KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE DVD (2015)

SYNOPSIS: A SUPER-SECRET ORGANIZATION recruits an unrefined but promising street kid into the agency's ultra-competitive training program just as a dire global threat emerges from a twisted tech genius. 

MOVIE REVIEW:

Matthew Vaughn and Mark Millar’s Kick-Ass was a humorous satire on the superhero genre, now the duo has joined hands to take on the spy genre, in the same ridiculous, over-the-top manner.

For the first time, the usually dramatic, mild-mannered Colin Firth plays against type as a James Bond style superspy, Harry Hart in Kingsman: The Secret Service.  By introducing a street kid Eggsy (Taron Egerton) into Kingsman, the viewers are taken on a journey on how to become a full-pledged Kingsman knight and the race against time in saving the world from an evil billionaire tech genius Richmond Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson).

In Vaughn’s world of movie making there’s no such words as excesses or too much, Kingsman: The Secret Service is not just ultra-violent but plain too silly by the time the movie reaches its last act. To be fair, the first half is impeccably well executed in the same manners liked Harry’s handsome suit. Through the eyes of Eggsy, we get to know how the intelligence secret agency operates and the mind-blowing process on how they select their men. It’s fun, thrilling and incredibly exciting.  

There are often clever references to James Bond, brilliant one-liners, outrageous gadgets such as a bulletproof umbrella and deadly leather shoes with the Kingsman headquarter set in the basement of a high-end tailor shop in downtown London. That’s so ultra cool and stylized even for James Bond and Ethan Hunt.

However, all good things must come to an end. Vaughn and Millar can be too cheeky for their own good that by the time Valentine’s evil plot is revealed, the plotting has slowly descended into a silly bloodbath filled with a nonsensical brawl in a Kentucky church and later on, even shoddily done CG exploding heads are thrown in.  

It’s fortunate that Kingsman: The Secret Service is blessed with the talents of Michael Caine, Mark Strong, Sofia Boutella as Valentine’s henchwoman with a pair of deadly prosthetic blades and of course, Firth who truly impresses with his debut action role. There are some pretty well choreographed action sequences especially the one that has Harry fighting against some thugs in a pub earlier on though Vaughn seems to favour speed-up camera moves and fancy editing as the movie progresses.

The younger audiences might have a wild time with Kingsman but the old timers might still prefer their martini shaken not stirred in the end. 

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Panel to Screen: The Education of a 21st Century Super Spy takes a brief look at how Matthew Vaughn and Mark Millar brought the comic to the big screen.

3 Image Galleries from Behind The Scenes, Sets and Props are included. 

AUDIO/VISUAL:

Filmed in digital, Kingsman looks mightily sharp and detailed with the exception of some obvious shoddy CG. Dialogue is clear and the sound effects are often bassy and aggressive. 

MOVIE RATING:

DVD RATING :

Review by Linus Tee