Kingsman

A fun spy film with Colin Firth (who was the shit, seriously, the guy out Bonds James Bond) and Samuel L. Jackson. The former recruits the son (played by Taron Egerton, who was pretty cool) of a dead old friend to become a new spy in their secret spy organization. The latter is the lispy villain and is pretty much the opposite of the badass mofos he usually plays, but still pretty funny.

Just saw it. It was really enjoyable.

edited 14th Feb '15 2:01:49 PM by Ekuran

Got a bit more detail for us? Like a trailer in the OP and a brief Synopsis for starters?

Trailer? Fill yer boots.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkX8jKeKUEA

I'll happily watch Kingsman 2 provided Roxy actually gets something to do that time around.

Brief summary of what to expect: Plenty of lampshading and other friendly poking at Spy Fiction conventions (particularly of the Bond franchise stuff), Black Humor, stuff and people blowing up in spectacular displays, just enough setup to get the audience up to speed without making the film drag on, and Samuel L. Jackson not being the BAMF but having one as his Dragon, subverting his Memetic Badass status.

edited 15th Feb '15 4:27:00 PM by MisterNoh

That film really didn't go where I was thinking it would, and even the trailer didn't manage to give it away. Mind you, seeing the "based on" line in the credits explained a lot. :)

I don't understand why Mark Strong was affecting a Scottish accent, though. I mean, it was a perfectly serviceable one for the most part, but a bit odd.

Has the success of Guardians of the Galaxy got directors scouring their old vinyl collections for soundtrack choices now? :)

There are a few fridge moments in the premise, a few of the usual "no, stop being so stupid moments that are to be expected in any spy thriller (made more annoying because they lampshade their use elsewhere) and the hero's and villain's sidekicks were woefully underused, but it got down to business quickly enough, and it was a good enough ride along the way that the above complaints only occurred to me on the way out. The basics of the plot would certainly work well as a "straight" Bond or even Bourne film, I think.

I felt it ended on a bit of a bum note.

...

I'll see myself out.

Why did Mark Hammil have to die?!

Still good movie. Looking forward to the sequel.

Can definitely see why some criticism of it being sexist - the main female character (or as close as we get to one) gets the job over the male lead... then gets relegated to the B-plot in the finale, and the scene with the lovely Scandinavian princess and her... motivational technique.

On the other hand, it's ripping from Bond and most of those criticisms you can aim at the source rather than at the mimic/parody, and otherwise a really fantastic film. Not to mention, the Freebird Church fight is already this years 'Time In A Bottle' from X-Men last year. Some big, big films yet to come but the marker for best action/fight scene has been set already - and set bloody high.

Well, Matthew Vaughn has said that he always wanted to do a Bond film, so he must have enjoyed this thoroughly.

oh my god, this and GOTG may be my new favorite movies.

We need more happy films.

The only thing that seriously bugged me about this movie was the ending and how it so clearly glossed over the results of having half of the planet's leadership dead and everyone else trying to murder each other for a few minutes, and all of the ramifications that may have. Up until that point the movie was actually quite sensible with the plot and there wasn't too many odd hand-waves or skipped-over details. Otherwise, this movie was excellent and hilarious.

Plus... is it just me, or was Obama one of the White House Staff members whose heads exploded in the Situation Room?

He was.

There wouldn't be any legal consequences of the plot because literally everybody was trying to kill everyone else - you'd have to arrest/charge every person on the planet. Anyone who could be made a scapegoat had their head blown up so I guess it's just a case of whoever is left in government (and there will be a few) has to step up and keep things running until the next 'proper' election.

Yeah, I can't imagine the entirety of the civilian chain of command of the respective governments were in on it, if for no other reason than Benjamin Franklin's "three can keep a secret, if two are dead."

edited 20th Feb '15 7:32:57 AM by Nohbody

Many of the imprisoned people were in the government, I'm guessing.

It could technically be a good thing since all the assholes were killed off.

Minor nitpick, but how is it that Sophie Cookson is pretty much the only one of the Kingsmen who knows what trigger discipline is but she doesn't get a single action scene? Hopefully she gets stuff to do in a hypothetical sequel.

Actually, Colin Firth might have passed as well, but the point still stands.

I wasn't a fan of the Swedish Princess anal sex gag. I think it could have been improved with the Princess visibly Eating the Eye Candy or being more sexually aggressive (yanking him close by his collar rather than waiting, bare ass up, for him).

edited 21st Feb '15 6:06:23 PM by Mars444

Judging from the fact that It's Personal for Eggsy, I can understand Roxy being sidelined, but sure as hell she needs more screen time in the sequel since there's going to be one.

Probably about the organization having their hands full with rebuilding themselves while the world is still getting up after the fireworks and rave parties.

It's not even March yet, but I'm pretty sure I've seen one of the most enjoyable films this year.

But yeah, please sequel—acknowledge the whole killing spree at the end. And have more Roxy (especially in the suits, 'cause I can't have too many badass chicks in suits). And maybe find a way to bring people back from the dead, idk man!

Just saw it yesterday and enjoyed it a great deal. As a fan of the old James Bond movies, I especially liked the way the James Bond tropes kept being either followed, lampshaded, deconstructed or made fun of (this is also the first movie where I found myself identifying tropes during watching, but that is probably me spending too much time on TV Tropes these days).

I too would have loved to have Roxy do a bit more than overcome her fear of heights (I was actually expecting her to barge in guns blazing when Eggsy is cornered and gets the idea to detonate everyone's head) but this is keeping in line with the 70's era Bond movies this movie draws upon, where the female characters did not do much (apart from being captured, fumbling their one action scene, or getting screwed by Bond).

It is a shame that Roxy did get sidelined to a degree - as said, a lot of that is because of the Bondian tone they went for but they DID subvert/parody a lot of Bond themes so why not have the girl (who actually IS a Kingsman, Eggsy failed the last test) come in and save the dude's backside for once? While we didn't see much of it, her role was just as important as Eggsy's, so there's that at least.

On the other hand, I think we'll get a sequel so hopefully she'll get a bit more time in that now Harry's dead and Eggsy seems to be a fully operational Kingsman himself.

The fireworks idea was something of a Deus ex Machina, I think. I was a bit disappointed when it came up.

It had been reasonably foreshadowed, though. Besides, it was hilarious, in a Crosses the Line Twice sort of way. But I'd still have loved Roxy to do something else than make a phone call (although being able to convince Eggsy's mother, to whom she was a complete stranger, to lock her daughter and throw away the key must have taken some impressive powers of persuasion).

Since this is indeed a Bond-like action film, they could've had Roxy swooping in from the stratosphere to parachute into the base and save Eggsy's life at a crucial moment. Sadly, it doesn't look like giving the nominal female lead a big role in the third act was high on their priorities list.