And prosperity to you, Mr. Spock. Are you in the secret service as well?
Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014) is, as my Arts Editor observed, a cheeky little movie, but it’s not much more than that. A young man, Eggsy, caught in the swamp of a brutal family of the British underclass, is given an unique opportunity to join a spy service and get all the toys, and we get selected episodes from his training.
Meanwhile, an American scientist has come up with a way to solve a pressing international problem. It’s, ah, violent, if somewhat clever; but whether or not it should be accepted and supported, or rejected and fought against, by this secret service and, for that matter, Eggsy, is never up for debate. This plot failing really lessens the story, even if it’s intended as a comedy, because the character, in an important aspect relevant to the story, becomes a nothing, someone to whom we cannot connect because there’s nothing to which to connect.
And to call it a comedy is a bit of a stretch in itself. It’s certainly not a Python-esque farce, as one might expect for a film about the British, nor is a single theme ridden to death. The sex talk with the Swedish princess is a bit of a hoot, but it’s just a tangential throw-off; there’s an attempt to make violence a comedic metaphor, but why victimize American low-church traditions? Even for an agnostic or atheist, who may find their beliefs and activities silly and even foolish, it’smore puzzling and even offensive than anything else.
But for all these criticisms, I am weighing seeing its sequel. This was not an awful story, for all its flaws. Eggsy grows and changes throughout this story, and I’m curious as to where he’ll go next.
If anywhere at all.
