“Kingsman: The Secret Service”: Matthew Vaughn delivers again

Premise: When a spot in the Kingsman agency becomes vacant, agent Harry Hart aka Galahad (Colin Firth) recruits his deceased friend’s son “Eggsy” (Taron Egerton) to become an applicant for the job. Meanwhile, off-kilter billionaire Richmond Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson) attracts the attention of Hart when it looks like he’s up to no good.

I’m a huge fan of Matthew Vaughn. So far, he’s directed Layer Cake, Stardust, Kick-Ass, and X-Men: First Class, all great movies that deserve all the praise they get, and in the case of Stardust, much more. I also love Colin Firth, Samuel L. Jackson, Mark Strong, and Michael Caine. Bringing them all together should create a really exciting film. Alas, I haven’t been looking forward to Kingsman very much. I thought the first trailer was pretty bad, and even though the subsequent marketing improved, I wasn’t completely sold. Also, even though I love Wanted and Kick-Ass, I’m not really a fan of their source comics written by Mark Millar. Something by him needs a skill team to adapt it to the screen, and while Matthew Vaughn is one of my favorite directors I always say that even the best have some bad films in them. Fortunately, Kingsman is far from a bad film. In fact, it’s the best of the year so far.

Pros: When Colin Firth’s name is mentioned, it tends to evoke images of romantic male leads or British royalty, not that of a total badass. But I always maintained that if any part of Kingsman was going to work, it would be him. Sure enough, Colin Firth is awesome in Kingsman. For those of you who thought his casting would be a distraction, think again. Firth is completely believable as an intelligent, efficient spy. He’s cold and calculating, but also a debonair, charming man with a taste for the finest clothes in all of Britain. Not only that, he’s a ruthless killing machine! He’s pretty much a combination of all the incarnations of James Bond rolled into one character, and it works perfectly.

But Firth’s not the only one that impresses. Pretty much all the actors were great in their respective roles. I’m predicting that Samuel L. Jackson will be one the best remembered parts of Kingsman. As Valentine Richmond, he turns the signature Jackson charm all the way up and never stops being entertaining. Mark Strong was also a great addition as Merlin, who’s a sort of pro-active version of Q from the classic Bond films. But the biggest surprise is Taron Egerton, playing our young protagonist “Eggsy” Unwin. I was worried about Egerton going into the film. In all the trailers, he looked like he’d be the weak link. I could not have been more wrong. Egerton makes a punk like Eggsy a very endearing character, and seeing him live up to his potential is a really fun experience.

The action was so awesome! Look, I knew Matthew Vaughn could do action. Kick-Ass is proof enough. But what he was able to put together here is on a whole new level. It’s not quite on par with something like John Wick, but it’s really exciting nonetheless. The action was also downright insane. I don’t think I’ve seen crazier action done in such a cool way since Wanted. Special mention goes to the battle in the church, which shows the not only can Colin Firth pull Britain through World War II, he can be the toughest guy in the world.

On top of being a great action movie, Kingsman is also a great comedy. Whenever it tries to be funny, it passes with flying colors. Part of the humor comes from the dialogue and its delivery. Hearing Firth, Egerton, Jackson, and the rest deliver witty one-liners is funny every time. But Kingsman is also funny because of how ridiculous it is. It’s essentially a Roger Moore-era Bond film taken to its logical extreme, being so over-the-top that it comes back around and becomes high art. The climactic set-piece is probably one of the funniest things moviegoers will see all year.

Cons: Not everything about Kingsman was great. I thought the CGI was pretty poor. I get that it was supposed to be ridiculous, but that’s not excuse for looking bad. There were some parts were the action was a little disorienting, but it usually sorted itself out in the end. As a sidetone, if you didn’t like Kick-Ass, you might not like Kingsman. Mark Millar’s work is incredibly un-PC, and even though it’s always softened for film there’s some parts that his detractors might consider cringe-worthy.

I don’t want to give anything away, but Kingsman has a plot point that worked great for a standalone film, but puts the filmmakers in a tight spot if they want to make sequels. If you see the movie, you’ll know exactly what I mean.

Verdict: I was afraid that Kingsman might be Matthew Vaughn’s first miss, but I really misjudged it. In fact, it might be my most pleasant surprise in a long time. With a stellar cast, action, and humor, what more could you ask for?

Score: 8.5/10

“The Imitation Game” Review

Biopics have got to be among the hardest films to make. Sure, they can turn out great, but more often than not they can turn into shameless promotion pieces for their subjects. You’ll also be raked over the coals by angry historians if you don’t get the most minute details exactly right. Fortunately, The Imitation Game has always shown a lot of potential. The story of Alan Turing’s breaking of the Enigma code is nothing short of fascinating, as are his personal struggles. The film has also garnered a solid cast led by the very talented Benedict Cumberbatch. When word got out that The Imitation Game could be an Oscar contender, my anticipation increased ever more. After seeing the film for myself, I can confidently say that it deserves all the praise it gets.

Premise: When World War II breaks out, Britain’s code-breakers are assembled to break Nazi intelligence codes. When new arrival Alan Turing (Cumberbatch) sees his coworkers’ lack of progress, he goes to work building a machine that could break the codes faster than any human ever could.

Pros: The Imitation Game wouldn’t have worked without a good leading performance, but Benedict Cumberbatch takes it even further and makes Alan Turing one of the most compelling characters of the year. The real-life Turing was a fascinating guy, and Cumberbatch (with the help of great direction) brings his personality and all of his subtle nuances to life. Even though he’s initially a cold and arrogant man, everything from his line delivery to his facial expressions to his body language is also very entertaining and endears you to him. It was an excellent performance that almost single-handedly made the movie work, and I’ll be shocked if Cumberbatch doesn’t get nominated for Best Actor come Oscar season.

This is clearly Cumberbatch’s show, but he’s not the only one who gets a chance to shine. Keira Knightley is great as Joan Clarke, the only woman on the team and the one who makes Turing come out of his shell. Charles Dance and Mark Strong don’t have a lot of screentime, but nonetheless give solid performances as the military higher-ups that Turing and his fellow code-breakers answer to. Even Matthew Goode, who I’ve never been particularly impressed with, gives what might be his best performance to date as cryptanalyst Hugh Alexander. All in all, everybody did nice work.

When you’ve got a true story this good, you’d better not screw it up. Well, director Morten Tyldum and writer Graham Moore have taken the life of Alan Turing and told a very interesting story. The main draw is probably going to be Turing’s work building his code-breaking machine, and that makes for great drama. But at its heart The Imitation Game is the story of a deeply complicated man and his personal life. He may be a hardass, but he also desperately wants to have friends. On another note, Turing must also conceal his SPOILER ALERT homosexuality, which was illegal in Britain until the 60s. All of this makes for a story that is both inspiring and heartbreaking.

Cons: There’s not a lot to dislike about The Imitation Game, but it does have a few minor issues. The film uses a framing device that allows it to jump back and forth between time periods, and it doesn’t always work. Certain scenes have awkward transitions to events that happened decades before or after, and sometimes the non-linearity of the story causes it to drag. I’m not going to say that going the non-linear route was the wrong choice, but the way the story was framed didn’t always work and there were times when the pacing suffered.

Verdict: Even though I had high expectations for The Imitation Game, I’m surprised at just how much I loved it. Folks, make sure not to miss this one. Even if you don’t know anything about Alan Turing (I didn’t before trailer inspired me to look into him), this is a fantastic movie with a lot of great performances and plenty of heart.

Score: 9/10 (going back to numerical scores)