy promotional materials to have Gazelle being the bad-ass that she is, standing strong with a blade at someone's throat.

And Gazelle isn't the only woman in this film showing up the boys.  Roxy is a Kingsman candidate alongside Eggsy and is the only successful recruit of her class, beating out all of the boys to become the next Lancelot.  Canonically, we do not learn much of Roxy's past but it has been suggested that she isn't 100% heterosexual and I think that a female, bisexual Lancelot would be brilliant!

The mentor relationship Harry Hart has with Eggsy Unwin was wonderfully handled and seeing the parallels in their fighting style was both heartbreaking and inspiring at the same time.  Even in death, Harry Hart's legacy will continue on in his protégé as Eggsy comes into his own as a Kingsman.

Disliked:

1. Beyond the fairly innocent request for a kiss, I absolutely HATED the interaction between Eggsy and Princess Tilde.  Her offering to have sex (and then anal sex) with Eggsy as a reward for saving the world was distasteful to me.  It added nothing to the story and just didn't need to be in the film; I am quite content to pretend that it never happened and Eggsy left with Merlin to rendezvous with Roxy.

2. Yet again Hollywood has produced another film with a predominantly white, male cast.  Consider me (not at all) shocked.  While I enjoyed what each actor brought to the film, it would have been fantastic to see POC representation beyond that of the villains.  Although, there is the possibility that the sequel could have better representation since the old regime died with Arthur and a new era has begun in both Roxy (a girl) and Eggsy (a commoner).

In conclusion:  If you enjoy good spy movies then you should go see Kingsman: The Secret Service.  I give it a solid 8/10 for being an entertaining film, well-worth the money spent on a ticket.