Kingsman DVD
inamac loves this film, so it was definitely time to stick it in the player.
Perhaps we should have bought this on Blu-Ray because it has the most sumptuous wide-screen cinematography and colour palettes. Indeed, as a comic book movie, it should. The lead character, Eggsy, is a joy and well-acted by Taron Egerton, holding his own in an all-star cast who more often than not seemed a little lost in their one-note characters. There were some good visual gags (though few verbal ones) and the fight scenes were imaginatively choreographed.
Beyond that, the plot is ludicrous, and not half as clever as they (the writer and director) think it is. Eggsy is, to be honest, the only character I cared about in the slightest. And aspects of the ending, as pointed out by both professional critics and audiences, were vile and made me swear at the screen.
It is not so much the hundreds of bodies piled up in an orgy of violence, not even so much the exploding heads in a firework display that is a good visual joke for the first few seconds but goes on and on and on, as the hideously sexist ending. (For those of you who don't care about spoilers and have not seen the movie, Eggsy is about to rescue a princess locked up by the baddies and asks for a kiss. She tells him he can have a lot more than that. Then he explains he has to put off rescuing her because he has to save the world, and she offers him 'anal' if he does that. When he comes back there is a shot from the rear showing her sprawled out prone, naked and...er... probably ready for him.)
This ending, described under the cut, has been excused by the director as being a parody of James Bond, Roger Moore era. Which is odd because in the unintentionally hilarious making-of documentary, which we also played, the director claims originality and lack of parody. There are other reasons why this doc is hilarious - in that Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman (we name the guilty parties) also claimed that the idea of having a secret organisation concealed behind a tailor's shop was 'original'. Fans of 'The Man From UNCLE' should boggle at this point. Also that the plot is 'feasible' (I don't know if the 'expert' they consulted was kidding them but no, just no. Gaia theory? Oh, I wish that was true. Unfortunately, all the evidence is against it. I haven't read 'The Secret Service', the book on which this script was (very, very loosely, according to the documentary) based but frankly, if you have a comic book by Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons, you should keep as much of their writing as possible. Because it is likely to be much better than yours.
So, very much a curate's egg of a film, though I can see why people (read Ina) liked it, though she remarked that it was a very different experience watching the TV with the subtitles than seeing it in the cinema where (having left her hearing aids at home) she couldn't hear all of the dialogue.
Addendum: I am reminded that the same team made 'Kick Ass' and, just for the record, I disliked that movie far more than I disliked this one. That time I was just bored out of my skull.
Perhaps we should have bought this on Blu-Ray because it has the most sumptuous wide-screen cinematography and colour palettes. Indeed, as a comic book movie, it should. The lead character, Eggsy, is a joy and well-acted by Taron Egerton, holding his own in an all-star cast who more often than not seemed a little lost in their one-note characters. There were some good visual gags (though few verbal ones) and the fight scenes were imaginatively choreographed.
Beyond that, the plot is ludicrous, and not half as clever as they (the writer and director) think it is. Eggsy is, to be honest, the only character I cared about in the slightest. And aspects of the ending, as pointed out by both professional critics and audiences, were vile and made me swear at the screen.
It is not so much the hundreds of bodies piled up in an orgy of violence, not even so much the exploding heads in a firework display that is a good visual joke for the first few seconds but goes on and on and on, as the hideously sexist ending. (For those of you who don't care about spoilers and have not seen the movie, Eggsy is about to rescue a princess locked up by the baddies and asks for a kiss. She tells him he can have a lot more than that. Then he explains he has to put off rescuing her because he has to save the world, and she offers him 'anal' if he does that. When he comes back there is a shot from the rear showing her sprawled out prone, naked and...er... probably ready for him.)
This ending, described under the cut, has been excused by the director as being a parody of James Bond, Roger Moore era. Which is odd because in the unintentionally hilarious making-of documentary, which we also played, the director claims originality and lack of parody. There are other reasons why this doc is hilarious - in that Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman (we name the guilty parties) also claimed that the idea of having a secret organisation concealed behind a tailor's shop was 'original'. Fans of 'The Man From UNCLE' should boggle at this point. Also that the plot is 'feasible' (I don't know if the 'expert' they consulted was kidding them but no, just no. Gaia theory? Oh, I wish that was true. Unfortunately, all the evidence is against it. I haven't read 'The Secret Service', the book on which this script was (very, very loosely, according to the documentary) based but frankly, if you have a comic book by Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons, you should keep as much of their writing as possible. Because it is likely to be much better than yours.
So, very much a curate's egg of a film, though I can see why people (read Ina) liked it, though she remarked that it was a very different experience watching the TV with the subtitles than seeing it in the cinema where (having left her hearing aids at home) she couldn't hear all of the dialogue.
Addendum: I am reminded that the same team made 'Kick Ass' and, just for the record, I disliked that movie far more than I disliked this one. That time I was just bored out of my skull.