H Hunt

Kingsman: The Secret Service wears its bloodlust on its bullet proof threaded sleeves. If you're familiar with Matthew Vaughn's work (Kick-Ass, X-Men: First Class) you know he's got a natural, visceral flair to his combat and an unadulterated understanding and expression of the impulses his films are catering to. Kingsman appeals to that primal need for violence just as shamelessly if not more than Vaughn's other work (You could feel him under constraints with X-Men's PG-13 Rated action). It laughs at the repressed ultra 'realistic' spy thrillers of the day, and we laugh too. Kingsman is a damn good time. it's the type of film that makes an audience rowdy; by the end mine was in an uproar of howls and whistles.

The plot itself takes jabs at people's suppressed compulsions, but it redirects that jab into a civilian and lets us foam at the mouth over the immorality instead of pressing the guilt. I don't want to give anything away (Because the trailers do such a good job at concealing the real goodies) but Kingsman will set you off on highs where you never thought you'd find them. I'm looking specifically at a single-take action scene that swung me off balance in the second half. It's very reminiscent of Big-Daddy's solo bout in Vaughn's Kick-Ass, but this one's even better (not to mention more bizarre) and Colin Firth plays an even slicker character. Indeed, Vaughn's working with familiar rhythm's here, but it's all finer tuned. He is the go to action director, and it's a shame most haven't picked up on his growing signature.

Going in I had seen a sparse trailer, and knew it was Vaughn in the director's chair. That's it. I hadn't wrung it dry of pre-information. Do yourself a favor and keep what you read minimal, and I'll do you one by not going into too much detail over the plot. An especially 'secret' service, The Kingsman, lose an agent (or Knight as they call it) and tryouts are in order. Galahad (Colin Firth) see's a promising candidate in 'Eggsy' a snarky rebel charmer with a lot of physical talents. It then unravels a tongue in cheek spy procedural with no time spared for monologues, and much time spent to build the kill count. It's got plenty of fun surprises in store, big jokes to crack, and some stellar action sequences to get gitty over.

Kingsman is not without fault though. It's first half could have easily been condensed, and some plot lines that the movie clearly doesn't care for can sometimes distract you from the good stuff. The first half is a solid coast, but the second half is where the film really kicks in. It's refreshing to finally see an action film that hasn't already exhausted itself by the time it's reached the end. Despite a couple of brief uneven moments, it never ceases to entertain. It's smart in that it knows it should remain close to the surface, and cuts too swiftly from point to point for us to linger on any inconsistencies.

Too often, action films can beat themselves to death trying to justify what they're serving. Kingsman doesn't care. There's a fun bad guy to go after and plenty of expendables to wipe out in between. Vaughn lives to choreograph these action scenes. Just like comedy and horror, the quality of action is dependent on it's timing. There's no algorithm, just musical intuition. Vaughn has mastered it. Where too many action films these days leave you feeling strung out and dark, it's nice to finally leave the theater grinning and buzzed.

See it when it releases on February 13th.