Read Mixed User Reviews for Kingsman: The Secret Service

6

Wheelhorse01Feb 17, 2015

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. At first it is a fun twist and update to the Bond brand of spy genre. But when the unexpected violent Tarantino church scene happens, the movie takes a sudden lurch into a completely different area altogether. It tries to regain its light and fast paced momentum when the good guys decide a genocide of their own is the only option. Suddenly we are in an Austin Powers movie with heads exploding into colorful fireworks and pretty clouds and musical anthems playing in the background. The movie did not seem to know what genre it was in or how sensitive to be to death and gore. This non commitment to a theme left the movie feeling somewhat schizophrenic.
The saving grace of the Kingsmen were its actors. Firth is always on point and delivers an outstanding character. Jackson, however, was the real surprise here. Stepping out of his box for this role and giving us a goofy guy we could love to hate. Boutella's character was worthy of any Bond villain/ henchmen in the history of the genre. She made the film exciting!
The story was decent, it just could have done without the violent mass murder church and Austin Powers genocide tangents. They had a fun old school plot, that was well executed in a modern high tech way. But in the end I'd say I've waved off more folks than I've encouraged to go see it. The unexpected violence of the church scene was just off putting!… Expand

4 of 6 users found this helpful42

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5

jackmorFeb 27, 2015

A juvenile version of James Bond. Could have been so much better if they had a sense of how far is too far. Oh well. I really was enjoying it at first but then they had to go for R rateing.

7 of 11 users found this helpful74

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4

EdeltraudFeb 28, 2015

If the director could have shown a little restraint and let the sublime humor carry the movie, this mess would have been a whole lot more memorable. Unfortunately, he succumbed to the lowest common denominator of viewers. For instance, heIf the director could have shown a little restraint and let the sublime humor carry the movie, this mess would have been a whole lot more memorable. Unfortunately, he succumbed to the lowest common denominator of viewers. For instance, he missed a great opportunity with all his big over-the-top mob fight scenes...how come we didn't go back to the pub and see the homeboys having a pint -- then pow -- the fight urge comes on out of nowhere. Instead of that stupid baby in the bathroom scene to manipulate emotions.
The gratuitous anal ran counter to movie's whole philosophy of how a gentleman conducts himself. The film could have teased that ending (haha) without going for the cheap shot -- besides all those people should have been released from their cells. That's what heroes do, not that lame-ass royal ending.
Many scenes dragged on and the score sucked...the typical overuse of music to make you think something is happening when it's just a guy sitting in a plane and some other guys walking towards him.
This film could have stayed to its potentially sophisticated edge but decided to take the low road.… Expand

6 of 11 users found this helpful65

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5

TGDROXFeb 16, 2015

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. A great plot and likable characters are muddied by an unnecessary amount of F-bombs and over the top violence.

The movie had a great plot. Yeah, it was vanilla. It was plain, but people buy plain. Vanilla sells. Colin Firth uses his suave and cool to his advantage. Mark Strong barely does anything and still manages to be one of the best parts of the movie. I don’t remember seeing Taron Egerton before this movie, but he’s cool. Samuel L. Jackson’s character had a unique and believable evil plot, and he had a believable motive.

I don’t mind F-bombs in movies. An F-bomb is a great tool in the hands of a writer, and can be used to convey an extreme emotion, as it is an extreme word. That is exactly why I don’t like it in this movie. They lost their meaning and became stupid sentence filler. If you replaced every F-bomb with “shucks”, the movie would be hilarious.

The violence was completely unnecessary. I’m fine with killing in movies. Bad guys can kill a huge amount of innocent people, it makes you hate them and root for the good guy. The good guy can kill an inordinate amount of bad guys. They got what was coming to them, and the innocent people they killed are finally avenged. The grotesque violence didn’t serve its purpose. You would never try to get Hitler over as a bad guy by showing the Holocaust with “born to be wild” in the background. But the scene in the church did just that. Something awful was happening, and they played rock music, because it was supposed to be “fun”.

The movie markets itself as “fun”. I think a thesaurus is necessary for the marketing department, because “fun” is not a synonym for “stupid”. The gore-porn that happens in this movie doesn’t even serve a purpose, it’s there just to be there.

And while I’m on the subject of the church scene, I know that nobody likes Westboro, but even the most demented, sick minded psychopath wouldn’t wish for what happened in the movie to happen to someone who just happened to disagree with them, even if their opinion was stupid and wrong.

They try extremely hard, with the excess of F-bombs and over the top violence to tell you that this movie is not just another spy movie. Without the F-bombs and violence, it is just another spy movie. It’s a good spy movie, but it is vanilla. But they try to trick you in to thinking it’s not by taking you to cold stone and mixing in heath bars. Sorry, frozen heath bars get stuck in your teeth. You just ruined what could have been good ice cream. The movie itself tries to tell you it’s different, almost flat out. Sam Jackson literally says “It’s not that kind of movie”.

You’re not fooling me.… Expand

4 of 8 users found this helpful44

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5

dorightMar 3, 2015

The premise of this movie was great and I enjoyed it for the 1st hour. After that, it was all downhill. The movie is too long (2hr 9 min) and the fight scenes are interminable. When my husband stuck his hand out and mimed fast-forward, IThe premise of this movie was great and I enjoyed it for the 1st hour. After that, it was all downhill. The movie is too long (2hr 9 min) and the fight scenes are interminable. When my husband stuck his hand out and mimed fast-forward, I knew it wasn't my girlie sensitivities. (He LOVES action/fight scenes.) It could have been fun, campy, action romp, but they wasted a perfectly good idea. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, really.… Expand

3 of 6 users found this helpful33

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6

emirbudJun 2, 2015

Enjoyable movie. Refreshing. Certainly better than all those James Bond movies. Violence is bit extreme in a couple of scenes, but it is toned down by lack of too much blood. Anyway, you cannot have the plot of the movie presented properlyEnjoyable movie. Refreshing. Certainly better than all those James Bond movies. Violence is bit extreme in a couple of scenes, but it is toned down by lack of too much blood. Anyway, you cannot have the plot of the movie presented properly without the violence.… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

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6

BshopFeb 17, 2015

It knows the audience - even makes jokes about typical Bond villain vs. Bond!
Great action sequences (the church scene was ridiculous), but not much for the story honestly.
I think a better main actor that fit the badboy bill - maybe a TimIt knows the audience - even makes jokes about typical Bond villain vs. Bond!
Great action sequences (the church scene was ridiculous), but not much for the story honestly.
I think a better main actor that fit the badboy bill - maybe a Tim Hiddleston or Andrew Garfield would have worked better I think.
Colin Firth does a great job, as does the incredible Michael Caine (although limited in time), and SLJ is a treat as well. All others are second fiddle.
In summary, see it in theaters. if you like Bond-like spy movies. I would wait for it on VOD or Redbox to be surprised.… Expand

1 of 3 users found this helpful12

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6

ToffenuffFeb 28, 2015

Pretty good cast. Lots of forced humor, though there are some truly funny bits here and there. Action is meh... I was not a fan of the fast-forwarding action parts, but the slow-mo action was nice and some of the fight choreography was sweet.Pretty good cast. Lots of forced humor, though there are some truly funny bits here and there. Action is meh... I was not a fan of the fast-forwarding action parts, but the slow-mo action was nice and some of the fight choreography was sweet. For the most part the fights were a let down though. There's significant gore/dismemberment. Theres a sprinkling of parkour in here as well. Had difficulty a handful of times understanding what the bloody hell the actors were saying, but it was for the most part understandable. Some of the dry British humor and jokes went over my head (and most of the audiences, judging from the amount of laughter at some parts and complete lack of them in others where it was apparently supposed to be a funny scene).

Overall, not terrible but not great.… Expand

1 of 3 users found this helpful12

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6

LagamedogMar 3, 2015

This movie was a decent movie that made fun of the old spy movies cliques but in a teen age twist . The villain was unique and interesting and the gadgets were good

1 of 3 users found this helpful12

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4

DaveTheArtguyMar 6, 2015

I loved the setup, exposition, execution and concept of this movie in many ways which is why I'm so disappointed with how Kingsman ended up going lowbrow so often. What could have been a great start to an exciting new super-spy series isI loved the setup, exposition, execution and concept of this movie in many ways which is why I'm so disappointed with how Kingsman ended up going lowbrow so often. What could have been a great start to an exciting new super-spy series is dragged down by tacky, sophomoric humor and gleeful violence that sometimes goes so absurdly off the rails that it overwhelms the excitement and the story. There were several times that my eyes rolled so far back that they practically fell out of my head.

I understand that Sam Jackson's silly lisp and over the top scenery-chewing were part of an attempt to update the James Bond super-villain but for me it was distracting and outright annoying, causing me to dread his time on screen.

Sadly, if Kingsman gets the sequel that it so clearly expects it's unlikely that they will use that opportunity to balance the elements; they'll have to out-do this film's excesses to appeal to it's intended audience of teenage boys who likely won't object.… Expand

1 of 3 users found this helpful12

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5

RobogeekFeb 18, 2015

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Some funny lines, some amazing stunts, all sorts of annoying holes in the plot.

They lost me at thirty seconds into the film...five soldiers are questioning a terrorist tied to a chair and *surprise* he has an explosive vest. One soldier jumps on him *boom*. Both bad guy and good guy seem to be intact, yet the other soldiers don't bother to check to see if the soldier is dead, they just take off their helmets and "dammit, he was a fine man, he died to save us all". I would think that checking for explosives would be fairly basic thing to do before questioning someone, and overall if someone stops moving, it's often premature to start saying what a great guy they were before, I don't know, checking for pulse?

Then of course, as a reward for jumping on the baddie, the son of the soldier years later gets a shot to be James Bond Junior. Of course normal training would be boring, so let's send him to a cross between hunger-games and hogwarts and make it a winner-takes-all competition. Why train and prepare eight fairly good agents when instead you can make it a contest so only one can be the winner. Harry, Katniss? That you? And why teach them to, I don't know, throw a punch or shoot when instead you can flood their dormitory for no reason to see if they can survive or see if they can precision parachute and land on the logo of the school. Of course for no apparent reason they are issued a puppy and (spoiler alert) the final challenge is they are handed a gun and they have to shoot their own dog.

Does this film have a villian? Yes, Samuel L Jackson with an annoying lisp who invites the super-spy to his mansion and for some reason serves McDonalds to the super-proper british super spy as some sort of attempt at a racist joke..."Well I say old chum, those charming black yanks..." He has a homidical assistant who has prosethetic feet that are swords.

The conflict of the story is that the evil 'Valentine' gives free Sim cards to everyone, then manages to convince all the world leaders to join him and have a little circuit board sewn into their neck. Spoiler alert, the sim card turns everyone into a homiciadal maniac and the circuit board seems to have two purposes, it's a tracking/listening device and it makes your head explode. Spoiler alert, everyone turns into a homicidal maniac and those foolish old government leaders all have their heads explode (and it's colorful too).

This movie aims to be a kid film, yet, let me count, we see a whole church full of people violently killed, the mentor to the hero--he is shot and killed point-blank, the villian is impaled on some three foot sword thing, there are the typical '500 guards who cannot hit the side of a barn with an automatic weapon' yet die instantly when the hero hits them, and of course we have the head of every world leader explode.

This is a long film where if they cut about 1/3 of the scenes and spent about 1/3 more on writing a better plot, they would really have had something. This is one of those films where if you were really stoned, you would just totally be lost and have no idea what was going on, yet you would enjoy it.… Expand

1 of 3 users found this helpful12

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4

SunluvvaMar 22, 2015

Funny, visually appealing and entertaining, I was willing to forgive a host of obvious directorial concessions to the intended 14-year-old chav boy audience until the gratuitous anal sex scene at the end ruined it – vulgar, unnecessary, andFunny, visually appealing and entertaining, I was willing to forgive a host of obvious directorial concessions to the intended 14-year-old chav boy audience until the gratuitous anal sex scene at the end ruined it – vulgar, unnecessary, and totally contradictory to the central message of what being a “Gentleman / Real Man” is all about.

A real pity it f^… Expand

1 of 3 users found this helpful12

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4

MichaelTataliasMar 13, 2015

Could have been really great - but pointlessly/unnecessarily graphic violence demeans it.
Trying too hard to be like Game of Thrones or 300 - limits the market
The Firth, Jackson, & Caine bits (i.e. script) - brilliant!

1 of 4 users found this helpful13

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6

FallsDownzFeb 15, 2015

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. "Kingsman : The Secret Service is not a perfect action movie or deliver something new , but for sure it delivers a lot of fun "

After a disaster start of Hollywood action movie of the past couple months for example Jupiter Ascending , Taken 3 or Blackhat , we're hoping that the director Matthew Vaughn who brought us a lot of great movies like Stardust , Kick-Ass or X-Men : First Class will come to change this bad flow of Hollywood Action movie .

First thing first , this movie is pretty fun to watch and i love the decision of Matthew Vaughn to embrace that "Over the Top" of this movie and make the movie out kind of a mix between brutal bloody action scene and the black comedy stuff which makes this movie pretty unique.

One other things that need to be talk is the Action Scene , it is really great and it proof that Matthew Vaughn can really directed the action scene well with his beautiful camera angle , camera movement and the flow of his characters movement just feels so alive that make the action scene always feels really cool.

But i have to say that Kingsman : The Secret Service is not a perfect movie , with it's plot is pretty repetitive and predictable.

The Characters them selves is also pretty repetitive and kind a boring with the same back story that has been used for like 100 times already , for example the mentor who wants to redeem his sin in the pass by taken the new crew , the bad guys that sees the human evil and try to "safe the world" in his way , the stepfather who always do bad things try to harm to the hero and his mom , a kid who lose something in the past and has to redeem himself and so on , these characters are so repetitive and also not set-up well enough to make me care about them that much.

I also like the point of the movie that tries to satire the politics , class of society and Global Warming problems , unfortunately these point of the movie has not been dig deep enough to make it memorable or make me feels like these point of the movie are actually really really big deal in the real world , which is kind of a shame.

Overall Kingsman : The Secret Service is not a perfect movie by any mean , it still have a repetitive plot , repetitive boring characters and sometimes the bad set-up of story by Matthew Vaughn , But even then it is still a fun movie to watch especially with it's amazing action scene and over the top black comedy style.… Expand

1 of 5 users found this helpful14

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6

JacobMar 14, 2015

This movie is stupid. The action is cartoony, blood, excessively violent, and over the top. Most of the characters in this film are clichés and the story is filled with tons of tropes and clichés that you’ve seen before but its so much bloodyThis movie is stupid. The action is cartoony, blood, excessively violent, and over the top. Most of the characters in this film are clichés and the story is filled with tons of tropes and clichés that you’ve seen before but its so much bloody fun! Samuel L. Jackson is fun and over the top as the villain. The action is a blast to watch for all the reasons I just said and the humor is good providing some good laughs and clever satire. This is a film that I didn’t expect much out of and I’m glad I did because I was pleasantly surprised by how much fun it was. Every year that is that big dumb action movie that is a lot of fun last year it was Guardians of the Galaxy, the year before it was Pacific Rim, this year it is Kingsmen. We are in the dry season and dumping ground of film where nothing great comes out as I eagerly await the two or three good films that will come out in the summer while waiting for the last quarter when all the best films will likely come out. In such a time a fun film like Kingsmen is welcomed with upon arms. This probably won’t be on my Top 10 list this year but will definitely get an honorable mention because it was a fun movie with a lot of memorable scenes, jokes, and characters.… Expand

0 of 2 users found this helpful02

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6

dyshpoMar 20, 2015

one thing sadly missing from this film is a bit of uniqueness of Iggsy . I think it could have been more original with a troubled young lesbian. Some of the CGI needed more work on but this was more of a endeavor than other MARV films. Withone thing sadly missing from this film is a bit of uniqueness of Iggsy . I think it could have been more original with a troubled young lesbian. Some of the CGI needed more work on but this was more of a endeavor than other MARV films. With all the anal jokes Iggsy could've of been a deep in the closet gay young man maybe they could explore more of this subtext in next films . Overall well done… Expand

0 of 3 users found this helpful03

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6

diogomendesMay 24, 2015

"Kingsman: The Secret Service" has exhilarating choreography and witty performances, but the movie plays it too safe, which is kind of disappointing. Still fun to watch though...

6.5/10.

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

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6

mboner1May 3, 2015

Mildly entertaining. Was a bit long given the weakness of the premise of the movie. Lost a point for the stupidity of what the sim cards made people do.

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

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6

heathermFeb 23, 2015

Kingsman: The Secret Service was definitely a fun movie, with elaborately cartoonish violence and fun stunts. Samuel L. Jackson was absolutely amazing as the villain, and his rapport with Colin Firth was wonderful--their sharedKingsman: The Secret Service was definitely a fun movie, with elaborately cartoonish violence and fun stunts. Samuel L. Jackson was absolutely amazing as the villain, and his rapport with Colin Firth was wonderful--their shared acknowledgement of spy movie tropes made for some great meta moments. However, I found the plot wasn't quite compelling enough to keep me engaged for the long-ish runtime, especially since the ending is a bit drawn out. It straddled the line of satire and sincerity in an interesting way, mocking and embracing the genre's tropes simultaneously. It was a solid movie with a lot of amazing sequences, but for me it just didn't quite come together. However, I should freely admit that spy movies are not my favourite genre, so there were probably references I missed out on. Still, an enjoyable romp-y kind of movie with fun action and dialogue.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

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5

DrD1983Apr 9, 2015

Gratuitous pornography at the end. Spoiled the movie for me. I was totally enjoying it up until that point. I wish movie makers would understand it was unnecessary and now I can't buy the movie. Otherwise it was very fun. If it didn'tGratuitous pornography at the end. Spoiled the movie for me. I was totally enjoying it up until that point. I wish movie makers would understand it was unnecessary and now I can't buy the movie. Otherwise it was very fun. If it didn't have that, I would've ignored the cussing, rated the movie highly and bought it. It was OK for teenagers to cuss in it but adults should not.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

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5

dashtagMay 4, 2017

This is the spy movie no body knew was coming, or wanted. People may have enjoyed this, but this Bond Spoof is one of the most violent and offensive movies I've ever seen. There were hardly any jokes in this movie, and when there were theyThis is the spy movie no body knew was coming, or wanted. People may have enjoyed this, but this Bond Spoof is one of the most violent and offensive movies I've ever seen. There were hardly any jokes in this movie, and when there were they didn't crack a laugh. Maybe once or twice. What a waste of a talented cast, yet so cheesy and entertaining, you get tired of it all! Racial jokes, offending religion, violence, language, product placement MAKE IT STOP!… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

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5

MetaVinceJul 27, 2015

This movie could have appealed to a huge audience if it was PG-13 like the Marvel movies. Instead of respecting the classy Kingsman, it plays to the main character's teenage hooligan attitude and adds some vile stuff like derriere-themedThis movie could have appealed to a huge audience if it was PG-13 like the Marvel movies. Instead of respecting the classy Kingsman, it plays to the main character's teenage hooligan attitude and adds some vile stuff like derriere-themed ending (the movie should have been called 'The Assmen - Revenge of the Horny Hooligan'... oi!). Michael Caine did what?(Right....) A Hip Hop Henchman, wow (Kingsman 2 vs The Evil Capitalist Theme Park CEO). Hillbillies, Margaret Thatcher zinger, just not necessary, not cheeky or funny, just slightly vile. Not a date movie, not a kid movie, not for adults, perfect for 17-23 males, hence the 10 stars from teenage males.… Expand