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Critics reviews

KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE

Matthew Vaughn United States, 2014
If popular films reflect the politics of the era in which they are made, then I guess we get the multiplex entertainment we deserve. The climactic sequence of Kingsman, a sub–Zack Snyder abortion of an action film, absolutely dripping with fascistic smugness, features Colin Firth committing genocide in a church. It's a gorefest that aims for an Inglourious liberal catharsis, but instead proves as powerful a calling card for the religious right as anything Mel Gibson would contemplate directing.
January 11, 2016
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Like a good comic book artist, Vaughn packs the frames with eye-popping detail, and there's an infectious creative energy to his violent action sequences, but the film's hatefulness is hard to stomach.
February 18, 2015
This film is a lot of zero-calorie flash that makes Guy Ritchie look like John Frankenheimer. Ritchie is insufferably derivative, but at least his commitment to masculinity can be sexy. His best capers are hung, while Vaughn's pants feel stuffed. Vaughn does have a competence that tends to elude a filmmaker like Ritchie. Kingsman is well oiled... After a while, though, it all starts to repeat itself, even Boutella's high-speed fights.
February 17, 2015
Kingsman: The Secret Service is a not-so-serious spy movie, a refreshing change from brooding tormented James Bond circa Skyfall. The film is stylish and fun, though its tone shifts alarmingly. The best way to describe it is to note that director Matthew Vaughn made both X-Men: First Class and Kick-Ass – and this new film puts a sly British twist on the youthful heroics of the former, then succumbs to the outrageous comic violence of the latter.
February 16, 2015
More than any other director, Vaughn has found a cinematic analogue for the intricacy of the comic-book page. 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.
February 13, 2015
Kingsman: The Secret Service is 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.
February 12, 2015
The New York Times
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. Some directors overdo it with crane shots, close-ups and dissolves, but Mr. Vaughn gorges on splatter, splashing rooms with red until it's the only color and emotional note left.
February 12, 2015
The main reason Kingsman: The Secret Service leaves you feeling rooked is that it wastes a once-in-an-actor's-lifetime opportunity. Casting Colin Firth as a lethal gentleman super-spy and stranding him without elegant derring-do is like catching lightning in a bottle, then opening the stopper and letting it flash out.
February 11, 2015
As the film launches into the ludicrous climax, it becomes clear that it's merely acting tough and clever. Underneath the cursing and digitized blood, Kingsman is structured 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.
February 9, 2015