SPY-JINKS

MOVIE
Kingsman: The Secret Service
Taron Egerton, Colin Firth 
Director Matthew Vaughn
Review Ray Chan

The best parodies are the ones done with the right amount of homage and humour, and you’ll find no better example than Kingsman: The Secret Service.
   Based on The Secret Service comic book created by Dave Gibbons and Mark Millar, and directed by Matthew Vaughn (Kick-Ass, X-Men First Class), the movie is a pastiche of the secret agent franchise done with deliberate comedy, élan and obvious affection.
    It centres on a British spy organisation staffed by Savile Row-suited toffs, including the impeccably mannered Harry Hart (Colin Firth), who recruits the young son of an ex-colleague for whose death in a Middle East conflict he feels responsible.
    The curiously-named Eggsy (Taron Egerton) is initially rough at the edges and on the cusp of criminality in his London council estate, where he lives with his mum and her violent boyfriend.
    The first part of the movie deals with Eggsy's induction and training, where he's constantly pranked by the typical ineffectual bravado-filled Kingsmen recruits; of course they turn out to be more faint of heart than hardened when the chips are down, while Eggsy shows he has the right stuff.

    Once his mettle is proven and he is signed on, the clichés abound as Eggsy enters an ultra-secret underground world through a false door in a tailor's shop, filled with gizmos and weaponry that any self-respecting espionage emissary  would be proud to own – a deathly signet ring, shoes with a killer blade, a bulletproof umbrella – overseen by Mark Strong as the techie overlord Merlin, the equivalent of James Bond’s Q.

    The villain of the piece is madman billionaire businessman Richmond Valentine (Samuel L Jackson with a comical lisp), whose megalomaniacal vision is to control the world's population through mobile phones, abetted by his martial arts mistress Gazelle (Sofia Boutella), who bears  Oscar Pistorius-style lower limbs with ultra-sharp blades that she uses to great effect in several bloody action sequences.

    There are some great cameos as well. Mark Hamill (yes, him) shows up as a genius scientist, while Michael Caine plays the spy agency’s chief, as opposed to a spy itself, a role he has portrayed many times.
    Harry and Eggsy have to stop Valentine's dastardly plan, involving a blitz of explosions, shoot-outs, thrilling stunts and the rescue of a Scandinavian princess who, by intent or otherwise, resembles a certain Danish queen of Australian descent.

    All in all, Kingsman is dashing fun, what-ho. Every character, every frame, and nearly every line of dialogue is delivered with glee, turning every spy thriller cliche on its head, milking them for maximum amusement.
    Silly and cartoonish, the movie has its tongue firmly and delightfully in its cheek, and will delight as a well-executed mash-up of espionage and true cinematic excitement.


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