Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)

Kingsman: The Secret Service is a very deliberate film, seeking to offer a light-hearted, satirized take on the spy genre. This is accomplished without any sacrifice in self-awareness or fun factor.

All the standard spy tropes are present: agents who bear the identity of an inscrutable gentleman, overly elaborate technology to aid in their missions, and a world ending scheme enacted by a peculiar villain. The film is so jam packed with these tropes that the telegraph becomes unmistakable; the film is taking the subgenre it belongs to, dialing its qualities up to 11, and reveling in the resultant chaos.

The church scene, when Colin Firth's character has lost agency and gone berserk (along with the rest of the building) is the absolute highlight of the film. The cinematography is superb, as the camera grows wheels and wings to follow Galahad's frantic frenzy through the church.

The physical performances involved in creating the brawl are significant and fight choreography is immaculate, with Colin Firth smoothly swinging and firing in every direction. The sequence is an exercise in stylized violence and creativity, with everything from multi-stage pistol whips to books as weapons and skewers to the jaw. The sequence is enriched by the fact that the film acknowledges its absurdity and then leans into it. The music choice of "Free Bird" constantly elevates the energy of the sequence with us only finding rhythmic calm as the action subsides.

Other action sequences stand out such as the showdown between Eggsy and the delightfully overdesigned villainess Gazelle. Once again, the film refuses to back down from ridiculousness, pitting our hero against a woman with lethal blades for legs.

Softening some of the insanity, comedy makes itself at home throughout the entire film. Some jokes are direct, such as when Eggsy is offered sexual favors for saving the world (extended cut only). But others are more rooted in characterization, such as the strange lisp and aversion to blood exhibited by our otherwise conventionally evil villain.

Those looking for more narrative depth and complexity would be wise to heed the words of our villain, later quoted by Eggsy, "this ain't that kind of movie bruv". A worthy defense (first put forward by Harrison Ford about Star Wars), it does not fully account for the film's weaknesses. Chief among them is the fact that the film's identity strangely enough undermines one of its goals which is to establish meaningful stakes. When everything is a joke and an exaggeration, even threats of danger and violence are taken less seriously.

Nonetheless, never understated and with comedy and action that are well executed and exhilarating, Kingsman stands as a solid modern interpretation of the spy genre.