 There have always been dozens of spoofs and love letters to the Bond franchise. The Johnny English films being among the ones I really enjoy. You just gotta love Rowan Atkinson. They awesome power films? Well, I never was much of a fan. You only need to trace back history to all the countless spy movies that spawned during the 60s spy craze to conclude that pretty much every spy franchise out there owes its existence to Bond. But if you would ask me about my favorite comedic spy franchise to Bayhomage to Bond, then in recent years my answer to that, without a doubt, is the Kingsman franchise. This franchise started out in 2012 as a comic book series about a young British street kid slowly turning into a suave spy by the mentoring of a sophisticated secret agent. You don't need long to find out that the series is a love letter to Bond as the writers admitted they based the street kid turned suave spy story on the relationship between Connery and director Terence Young, who Bond fans all know mentored Connery in the same respect. Heck, even former Bond Pierce Brosnan makes an appearance in this comic mentioning his former job playing 007. So it wouldn't take long for these comics to be adapted into a feature film, which is exactly what director Matthew Farn realized as well, who also happens to be a big Bond fan, especially of the more comedic Roger Moore era. He even made sure that this is mentioned in his film. You like spy movies, Mr. DeVille? Nowadays, they're all a little serious for my taste. The old ones. Marvelous. Give me a far-fetched theatrical plot any day. The old Bond movies. Oh, man. When I was a kid, that was my dream job. Gentlemen spy. I mainly knew about Matthew Farn's work from 2010's over-the-top film Kick-Ass and quickly became a fan. A handgun bullet travels at more than 700 miles an hour. So at close range like this, the force is gonna take you off your feet for sure, but it's really no more painful than a punch in the chest. You're gonna be fine, baby doll. So in case you were ever wondering who directed Kingsman, you only really need to look at the first few seconds of the film to quickly realize that this is Matthew Farn's work. Instantly, you recognize his unique combination of conveying a comedic style in the most badass way. And if you like that style, ho ho ho, you're in for a treat with Kingsman. So the film starts out in the Middle East in 1997. We are introduced to four Kingsman agents who are on a mission to stop some terrorist. As they question the guy, he arms a grenade, and one of the Kingsman agents jumps on him to save the life of the others. One of these agents is called Agent Galahad, or Harry Hart, played by Colin Ferd, who gets the difficult task of telling the sacrificing agent's wife that she just became a widow. He also takes a little moment for their young little son, Eggsy, who he gives a special metal necklace that has an emergency number he can refer to, engraved on the back. And thus the movie starts off, and with that music he just can't help but feel intrigued by what this film is going to throw at you and how the story will unfold. We now move to the present day in Argentina, 17 years later. A professor played by Luke Skywalker is kidnapped when a Kingsman agent walks in and starts kicking the shit out of all the guards and immediately we are exposed to Matthew Vaughn's signature over the top, yet badass style that he somehow manages to blend together in the most satisfying way. I mean, this guy is literally blowing off fingers with his silence pistol while casually sipping some whiskey after headshotting another guard, and yet he can't help but feel like, Holy shit, this stuff is frickin' awesome! And if you think that that already gives you kind of an idea of the crazy tone of this film, you better think again, as the agent is literally cut in half only seconds later by this film's henchwoman, Gazelle, who has sharp metal feet. Welcome to Kingsman folks, strap yourselves in. Gazelle proceeds in quickly covering up all the bodies for the main villain who ironically cannot handle any form of violence or blood, meet Richmond Valentine, played by Samuel L. Jackson. So immediately it's noticeable that Valentine talks with a lisp, which was a choice that Jackson made for the character himself. He said, oh yeah, some of the baddest people on the planet talk with a lisp, like Mike Tyson. And I like that he gave his character a memorable distinction. So we learn that the Kingsman agency is based up in a tailor's shop on Savile Row, which we know was where Connery's tailor was based too. Where we are measured for this bud? My tailor, Savile Row. So meanwhile Harry, who is still an agent 17 years later, proceeds to the head of the Kingsman's secret service, Arthur, who is played by none other than Michael Cain, who is essentially the Kingsman's version of M. They drink a toast along with the other Kingsman agents in the field as the commemoration of the fallen Kingsman agent. We are also properly introduced to Merlin, who is played by Mark Strong. So now the agents all get to propose a new suitable candidate to carry the now reopened codename of Agent Lancelot. So that moves us to our now grown-up main character, Eggsy, who is played by Terran Edgerton. For me, like many people, this was the first time I saw Edgerton in anything, but I quickly grew to like him. It also helps that he's pretty much around the same age as me and plays a likable character that would have been my dream part if I were to ever play in a film myself. We quickly learn that his mom is now dating some low-life asshole and that they're pretty much living in the gutter right now. As Eggsy is out in the pub with his friends, he quickly gets into trouble with some stereotypical London street hooligans with amusing accents. Oi! You think you can check shit about us? We won't do nothing just because our governor's banging Eggsy's mom. So Eggsy just decides to do some everyday street kid stuff. You know, stealing the dude's car, making 15 donuts in front of him and joyriding while mocking the police. So that does not end too well for him. Eggsy is facing some major jail time and with nothing to lose, he decides to call the emergency number from the metal necklace that Harry gave him 17 years ago. And within only a few minutes, he's released without any trouble and he meets the man himself. So Harry tells Eggsy about his father that saved his life and we learn that he's been keeping close tabs on Eggsy and knows all about his potential. Because Eggsy has had success both in intelligence at school as well as physically in the Marines. Yet he dropped out everywhere, mainly due to his current environment that doesn't seem to hold anything promising for his future. Then the group of London street fucks show up again, ready to fight Eggsy for stealing that car. But Harry kindly asks them to leave them alone so they can finish his lovely pint of Guinness. Of course they don't take him serious at all, which is kind of a mistake. Man is... make a... man. If you ever had any doubts whether or not good old Colin Fert would be a suitable action hero before seeing this film, then look no further as we get one of the most badass fights in the film. Colin Fert is like Roger Moore's bond with the fighting skills of Daniel Craig's bond on steroids. Again, we kick into the overtop Matthew Vaughn mode with teeth flying by in slow motion, umbrellas turning into bulletproof shields, but this stuff is filmed so extremely well. It's not exactly Jason Bourne's shaky cam fighting. It's very quick, yet easy to follow. And again, you just can't help but feel like, holy shit, this stuff is fricking awesome. It definitely is one of the many highlights of the film and something you simply should experience for yourself. So after that badass fight, Harry leaves Eggsy with a tracer and later instructs him to meet him at the Kingsman Taylor shop. After nearly being killed by his asshole stepfather and doing some impressive parkour skills too, once again dodged those street goons, he meets up with Harry, who proposes an opportunity for him to become a Kingsman's secret agent and takes him to their hidden HQ. Independent international intelligence agency operating at the highest level of discretion. Ah yes, the highest level of discretion. I guess that's why you beat the shit out of all those guys in a public bar. But hey, matters make if man. Eggsy is taken on board of an underground tube shooting them up to the secret Kingsman mansion where Eggsy is immediately placed within the recruiting process for the next agent Lancelot which just happens to be taking place on the exact day that Eggsy was calling the emergency number. What if he didn't though? Would Harry just simply count on the fact that he would get in trouble and call this number exactly the day or would he just have proposed someone else? Anyway, you can tell that Eggsy clearly is the odd one out in the group of rich kids and snobs that the other agents proposed and I can't help but feel like this section of the film really reminds me of Men in Black. You know, in the way that a group of recruits is brought together to compete for a position in a top secret agency that nobody really knows about and the main character is the odd one out in the group completely the same premise. But whereas in Men in Black that was basically just filling in some forms and going to a shooting range here in Kingsman a large portion of the film is focused on a training through a series of dangerous tests that are all very fun to watch like how the room is flooded with water at night and the recruits quickly have to work together in order to survive. Somehow they quickly know to use their shower heads and plug the tubes into the toilet to get an unlimited air supply. And good thing they are aware of that I would have totally drowned straight away. It's a pretty impressive scene. Luckily XZ saves the day by breaking an indoor window which he knows isn't a mirror. Dude has some serious underwater punching power. Meanwhile Harry is sent out to Professor Luke Skywalker to learn who is behind the killing of ancient Lancelot back in Argentina at the beginning of the film but before the professor can even say something his fricking head explodes due to an implant and it has something to do with the villain scheme of Valentine. We don't really get to learn all the secrets behind it quite yet but throughout the movie we are shown that it has something to do with the mass production of free SIM cards allowing free calling and internet for the whole world as well as convincing important politicians such as the Swedish Prime Minister and President Obama to come aboard into his secret plan that we don't know anything about yet at this stage of the film. Meanwhile XZ's training continues involving the choosing of a dog, a sniper rival test as well as an intelligence test. Eventually he makes his way into the skydiving exercise in which he and the recruits are instructed to land at a drop zone. Throughout these tests it's clear that XZ has some chemistry with fellow recruit Roxy who is scared to jump at first but he convinces her to just do it anyway. Somehow they still make it to the rest of the group in the air even though the plane was probably already miles away because they jumped several seconds later but hey, movie logic. It doesn't distract you at all though because this is yet again another fantastic action scene but this wouldn't be a Kingsman exercise if this was just an easy skydiving exercise. Oh no, Merlin comes in with another big plot twist. Any idiot can read a heads-up display. A Kingsman agent needs to be able to solve problems under pressure like what to do when one of your group has no parachute. So once again the recruits are forced into a deadly situation and have to work together in order to save each other's life. And again this makes for one of the best most nil-biting moments in the film. You can really feel the tension as they get closer and closer to the ground and more and more recruits open their parachute. Only Roxy and Axie are the ones that are left and we learn that Axie is the one without the parachute forced to hold on to Roxy's legs at the last 300 feet and it is all just brilliant filmmaking. So now Roxy and Axie and Rick's asshole Charlie are the only three recruits left in the race. Of course it turns out that Axie had a working parachute anyway and this was just another typical Kingsman test. Meanwhile, Harry is sent down on a mission to find out more about Valentine and has dinner with him at his mansion and is treated with some of America's finest culinary delicacies. A Big Mac menu. There is some fun playful little dialogue between the two Harry clearly suspecting that he's a bad guy and Valentine clearly suspecting that he's a spy. So all Harry really finds out is that he has a link to some church in Kentucky. Well Valentine puts a biological tracking device in Harry's wine to learn more about him as well. Next in line for the training exercises is the seducing of a pretty girl in a club. And now they're speaking my language, I can't wait to see how this plays out. Of course Charlie feels miserably and Axie seems to naturally impress the chick a lot more without even trying. Unfortunately the movie doesn't play this out any further as the three recruits are quickly drugged and end up on a train track to be questioned about Kingsman. Now this probably is the only thing I don't like about this film. This whole nightclub scene is mainly just used as a transition to get them to be drugged. Now it's not like it doesn't work in the story, it actually makes sense within the context that this is just a set up to get to the next bit. But when they receive this mission briefing I'm just really getting pumped to see Axie in seduce mode and see how he's going to make his move. It's a classic skill of the gentlemen spy after all that I feel really should have been part of their training too. But anyway we transition into the questioning on the train track. What the fuck is Kingsman? And who's Harry Hart? Who the fuck is that? Shit! Hey Axie! It's Kingsman we're dying for! Congratulations. Bloody well done. And so Axie passed another test getting closer to being recruited while Charlie of course shits his pants and rats out Kingsman immediately failing the test. So now it's just between Axie and Ruxie to become the next agent Lancelot. So as the final test approaches Axie gets to spend some time to bond with Harry and is exposed to the secret weapon room in the tailor shop with some great Kingsman gadgets like hand grenade lighters, poison pens, electrocuted rings and poison knife shoes totally inspired by Rosa Clapp's shoe from From Washer With Love. And it's just awesome that Kingsman completely glorifies the good old days where the gadgets were still cool. In the recent Bond films gadgets really haven't played that much of a special role anymore especially in the era of smartphones and it's cool how the filmmakers were aware of that and even commented on it. And what about him? What makes him so special? Nothing. That technology is caught up with the spy world. Put it back, Axie. So anyway, Axie is summoned with his dog by Arthur for the final test. Shoot the dog. Unfortunately, Axie doesn't have the heart to go through with it and he fails the test and so it's Ruxie who ends up becoming Agent Lancelot instead. A pretty surprising twist in the film. So Axie has returned home. Completely defeated and disappointed. He also finds his mom is beaten up by her low life boyfriend. Why doesn't she just leave the guy already? He's clearly violent, probably unemployed, sits around on the couch or in the pub all day and tried to kill her son right in front of her eyes. I mean, I'm not claiming I'm the best in spotting red flags with my partners but she might spot one or two here. So Axie goes out to teach him a lesson in a car that he stole from Kingsman. He can't actually do anything though as Harry controls the car and drives him straight to his place. Harry gives him a bit of a pissed lecture and reveals that it was actually a blank that he was supposed to shoot the dog with. Now, you would think that after all these surprise test tactics, like actually having a parachute when he was told he didn't have one or being tied to that train track by a fake villain, that he would have, you know, some sort of idea that this might just be a test tactic again? But no, he falls for it. Harry receives a transmission from Merlin that Valentine is going over to her church in Kentucky. And as we know from spy movies in the past, shit is about to get real when things are set in Kentucky and nothing can prepare you for the craziest shit you are about to see unfold in this scene. But before all that happens, Harry has quite an amusing interaction with one of the churchgoers. I'm a Catholic whore currently enjoying Congress out of wedlock with my black Jewish boyfriend who works in a military abortion clinic. So hail Satan and have a lovely afternoon, madam. But before Harry can leave, we get to see Valentine's true power of the SIM cards that by now everybody around the world is picked up. So he activates the ones from the people in the church and everybody within that radius goes absolutely berserk. And when I say berserk, I mean level World of Warcraft freak out kid berserk. I mean this shit makes Quentin Tarantino's films look like friendly fairy tales. It's violent, gory and makes you go oh shit, oh damn, oh did he just really do that and yet somehow you can't help but feel like holy shit this stuff is fricking awesome. It's definitely the most controversial, memorable and most discussed scene in this entire film. Of course Harry lost control because he was within the SIM card radius but because this is Kingsman he manages to survive the massive frenzy. That is until this happens. The first time I saw a dad my jaw dropped with Kingsman anything is to be expected and yet the unexpected happens. I like how Valentine has a semi-fort wall breaking line here and the filmmakers totally being self aware that they're being a completely different type of spy movie. So with Harry now dead XZ quickly rushes back to the Kingsman tailor shop to see Arthur. In another twist we quickly learn that he is now on the side of Valentine too as he also has that implant in his head that all the people that are a part of his project have received. Arthur proposes a toast as a commemoration of Harry drugging XZ's drink in the process. He then gives XZ the choice to either join him with Valentine's project and stay alive or to die by activating the poison. XZ being the badass that he is chooses to die. It's such a badass moment in the film you just can't help but root for XZ outsmarting his snob here with his smart street kid moves. He drags the implants, takes it to Merlin the only person left he can trust and with no time to lose he takes XZ and rocksy over in the private Kingsman jet flying off in complete badass Thunderbird style straight on to the final act of the film. So Valentine's plan, by the way, is similar to Hugo Drax's plan in Moonraker destroying humanity with a massive genocide and creating a new world by populating it with the chosen ones sort of a Noah's Ark operation. With a satellite he plans to activate his free SIM cards all around the world so that everybody goes berserk like in that church and starts murdering each other. And all the politicians and rich people with the implants are the ones that get invited over to live while those who oppose him are locked away in a hallway full of prison cells. Of course it's a completely outlandish plan but it fits in well with the tone of the movie and yet you can't imagine the world population would actually get those free SIM cards nowadays in an age where people simply can't live without smartphones anymore. It's actually very contemporary. So Roxy is instructed to fly up to the edge of the atmosphere to deploy a missile to destroy Valentine's satellite using this balloon machine and while Valentine commences his major countdown in his villain lair our hero Eggsy gets ready to save the world in the moment we all knew was coming. I mean come on, Edgerton looks the complete business here. Who wouldn't want to be this dude right now? As Eggsy and Merlin enter Valentine's villain lair with the private jet Eggsy gets the task of posing as one of the chosen people and get a USB into a laptop so that Merlin can hack the system. And straight away, Edgerton just completely nails the part of being a cheeky street kid turned sophisticated gentleman spy. Would sir care for a drink? Martini. Gin, not vodka obviously stirred for 10 seconds and glancing at an unopened bottle of vermouth. Thank you. It's all set on a great film set by the way Blending in the typical classic Bond villain lair with a unique modern flavour. So Eggsy quickly succeeds in taking over a laptop so Merlin can hack the system but soon runs into Charlie, the former kinksman recruit. Valentine, I caught a fucking spy! Oh fuck, if they're young valley! Son of a bitch! I can sense a shitload of guards after him and Eggsy is just like, wait, hold my beer and casually duches like 100 bullets. Good thing bad guys are such terrible shots! Man, these guys are elusive! But the thing with kinksman is though the invincible superhero stuff that you really want to avoid in a serious movie is completely embraced in such an awesomely stylish way here you just gotta love it. So Roxy manages to blow up the satellite foiling Valentine's plan while he makes his way back to the plane. The mission ain't over yet though as Valentine quickly deploys a second satellite and the system turns out to be unhackable due to a biometric system activated by Valentine's hand. So Eggsy is forced to go back in there and we get another badass moment of him picking out a weapon choosing that awesome umbrella that Harry used in that pub scene in the beginning of the movie definitely would have been my choice too. So using that umbrella Eggsy puts up a pretty decent fight but this time he doesn't end up in invincible mode and the guards box him in allowing for no escape as well as getting ready to destroy Merlin's plane. Eggsy is already saying his final prayers instructing Roxy to tell his mother that he loves her. That is until he realizes that they can use the head implants that all of Valentine's guards have too for whatever reason. So Merlin quickly hacks into the system and activates them. I mean this stuff can only happen in a Matthew Vaughn movie. It's so ridiculously entertaining and it really makes no sense for them to explode one by one domino style in different colors instead of all at once. But it's just so absolutely glorious. Oh and also pretty sure that's Obama's head exploding here too. You know he was also among the people that Valentine convinced into coming aboard. So with that out of the way Eggsy happens to be at the cell of the Princess of Sweden with the most unexpected moments in the film. If you save the world we can do it in the asshole. I'll be right back. I seriously cannot stop smiling watching this film. It just keeps getting better and better. What's the uncensored version of this movie by the way as that whole bit is not in the censored version. So Valentine initiates the satellite to activate the SIM cards around the world and we get a complete global frenzy set to Casey and the Sunshine Band. Everybody wants you And even Eggsy's mom who was instructed by Roxy to lock her child away goes full on Hulk mode. So now it's all up to Eggsy to save the world. We get a brilliant fight between him and Gazelle, the hence woman with the metal feet. I haven't really talked that much about her during this analysis but she's great. There's this fantastic scene of her fighting or rather hacking the arms and legs of some of the politicians goons earlier on in the film that I completely glossed over but she certainly makes for a fantastic larger-than-life hence woman that fits in well with this movie. So now, Eggsy is up against her in a great choreographed fight in a Bond-like villain-layer film set with thousands of politicians with exploded heads lying around, finding each other slow-mo, metric style while getting out a Rosa Clappe poison knife shoe to take care of her. It's an amazing climax and it just makes for pure Grade A entertainment right here. And to top it off Eggsy uses one of her metal feet to pierce through Valentine in order to stop him from activating the global SIM card frenzy so he pukes and falls down. Man, what a fantastic, crazy ride this movie is. And this is all topped off with another semi-fort wall breaking one liner. It's like you said to Harry This ain't that kind of movie, bruv. As Eggsy has now saved the world he gets out two champagne glasses and with the music that starts now you just can't help but grin understanding exactly what this cheeky bastard is about to do next. I mean I cannot imagine any guy not completely grinning from ear to ear watching this dude. It's like the filmmakers were like Hey, remember how we've had that chemistry between the main character and another chick throughout the whole movie? What if we completely ignore that now and just have him end up bagging the royal freaking princess of Sweden straight in her butthole after saving the world? And boy were they right. This shit goes against all cliches and it's so out of nowhere completely in your face and you really just cannot stop smiling. I also love how Merlin is being the wingman of the year by giving him the code to her cell. Speaking of that code, when you type in 2625 on an old cell phone keypad that would spell anal. Now that, ladies and gentlemen, has to be one of the cleverest easter eggs I've ever discovered. Well played, Matthew Vaughn. Well played. But the film doesn't quite end there. Hopefully you didn't stop watching as we get another brilliant ending after a little part of the credits with Axie appearing in the pub in an identical scene to Harry getting ready to teach his lowlife stepfather a lesson. Kingsman is a film that took and homarsed all the outlandish dirt elements of the classic Bond films and blended it together in an extremely effective way. It not only succeeded in being a great new parody of the spy genre it succeeded in spawning a fantastic new franchise strong enough to hold its own ground. The crazy tone setting Kingsman allowed for stuff that you could never get away with in a Bond film. I mean, limbs are constantly flying off, heads are exploding the violence is through the roof there's the constant throwing of the F word and the main character is literally having anal sex with the sweetest princess at the end of the film. This stuff really sounds like the most tasteless disgusting film that would never work but Matthew Vaughn brings it all together in the most surprisingly stylish, larger than life badass and above all entertaining way possible. Because usually an extreme level of gory violence would never work in a light heart of action comedy. Neither worth having a serious badass style in a movie that doesn't take itself serious and yet Kingsman pulls all of that off and somehow it all works like clockwork. The cast is top notch too. You can tell everybody is having a lot of fun and all the characters are very colorful and engaging. Colin Fert, Samuel L. Jackson Michael Cain, Mark Strong they all deliver top notch performances and Taryn Edgerton is one of the most well casted newcomers I've seen in recent years. I mean this guy came fresh out of acting school, had to play with such an A-list cast in one of his first roles and simply owned it as if he had been doing it for years. He absolutely nailed the role of Axie and made it a young cheeky version of Bond that we all wish we could be. That's quite an accomplishment. This film instantly became one of my favorite action comedy films of all time and I'm saying that as a proud Die Hard Bond fan. During times in which the gritty, dark and realistic are usually preferred by myself included but this unique style is just so welcomed as a fan of the genre and I can completely understand all these A-list stars being attracted to this franchise. It's really no wonder it quickly received a sequel and that two more films are already announced. Each of which are also going to be directed by Matt Yvonne because this is his franchise and only he could nail this signature tone and in the way I already cannot wait to see those two films that really is a testament to the quality of this film. Kingsman The Secret Service is the perfect example of how to have fun with the overdone gentleman spy genre and turn it into something fresh and entertaining for all audiences. Thanks a lot for watching my video. Do you like my work and would you like to help this channel grow? Well, consider becoming part of the exclusive DbF community and help support my channel. What is the DbF community? Well, it's the community over at my Patreon page made for the biggest fans of my channel. Why did I create this community? Well, you see every average project you see on here takes me roughly 30 to 40 hours to produce and upon uploading it all revenue is pretty much taken away immediately by MGM or other film studios unfairly as it goes against the fair use policies. So that's why I'm always looking for support to set up this community on Patreon for the biggest die hard fans of my work. I am a believer that those who support me should be rewarded with a ton of perks like getting two weeks early access to all my latest videos, receiving a personal thank you video from me. I will also send you my custom made Blu-ray covers that you can print out and put in empty Blu-ray boxes and you get exclusive access to the supporters discord server where you can chat with me fellow baron fans whenever you like and everybody that supports me also builds towards new goals for the channel's future. All these perks come for a little $3 a month. All support is appreciated immensely. Thanks a lot guys!