In the first of many backlogged entries, here are my thoughts on Kingsman: The Secret Service.

Let me preface this by saying that I did not think to check the rating of this movie prior to seeing it, and therefore I was totally unprepared for the level of violence I was in for seeing.  (Those who have been following me for a while should be quite familiar with the fact that I can’t tolerate anything too bloody.  For those new to this blog, now you know, haha.)  I also have never read the book this movie was based on, and therefore I can only comment on my thoughts towards the movie.

I found that this movie was, in some ways, like a toned down version of Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003).  People who enjoyed that movie might like a few of the scenes in Kingsman as well.

It’s always great to see Colin Firth, Mark Strong, Michael Caine, and Samuel L. Jackson, and I was pleasantly surprised by both Firth and Caine’s characters for different reasons.  This was my first time seeing a movie starring Taron Egerton, at least as far as I can recall, and I think he did a fantastic job here.  I think the evolution of his character was believable and well-paced.  I particularly enjoyed the parkour stunts Egerton performed, and I also really liked the ending, though it was somewhat bittersweet.

I love sleek-looking tech, even if none of it is real, and there was plenty of it in this movie.  The plot was a little murky at times, though I’ve read that this movie was meant to be an origin story for Egerton’s character, and that makes a lot of sense to me, because I felt a considerable amount of time was spent on showing his character’s growth throughout the story.

Not sure if this movie will have a sequel, though I’ve heard whisperings that there may be one.  Knowing how potentially gritty that one might be, I might end up waiting for it to be available on rental instead (if a sequel does get made, and so I can avoid having to sit through the super violent scenes), but I definitely would still see it.

Final Thoughts: This review came pretty late (I had this draft saved back in March), but I would recommend it as a rental, for those who haven’t seen it already.