Photo: Chris White

Is it suppose to be an action thriller, comedy or drama? A combo of all three?

That was the first thought that came to my mind after seeing Matthew Vaughn’s Kingsman: The Secret Service. I’ve been excited to see this film since I saw a preview for it a few months ago.

Kingsman is based on the acclaimed comic book of the same name. The story centers on a tough as nails spy agent (Colin Firth) and his recruitment of a promising street kid, Eggsy (Taron Egerton) for his top secret agency. Eggsy’s recruitment comes just in time for Kingsman’s largest battle yet against a diabolical tech genius (Samuel L. Jackson).

The film was okay overall, but it got too absurd for me toward the end. I’ll mention the good first. The story as a whole was well done. I liked how the film mixed its action sequences with bits of comedy and drama. Forgive me, but I didn’t know that Kingsman was based on a comic book until after I saw the film. The story was done so well that I thought it was original and not based on something else.

Now the not so good. The action/fight sequences were filmed in such a way to make them not very believable. Now, I know that action/fight sequences in films are fake, but many films do a fantastic job making those sequences look real. Kingsman fell a bit flat with this. The film became absurd for me near the end, with a strange and over-the-top fight scene in a Westboro-esque church as well as a scene where heads explode into fireworks when the bad guy is defeated.

Kingsman: The Secret Service was a pretty good film. It had a good story and great acting, but it drove itself to the point of absurdity near the end and its 129 minute runtime is just too long for a film of this nature.

I Give It A: C+

Check Out The Trailer Here