Kingsman: The Secret Service
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation | Release Date: February 13, 2015 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
60
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 50 Critic Reviews
Positive:
31
Mixed:
13
Negative:
6
Watch Now
Stream On
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
HitfixDrew McWeenyFeb 9, 2015
This is a case of all the elements lining up and pushing a potentially good film into the great category because of just how well executed it is. Read full review
91
The PlaylistDrew TaylorJan 8, 2015
Vaughn and his collaborators have taken a crude and disposable property and turned it into something more – a thoughtful, exciting, whip-smart spy adventure that doesn't let its smart-ass post-modernism overwhelm its playfulness or its heart. Read full review
90
IGNScott ColluraOct 2, 2017
Kingsman: The Secret Service is a spy movie made by James Bond devotees who know the genre so well that they can have a good time with it while also paying it respect -- and taking it to someplace new entirely. Read full review
90
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlFeb 10, 2015
Those more devoted to the genre can debate whether Matthew Vaughn's Kingsman is the best comic-book movie of the last few years. What's beyond argument, however, is that Vaughn has whipped up the most interesting one, the only to make ferocious, unsettling art out of the great contradiction of superheroic fantasy: jolly do-goodism and its brutalizing sadism. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperFeb 12, 2015
Firth is brilliant. He’s playing a veteran super spy in a very violent but very silly movie, but even when Harry is explaining why there’s a dead stuffed dog in his bathroom, Firth gives a disciplined, serious performance. Read full review
80
We Got This Covered Jordan AdlerOct 2, 2017
A brazen, subversive send-up of 007, Kingsman: The Secret Service also has the high-octane excitement to work as a spy film on its own merits. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzOct 2, 2017
Things go from far-fetched to insane before it's over, and Vaughn wisely keeps the pace at a healthy clip. But never underestimate his power to floor you. Read full review
80
ScreenCrushMatt SingerOct 2, 2017
Firth might appear like an odd choice for an action hero, but he makes a surprisingly convincing one in the Roger Moore mold, the sort of unflappable British gentlemen who can kick your ass without wrinkling his suit. He’s a great straight man for Jackson and some of the movie’s sillier elements as well; Firth has this unshakeable dignity and poise that even the most vulgar moments in Kingsman can’t puncture. Read full review
80
Screen DailyMark AdamsOct 2, 2017
Kingsman: The Secret Service is so well served in terms of gags, action and style that it bodes well for another savvy spy franchise and even more so for the star potential of Taron Egerton. Read full review
80
Total FilmJames MottramJan 8, 2015
Injecting fun and fairground thrills back into the spy movie, Kingsman is a blast. Firth is sensational, Jackson rules and newcomer Egerton surprises. Mission accomplished for Matthew Vaughn. Read full review
80
The GuardianJordan HoffmanDec 30, 2014
Despite the presence of grandfatherly Michael Caine, Kingsman’s tone is about as far from the Christopher Nolan-style superhero film as you can get. Verisimilitude is frequently traded in for a rich laugh. The action scenes delight with shock humour. Read full review
80
TheWrapJames RocchiDec 27, 2014
Kingsman: The Secret Service is a startlingly enjoyable and well-made action film leavened by humor and slicked along by style, made by, for, and about people who’ve seen far too many Bond films. Read full review
80
EmpireChris Hewitt (1)Dec 27, 2014
Perhaps the riskiest mainstream movie in years, Vaughn’s love letter to spy movies may be uneven in places, but it’s ultra-violent, envelope-pushing, and fun enough to overcome the flaws. Read full review
78
Paste MagazineAndrew CrumpOct 2, 2017
Kingsman: The Secret Service may lack the sophistication of its peers, but damned if it doesn’t know how to have a good time. Read full review
75
The Seattle TimesSoren AndersenOct 2, 2017
At heart, “Kingsman” is a comedy, though granted, one with abundant dismemberments and literally mind-blowing violence. And I mean “literally” in the very strictest sense of the term. Read full review
75
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallFeb 19, 2015
Kingsman is as violently kinetic as anything Vaughn has made, a list including Kick-Ass (the good one) and Craig's U.S. breakthrough, Layer Cake. But Kingsman is also wildly uneven, often slowing its roll to stiff-upper-lip pacing necessary (or not) to create a new British secret agent movie mythology. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliFeb 17, 2015
Fast-paced with a morbid sense of humor and copious pop culture references, Kingsman breezes along at a nice clip until it gets a little bogged down during its final third. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Brad WheelerFeb 12, 2015
A lively, dashing and amusing motion picture that smartly spoofs and slyly celebrates the James Bond spy-film franchise. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTom RussoFeb 12, 2015
It’s also a movie that further establishes Vaughn as one of the edgier and more underrated genre voices of the moment, and that makes us wonder why Colin Firth hasn’t indulged in an action sideline all along. Read full review
75
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanFeb 12, 2015
Kingsman delivers on its promise of escapist fun, with a touch that alternates between Galahad’s old-school polish and Eggsy’s roguish charm. Like the rookie who knows that you have to make a few mistakes while following the master, the movie shrugs off its missteps with a wink and a smile that makes them easy to forgive. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia PuigFeb 12, 2015
Mashing up satire, subtle social commentary, clever gadgetry, keen wit and high-octane style, this spy saga — based on the comic book series The Secret Service — is bolstered by a terrific cast. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianJeff BakerFeb 12, 2015
OK, got it. It's a spy movie spoof, "Austin Powers" with more violence and less camp, a Bond parody that zeroes in on the Roger Moore era, when the sets and gadgets got bigger and the stories got dumber. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter TraversFeb 11, 2015
Kingsman is all over the place, sometimes to its detriment. But you won’t want to miss the surprises it delights in springing. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyJoe McGovernFeb 11, 2015
Speaking of young men, newcomer Taron Egerton, playing Harry’s protégé, delivers a star-making performance flush with the kind of charm and unexpected gravitas that no amount of flashy filmmaking can fake. Read full review
70
VoxEmily VanDerWerffOct 2, 2017
It's a lot of fun. But there's also something very bizarre about Kingsman. Namely, its politics are incredibly strange, wildly vacillating between a kind of egalitarian progressivism and the equivalent of shrugging wildly and saying, "Who cares! The status quo is fine!" Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriFeb 13, 2015
Kingsman is full of elaborately orchestrated violence and acrobatic stunt work, shot in fast, sinewy, CGI-enhanced long takes that push and pull our perspective this way and that. It’s all very silly and not really meant to be taken seriously, but as the story gets more and more brutal, something strange happens: We start to care for these cartoonish characters and this absurd scenario. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyFeb 12, 2015
Directed by "Kick-Ass" action specialist Matthew Vaughn with slightly more vigor than necessary and a shade less restraint than needed, it's a bit too too to be "brilliant," as the Brits say. But it's not half bad either. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenDec 27, 2014
Director Matthew Vaughn strikes an energetic balance between cartoonish action and character-driven drama... The mix grows less seamless and the story loses oomph as it barrels toward its doomsday countdown, but the cast’s dash and humor never flag. Read full review
70
VarietyPeter DebrugeDec 27, 2014
While seriousness has overtaken the Bond franchise in recent years (hardly a bad thing, mind you), Kingsman runs no such risk. Vaughn welcomes details that might seem silly in another director’s hands, such as a bulletproof umbrella or tiny microchips that can make one’s head explode, presenting everything playfully enough that plausibility isn’t a factor. Read full review
67
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerOct 2, 2017
Camping it up, Jackson is hilarious. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyFeb 11, 2015
A live-action Hammacher Schlemmer catalog of pseudo-retro novelties, spiced up with self-aware asides and over-the-top violence — slick entertainment, provided the viewer turns off whatever part of their brain is responsible for recognizing and parsing subtext. Read full review
60
The DissolveKeith PhippsFeb 12, 2015
The film never entirely figures out what it wants to do with the myth of the superspy, but at least it has fun along the way. Read full review
60
Time Out LondonTom HuddlestonJan 27, 2015
Never less than slick, precision-tooled multiplex entertainment, Kingsman hews close to the formula Vaughn and his co-writer Jane Goldman established in their superficially similar "Kick-Ass": hyperspeed action, pithy one-liners and grotesque ultraviolence. Read full review
58
The Film StageNathan BartlebaughOct 2, 2017
Kingsman: The Secret Service is a modestly entertaining romp that will probably delight those who like to see a genre turned upside down so all its lunch-money lands on the ground, and purveyors of kinetic and no-holds barred gore will also get a treat. Read full review
50
ConsequenceJustin GerberOct 2, 2017
Director Matthew Vaughn’s latest film, Kingsman: The Secret Service, is an attempt at finding a balance somewhere between Austin Powers and James Bond that doesn’t quite succeed. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerTirdad DerakhshaniFeb 18, 2015
On many levels, Kingsman has the makings of a sure-fire hit. Yet, this is one spy story even the most dedicated addicts of the genre would do well to miss. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comPeter SobczynskiFeb 13, 2015
It sounds fun in theory, I guess, and there are some entertaining moments of rude irreverence here and there but the giddiness gets a bit tedious after a while. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternFeb 12, 2015
Mr. Firth gives his all, and then some. He’s very funny, even touching, when the material allows him to be. Yet the production, directed by Matthew Vaughn (“Kick-Ass,” “X-Men: First Class”) from a screenplay he wrote with Jane Goldman, can’t contain its centrifugal force. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleFeb 12, 2015
It tries to get by on charm, and like a lot of movies, and people who make that attempt, “Kingsman” does have charm — just not enough. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreFeb 11, 2015
As February comic book movies go, this works well enough to make you glad they didn’t cook up another “Ghost Rider.” Read full review
50
The New YorkerAnthony LaneFeb 9, 2015
This is pitiful stuff, and, like the violence, it eats away at the blitheness for which Kingsman strives, leaving an aftertaste of desperation that the Connery of “Goldfinger,” say, would not have dreamed of bequeathing. The sadness is that Firth, alone in the film, does raise the spectre of those days, radiating a lightly amused reserve amid the havoc. Read full review
40
The New York TimesManohla DargisFeb 12, 2015
The problem is that Mr. Vaughn has no interest in, or perhaps understanding of, violence as a cinematic tool. He doesn’t use violence; he squanders it. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanFeb 11, 2015
Half amusing and half appalling, Matthew Vaughn’s shameless spy caper Kingsman: The Secret Service is ultimately done in by its own hypocrisy. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenFeb 11, 2015
Yet for all Vaughn’s attention to stylized details, I noticed a number of obvious continuity errors throughout to which Vaughn seems blind. Read full review
38
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsFeb 12, 2015
Kingsman is like a high-speed collision between a Jaguar and a jaywalking soccer hooligan. It’s ridiculously out of balance, and when you’re stuck in the middle, it doesn’t seem so funny. Read full review
38
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsFeb 12, 2015
Silly, sadistic and finally a little galling, Kingsman: The Secret Service answers the question: What would Colin Firth have been like if he'd played James Bond? Read full review
25
New York PostKyle SmithFeb 11, 2015
Kingsman: The Secret Service borrows the tone, story, characters and humor of “Kick-Ass,” only this time in a 007 world instead of Batman’s. Nearly everything it does, it does poorly: This one is “Weak-Ass.” Read full review
25
ObserverRex ReedFeb 11, 2015
Expensive, derivative and boring as mattress ticking masquerading as designer fabric. Read full review
25
Slant MagazineChris CabinFeb 9, 2015
It's tructured in familiar, safe terms, plays for very low stakes, and appeals to no one so much as white, male teenagers with chips on their shoulders. Read full review
20
The TelegraphTim RobeyApr 3, 2015
The more calculated Vaughn’s films are to appeal to his surprisingly rabid fan-base, the more they seem custom-built to repel everyone else. Read full review
More From This Movie

60 Critic Reviews

8.0 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 77 Project Hail Mary
2 75 Send Help
3 73 Hoppers
4 71 The Sheep Detectives
5 68 Crime 101
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL