Kingsman: The Secret Service

Gone, it seems, are the days when film spoofs simply poked fun at a movie or genre. These days, many parodies (the good ones, anyway) are nearly as good as any picture in the genre they’re ribbing. 

Kingsman: The Secret Service edges the dial a little further still from parody to the real thing. There’s plenty of content sending up spy pictures, savaging of current events and famous figures, and just regular bits of humor. But taken as a legitimate action film, it’s quite good. Good enough, in fact, that I’m somewhat reluctant to even call it a spoof at all. Its comedic elements aside, it’s as exciting as any comic book adaptation or summer action flick, and the plot, while (refreshingly) not as insistent on brutal realism as the genre’s been of late, isn’t bad at all.

Loosely based on a comic by Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons, the movie follows the exploits of Kingsman, a well-dressed top secret English espionage agency as deadly as they are gentlemanly. After the death of an agent (Jack Davenport) in the field, talented but troubled British youth Eggsy (Taron Egerton), the son of a former member of Kingsman, is approached by agent Harry Hart (Colin Firth) with an opportunity to join the organization. As Eggsy goes through rigorous physical, mental, and social training, the agency investigates a plot by tech billionaire Richmond Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson) to wipe out the human race.

Few clichés are left untouched, from the outlandish world domination plotting, to the ridiculous gadgetry, to the equally ridiculous near-invincibility of Jason Bourne and his ilk. The characters even know the clichés in which they’re steeped and point them out. It’s a lot of fun seeing talented actors like Firth, Mark Strong, and Michael Caine send up their serious demeanor, and Jackson is clearly having a ball eviscerating not only larger-than-life Bond villains but also the archetype of the “cool billionaire.” And as the main protagonist, Egerton has affably snarky comic chops, as well as an everyman heroic appeal.

That appeal, and the veteran cast’s skill and presence, serve the picture well when it blurs the line between spoof and actual spy movie. Scenes where the satirical bent is relaxed work rather well, particularly the training sequences in the first half. A lot of times, the wit and humor is supplemental to the action, not the focus. Much of the action scenes are aiming for parody, of the blurry slow-motion, kinetic violence of superhero fare, or the ability of superspies to take down a whole room of people with no effort or injury. But while they do succeed as comedy, they’re as good as or better than any movie playing it straight. And when they go to ridiculous and sometimes macabre extremes, the film has its sense of humor to fall back on. There’s also one sequence that reminds the audience that there’s nothing like good old-fashioned stunt work. 

Kingsman is very funny in a lot of places. However, it feels less like a comedy than the kind of film that’s gone extinct in the wake of grim and gritty spy movies like the Bourne series. It’s so much fun that it almost feels fresh and new.